I've lived beyond the sidewalks for many years now and as one friend has said: this is your life's blessing -to be close to the animals.
It will come as no surprise to you if you've read my posts about horse slaughter and puppy mills, that I believe that all animals should be treated with compassion and protected from suffering.
Many was the day I dragged a lawn chair out to just sit in quiet meditation with my cattle herd. There's a zen quality to bovine that is magical. While some of my "cowgirls" would simply continue to browse the grass, some would come and lay beside me. Quietly chewing their cud and gazing off in the distance. Perhaps they were looking inward, like me.
 |
| Some of my cowgirls. |
Unfortunately, billions of farm animals lack even access to pasture, let alone the most basic welfare protections under the law.
According the ASPCA, more than 99% of farm animals in the US are raised in factory farms - large, industrial operations that raise large numbers of animals for food. There the focus is on profit and efficiency, not animal welfare.
Where did that milk come from that you poured over your cereal this morning? The hamburger you ate last night? How about that pork chop? Or the eggs in your recent omelet?
Probably from animals being raised in extreme confinement, not in those gorgeous pastures shown in commercials and print ads. Those animals have been bred to grown unnaturally fast and large to maximize profit.
Cows belong in fields. Watch the dairy cows below. They've just been released into fresh spring pasture. They remind me of my own "cowgirls." When we moved them from one pasture to another they danced with joy and glee.
Living in confinement, dairy cows ares often injected with BGH (bovine growth hormone) which can increase the incidence of mastitis and lameness. Tails are often docked. A dairy cow is considered "used up" at 5 years of age on average in the United States and slaughtered for human consumption. In a natural setting, cows can live more than 20 years.
Beef cattle usually begin their lives on pasture with their mothers. However, they're soon separated for weaning and by the time they're a year old they on their way to a feedlot. There they're fattened on an unnatural diet unto they reach optimal market weight and sent to slaughter.
Sows (female pigs of breeding age) most often live a life confined to a gestation crate which is only slightly larger than their own body. Their lives are a cycle of pregnancy, birth, nursing and then, finally, slaughter.
Each year in the United States, over 200 million male chicks are killed upon hatching because they will never lay eggs. The majority of hens (female chickens) are debeaked and spend their lives in battery cages which usually hold 5-10 chickens with room enough to barely turn around if they're lucky. After a year or two, when egg production declines, those chickens are sent to slaughter.
In addition to the egg industry, chickens raised for meat usually spend their lives confined to warehouse packed with as many as 20,000 chickens. Again, with individual space enough to turn around if they're lucky. They're often slaughtered at only 42 days old.
What you can do:
- Meatless Monday - Try going meatless one day a week.
- Eat at restaurants that support the local sustainable food system. Visit the Eat Well Guide to find them near you.
- Shop at your local farmer's market.
- Check out purchasing a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share. One good resource is Local Harvest.
- Explore independent grocery stores and co-ops looking for locally produced meats, eggs and dairy products from traditional farmers.
- Look for local farmers online. More and more smaller farms sell directly to consumers via a website.
- Become a label reader. Look for "pasture access." "Grass fed" does not necessarily mean the animals were ever on pasture. "Organic" does not mean that the animals didn't spend their lives in confinement on a dry lot/feedlot.
- Follow and take action on legislation related to factory farming with the Humane Society of the United States, the ASPCA, or other animal welfare organization.
Frankly, the absence of photographs and lots of details is intentional in this blog post. However, I did find this video produced by Compassion in World Farming that is relatively "safe" to watch. Though they're talking about Europe, this rings true of factory farming in the United States, too.
January 15th is Blog the Change Day - a day when pet bloggers and pet lovers come together to blog, read, share and Be the Change for Animals. Bloggers are encouraged to write about pet fire safety in July or about a cause near and dear to their heart. Readers are encouraged to read and share their favorite posts. Join Team BtC on January 15th to Blog the Change for animals.
I'm happy to be joining Heart Like a Dog in the follow-up Friday blog hop this week. This is the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend. Hosted by FUF creator, Jodi Stone at Heart Like a Dog and co-hosted this week by Jodi Chick at Kol's Notes.
I've been busy in the studio this week. Much as I rant about the bricks and mortar stores pushing Christmas too early (and it seems like earlier and earlier each year), as one of Santa's elves, I'm guilty, too. I'm working as fast as I can to build up my inventory at For Love of a Dog because before I know it, fall with be here and I'll be too busy shipping packages to create new jewelry.
