Banning Horse Slaughter Horsemeat has been discovered in the U.S food supply, and is dumped on the dinner plates of unsuspecting consumers. Not only do Americans overwhelmingly oppose slaughtering horses, but horses are not raised for food and over the course of their lives they receive a wide variety of drugs and other substances that make their meat tainted. Being sold for slaughter is one of the many challenges horse’s face to merely live their lives free of abuse and suffering. Hope can be found in the homes and hearts of millions of people ready and willing to protect them. Whether you ride horses, own them, or just love them, I urge you to play a part in their protection through adoption, donations, volunteering or advocacy. A proposed …show more content…
Most American horses going to slaughter arrive at the slaughterhouse via livestock auctions where they are purchased by kill buyers working for the slaughter plants. After a horse is bought by a kill buyer, they are shipped to a slaughterhouse in Mexico or Canada. Currently, there are no horse slaughterhouses in the U.S., but the cruel and predatory industry continues to court states. Workers cram as many horses as possible into trucks. According to Valerie Pringle, Equine Protection Specialist for The Humane Society of the United States (n.d) “They mix stallions in with pregnant mares, foals, and older horses, often leading to fights and injuries.” At the slaughterhouse, a horse is killed in a way that is easiest and quickest for the slaughterhouse worker, but most agonizing for the horse. Investigations from Mexican and Canadian slaughter plants report that horses are stabbed multiple times in the neck with a puntilla knife to sever their spinal cords, leaving them paralyzed and unable to breathe. The horse is then hoisted, bled out, cut apart, often while still conscious and able to feel everything. Slaughter simply cannot be made