Plan to slaughter horses for human consumption met with distaste
By Ted Burnham, NPR
When the ban on slaughtering horses for human consumption was lifted in the U.S. last November, it was only a matter of time before someone applied to start the practice up again.
That person is Rick De Los Santos, a New Mexico rancher and owner of Valley Meat Co. If the USDA approves his application to have a former beef slaughterhouse inspected, it would allow the first slaughter of horses in the U.S. since 2007.
The meat would be exported to Mexico, one of many countries where eating horsemeat is nothing to flick your tail at. Horse is also eaten frequently in Europe and Asia. And the Canadian grocery chain Metro lists 22 recipes for horse meat on its website.
But Americans are historically averse to eating horses. A notable exception is the Harvard Faculty Club, which served chicken-fried horse meat until 1985. Americans have typically turned to horse consumption only in tough times. When beef rations became scarce during World War II, people turned to horse as a serviceable but inferior alternative. Republicans blamed President Truman for the shortage, labeling him “Horsemeat Harry.”
They are just an animal, like any other, and I guess shouldn’t be treated more special than a cow, but we have had a long partnered relationship with them. I’m not crazy about eating them, but if someone else wants to…
Pferd (horse) is a normal item in German butcher shops along with venison.
The horses were our partners throughout history, without their help America could not have been settled from coast to coast. They have earned the right to survive in freedom, the least we can do is give them the respect they deserve. The cattle industry believes that they have the right to OUR LAND, and they are concerned about their bottom line. There is plenty of room, we must set aside public land for these great symbols of taming the west. Should we steal their land or send them to slaughter? To treat them like vermin is more than embarrassing, this shame will become our history, then people will ask, ‘why didn’t they do something about it’? WELL, now is the time, this is our responsibility, it’s time to act with integrity.
I understand we need to eat, and I respect our right to hunt for food. This slaughter is business, it is for profit only. This is not either “them or us” when it come to these champions of man’s long struggle into this future. They lived and died and fought with us for thousands of years. And this is what we do to the species we were completely bonded to emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We could not have survived if it weren’t for our oneness with the horse. There is always another way when it’s the wrong way. I want to see the people in Washington as honest, intelligent, and caring to the core. Act that way and let the chips fall where they may, and I will support you till my dying day. Joyce Jones
Joyce a little bit of history. The American Indians did not have horses until the European explorers came with them. And thank you very much the peoples before the explorers survived just fine.
Earl, right you are except that the American Indians captured horses that came north from the Spanish from South America. Much later we brought them over when we came to the new world. We were bonded with the horse hundreds of years before that in China, Russia, Europe and so on. The horse was paramount in building early America, and to steal ones horse was punishable by death – that’s the importance they were held in. Is it really asking to much that their wild off spring be left to forage and live in peace on our vast and plentiful public lands.