This means that I'm not getting around to read and comment on all the blogs I'd like to. Instead, I'm working. I feel the need to let you know, if you have any hope of snagging a dog breed Christmas ornament in your favorite breed.... hurry! This week I'll be adding new ones to the For Love of a Dog online shop and they're limited in quantity.
The dog daddy and I managed to catch a broadcast of one of the Purina Incredible Dogs competitions. Dog, I love them! Jeffie and Rudy snoozed through the whole thing. Rosie watched with us. At one point she even hopped up close to the TV screen to get a better look.
Nope, no photos of that. I've discovered the dogs can hear the zip of the camera bag from the other end of the house. Rudy, especially, is sure that means dog treats and we're going to do another product review! Candid shots are impossible lately.
I'm breaking my own rules on the blog this week. Rule #1: no politics or religion. Blog the Change happened just as I was gnashing my teeth and screaming here at home about the new horse slaughterhouses being approved by the USDA. Gandhi said: "The measure of a society can be how well its people treat its animals." If that's true, I think we're in big trouble.
Dog Song Saturday: Girls and Horses
Okay, I get it. You prefer dog songs. Be sure to visit Talking Dogs tomorrow for a great original song by Jayne Olderman. It's a treat you won't want to miss! You'll need tissues for the happy tears you'll be shedding at these positive rescue stories in the music video.
Adopt Amelia a POA Appaloosa Horse
This pretty mare is a rescue horse currently living at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch. Longmeadow is just one of many rescues for unwanted, abused or rescued horses in the US.
Blog the Change: Ban Horse Slaughter in the US
First, please know that as much as it pained you to read my post, it pained me to write it. I don't like thinking about the issue; few people do.
Linda asked a number of good questions and I'll try to answer them here.
In my opinion, the cruelty inherent in this industry is intolerable. And make no mistake, this is an industry. It's about money. This industry is not providing some kind of public service for people who don't want/can't keep their family horses any longer. These corporations are looking to cash in on the market for horsemeat.
Yes, the market for horsemeat. The horses slaughtered in these facilities are for human consumption. And, no. Horsemeat is not safe to eat here in the US. The majority of the horsemeat will be exported. US horsemeat is dangerous to humans because of the unregulated administration of numerous toxic substances given to horses before slaughter.
Horse slaughterhouses are not what we need for homeless horses. The USDA documented that 92.3% of horses sent to slaughter are in good condition and are able to live out a productive life. These are horses that could be sold, donated or otherwise re-homed, however kill buyers regularly outbid potential horse owners and horse rescues at auctions. According to the Humane Society of the United States:
"Based on the USDA's won finding, fewer than 1% of the US horse population may require the help of rescues or euthanasia."
According to the Homes For Horses Coalition:
"The notion that without horse slaughter there will be flood of abandoned horses is simply unfounded. When the number of horses slaughtered in the U.S. fell by approximately 90% between the early 1990s and the early 2000s there was no correlating increase in abandoned, neglected and abused horses.
"Likewise, equine cruelty investigators in Illinois report that horse abandonment and abuse cases actually dropped during the temporary closure of the Cavel slaughter plant in the early 2000s (the plant is now permanently shut under state law).
"In California, not only was there no increase in horse abuse and neglect cases following passage of the states stringent anti-horse slaughter law in 1998, but there was a 34% drop in horse theft."
Estimates on the number of horses that need re-homing or rescue vary. One thing is for sure - the breed organizations are one key to the solution. Another is banning horse slaughter. Without killer buyers, the rescues can be able to afford to purchase unwanted horses and re-home them. It is a situation very similar to puppy mills.
And, once again, I'm being too wordy up here on my soapbox.
Let me put it to you this way: there are many countries who consume dogs and cats. We can all agree that there are more pets than there are homes available. Would you wish this same fate on them?
According to ABC news (July 17, 2013) the newly licensed horse slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Iowa are set to open August 5. On August 2, a federal judge will decide whether or not to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the openings due to the lawsuit by animal protection groups. These would be the first horse slaughterhouses to operate in the US since 2007.
Adopt Sally, A Senior Australian Cattle Dog
Sally is still available for adoption. Please visit this blog post and share her story and adoption video. If you're not already a part of the Tuesday's Tails blog hop, why not join us!
