Is it time to reopen American slaughterhouses for horses?

I couldnt read the article...computer is freezing up. I am a bit on the fence with the whole slaughter issue, im a bit sensitive to it since I do have a horse and love horses just as much as i love my cats or other members of the family. There is always pros and cons to these things. If you look right now, unwanted horses are starving, being literately set free down highways or roads, or otehr awful things. The main problem is backyard breeders who breed "mut" horses that no one really wants. BUT there is not much we can do to stop these people from breeding soooo what do we do? Horses from the US are still being sent to slaughter, most are going to Mexico where the regulations are far far different than the US, it is way worse in Mexico and other countries than the US slaughter houses. Often these horses going ot other countries are given no water or food, and usually have their throats slit to drain the blood while they are hung upside down and are still alive or among other horrifying things like having their hooves cut off while still alive etc...It is DISGUSTING! SO it would be more humane if they were done here in the US where we can actually regulate what is done. I have seen videos of how they were killed,by bolt gun sometimes horses didnt die immediately and slipped around in their own blood before getting shot 3-4 more times. And horses going in the line to be killed are absolutely terrified, they can smell the blood. Either way it is just awful that we have to come to such a solution. There are not enough rescues to save these horses. SO yes I do believe we might need to bring slaughter houses back OR put some sort of ban/law on who can breed horses like you have to have to be certified or something.

It is hard because here in the US horses are not only our partners, friends, or pets they are members of the family, unlike other places like in Europe where they are considered a delicacy. . Its a sad reality, but we need to be realistic, just like thousands of cats and dogs are euthanized everyday, although euthanizing horses is a bit more expensive....

With as many rescue organizations as there are nowdays and humane ways to euthanize an animal that does not involve cruelty, I just can not support the slaughterhouses being an option. They're cruel, plain and simple. It's not right to send a horse off to slaughter because the owners didn't want to exhaust other options to rehome/place the horse in a rescue, or have it humanely put to sleep. There is no easy solution to this problem, and it will always be an issue so long as people are irresponsible breeders/owners....however I do no think that slaughterhouses are the solution to the problem.

^ what is sad though is a lot of rescues that once were taking starved horses are now being over-run and in turn starving the horses again because feed is sooo expensive. And people dont just "send" their horses to slaughter, they send them to auctions where they get bought for slaughter. I have heard stories of people, like family selling their kids horse or family members horse to an auction (doing it illegally cause they stole the horse) and chances are the horse went to slaughter. (which if ayone tried doing that to my horse, id ******* well you get the picture!) There just arent enough places for horses to go now. It is really sad. Euthanizing an animal can be more painful than other methods...Because it is slowly shutting down the body and the animal probably does suffer. A lot of people have a choice, fork up $300 or more to euthanize the horse and have its corpse hauled away, or make some money by sending it to auctions and maybe feed their family?. I am just trying to be realistic in the situation, if it was me, id probably starve myself just to feed my horse, and i would never let my horse go through that sort of ordeal but some people dont feel the same way. Like i said horse slaughter is a VERY sticky subject.

I know several folks that go to the auctions and get horses . They rehab the horses and then keep or sell them...

slaughterhouse seems a bit extreme but as mentioned it is not cheap to E and D a horse ... a humane slaughterhouse I would be okay with

With this terrible economy, maybe we need to start eating horse meat. It may be more economical for people than beef.

^ I could never eat horse meat..... If they begin selling it in the US there will be a BIG uproar. I just couldnt do it no matter how much you paid me. Plus there is no profit in horse meat in the US, its like saying "Lets have Cat Burgers tonight".....not gonna happen! I agree with whoever said if slaugter houses were more humane and the poor horses werent starved, scared or in pain then it would be much better!

I think soon we may have no choice other than no meat