Threshing with Horses: A Farm Story
Thanks for all your comments. You know, it's not so much hard work as it is slow work when you farm with horses. In this case, it's harvesting oats without much noise other than the creak of harness and wagon, the soft plodding of hooves, birdsong, and quiet conversation with friends. Instead of smelling fuel from a tractor, it's smelling the sweet perfume of horsesweat (yes, perfume) and the fresh smell of the grain.
There's also great satisfaction for me in being a part of the circle of life. The horses who will consume those oats and use that straw, are a vital part of the planting and harvesting.
Haying is another task like that and I've been on a search for an audio file to share with a future post about the hay baler conga dance at our place.
That's our follow-up for this week. Join the blog hop and catch us up with what's been going on in your life!
I love horses second only to dogs. I've found my heart dog and my heart horse, too. Horse crazy since I was a kid, I've ridden horses, driven horses, worked horses, shared my whole life with horses. So it should come as no surprise to you that I am rabidly opposed to the United States lifting the ban on horse slaughterhouses.
When I caught up with my calendar and realized that today was Blog the Change Day, it took me about two seconds to decide what cause I wanted to talk about.
I vehemently believe that horse slaughter is inhumane. In addition, over the course of their lives, horses are given a wide variety of drugs and veterinary treatments that makes their meat toxic for human consumption.
In November 2011, the US Congress lifted a 5 year ban on horse slaughter for human consumption. In March 2012, Wyoming based Unified Equine was planning a new horse slaughterhouse in Mountain Grove, Missouri, where they planned to slaughter between 200 - 400 horses per day. The meat would have primarily been shipped overseas, but some was intended for specialty stores here in the US. In addition, Unified Equine planned to raise horses specifically for slaughter. Mountain Grove, Missouri, residents declined and the facility was never built.
Two weeks ago the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved a horse slaughter plant in Sigourney, Iowa and let it be known they plan to allow plants in Missouri and New Mexico. Other new applications are pending for facilities in Tennessee and Oklahoma,
As I told you last Monday, this comes in spite of:
- the statement by Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, opposing horse slaughter.
- the US senate Appropriations Committee passed a ban on domestic horse slaughter as part of the fiscal Year 2014 budget. That ban prohibits the USDA from using funds to inspect horsemeat intended for human consumption
- the US House Appropriations Committee's vote to deny funding for horse slaughter
- President Obama recommended the FY 2014 Appropriations bill not contain funds for horse slaughter.
In addition, Senators Mary Landrieu and Lindsey Graham have introduced legislation that would permanently ban horse slaughter: the Safeguard American Food Exports Act (SAFE Act - SB 541.) The SAFE Act would not only permanently ban horse slaughter operations in the US, but it would also end the current export of more than 150,000 US horses shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter each years. Representatives Patrick Meehan and Jan Schakowsky have introduced similar legislation in the US House.
In the United States, horses have never been raised for human consumption. However, there is foreign demand for horse meat for diners in Europe and Asia. Since the last horse slaughter facility closed here in 2007, thousands of US horses are shipped out of our country to slaughter houses in Mexico, Canada, and Europe.
The majority of horses that go to slaughter are purchased by "killer buyers" - middlemen who work on behalf of the foreign-owned horse slaughter industry.
Where do most of these horses come from? From the horse industry. Young, healthy horses that are a result of over-breeding by people trying to create the perfect horse are ideal candidates for slaughter.
According to the late John Hettinger, former owner of Fasig Tipton (the second largest Thoroughbred Auction House), past Chairman of the Grayson Jockey Club Foundation, previous member of the Board of Directors of The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and NY Racing Association Trustee:
"7,000 to 9,000 Thoroughbred racehorses are slaughtered every year. Killer buyers frequent horse races to purchase under-performing racehorses after the races end. Thoroughbred Deputy Broad raced at Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, West Virginia on July 11, 2011 and was needlessly slaughtered one week later, not because he was “unwanted,” but because he was disposable. The famous racehorse, Ferdinand who won the 1986 Kentucky Derby, the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Classic, the 1987 Eclipse Award Horse of the Year and became a highly sought-after stud horse in 1989, was sold to Japan where he was slaughtered in 2002."
In addition, mares and foals that are by-products of the Premarin industry, wild horses, stolen horses, and those purchased by killers from owners who are unaware who they're selling to.
What happens after the killers purchase the horse(s)? They're transported. Riding in overcrowded conditions, often for more than 24 hours, deprived of food, water, and rest.
In a sworn statement in court in Cook County, Illinois, a former employee of Cavel International, a horse slaughter plant (now closed) testimony describes what is commonplace:
"...they were unloading one of the double-decker trucks. A horse got his leg caught in the side of the truck so the driver pulled the rig up and the horse’s leg popped off. The horse was still living, and it was shaking. [Another employee] popped it on the head and we hung it up and split it open. …
Sometimes we would kill near 390, 370 a day. Each double-decker might have up to 100 on it. We would pull off the dead ones with chains.
Ones that were down on the truck, we would drag them off with chains and maybe put them in a pen or we might drag them with an automatic chain to the knock box. Sometimes we would use an electric shocker to try to make them stand. To get them into the knock box, you have to shock them … sometimes run them up the [anus] with the shocker. …
When we killed a pregnant mare, we would take the guts out and I would take the bag out and open it and cut the cord and put it in the trash and sometimes the baby would still be living, and its heart would be beating, but we would put it in the trashcan.”
If you think horse slaughter is humane euthanasia, think again. Once in the slaughterhouse equine hell continues. Horse slaughter is not humane euthanasia.
Animal Euthanasia - from the Greek, meaning 'good death' - the act of humanely putting an animal to death or allowing it to die as by withholding medical measures. [Wikipedia]
Horses are intelligent animals. Highly sensitive and acutely aware of their environment, the flight or fight instinct is strong. According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS):
[Horses] react to the smell of blood, the sounds of other horses being slaughtered and react violently to death when they see the instrument or “stun gun” aimed at their heads, which drives a four-inch spike into their skulls.
They make desperate attempts to flee, exhibiting typical equine “fight or flight” behavior and extreme panic and fear. They prance back and forth with their ears pinned back and their eyes wide open.
That inevitably results in the instrument hitting the horse and wounding it and not rendering it unconscious, but rather resulting in repeated blows.
In addition, video evidence shows horses being beaten on their faces, necks, legs and backs; purposely blinded by bludgeoning their eyes out to get them under control, electric cattle prods inserted into their rectums to get them to move into the kill box, mares giving birth on the kill floors, and remaining alive and conscious when they were shackled and hoisted by a rear leg to have their throats cut.
The horses stand in line sensing the terror and electrocuted or speared into the kill box where they shake violently, falling and unable to stand from fear.
From 2007 to 2009, Animals' Angels USA conducted investigations of the horse slaughter system including the conditions and treatment slaughter horses undergo at auctions, feedlots, during transport and at the slaughter plants. They concluded:
“…horse slaughter encompasses public safety issues, public health concerns, environmental issues as well as the obvious and very significant concerns regarding cruelty and inhumane treatment. Our investigations during 2007 to the present made clear that at the instant a horse is designated a ‘kill horse,’ handling and treatment change radically from that normally given horses. A ‘kill horse’ is treated with cruelty, with indifference at best, but more typically with violence and aggression. Cruelty increases, while safety, health and welfare – its care and humane treatment are so diminished it is virtually nonexistent. These horses are “only passing through,” say the veterinarians as well as the ‘kill buyers.’
If the ‘kill horses’ had been normal horses under the care of a different type of owner, humane officers and police would have required, in keeping with state animal cruelty laws, proper veterinarian care and sufficient access to food, water and shelter. The ‘kill horse’ is outside the protection of cruelty laws.”
There are many humane alternatives to slaughter for horse owners unable or unwilling to care for their horses, including equine rescues, sanctuaries, retirement farms, equine therapy facilities, and many more. I believe that horses that are sick, elderly or dying should be humanely euthanized by a licensed veterinarian using lethal injection.
My horses are my friends, companions and working partners. I owe them a good life and a good death. My horses that have died, all died at home and are buried at home. I know that they all - living or waiting for me to cross over - join me in urging the ban of horse slaughter in the United States.
For more information about this issue, I recommend reviewing the positions of the ASPCA, HSUS, American's Against Horse Slaughter, Stop Horse Slaughter , Mary Nash's Horse Slaughter web site and many more. You can sign petitions here and here.
July 15th is Blog the Change Day
- a day when pet bloggers and pet lovers come together to blog, read,
share and Be the Change for Animals! Bloggers are encouraged to write about pet
fire safety in July or about a cause near and dear to their heart. Readers are encouraged to read and share their favorite posts. Join Team BtC on July 15th to Blog the Change for animals.
