A ban on horse slaughter is not enough

A horse rescued from slaughterhouse is currently healing at South Florida SPCA. Photo taken by Anabel Epstein.

Horses.  The most beautiful of all creatures.  Strong and elegant, modest and stunning.  The thought of horse meat?  Gross.

Even though a ban was placed on horse slaughter five years ago, there have been many brutal cases of the act.  Being an animal lover myself, the ban initially appeared to be a great decision on the federal government’s part.  I could not understand how there could be another side to the story.  However, people were manipulating the ban and even completely disregarding it, for the sole purpose of their horse meat.

According to the Los Angeles Times, other countries strongly demand horse meat and the United States served as strong suppliers to them.  The abrupt cutoff in 2007 left American exporters suffering financially, as well as foreign importers wanting more.  This was ultimately the cause for horse meat “black market.”

The ban did put a temporary stop on slaughtering in the country.  But the slaughterhouse owners and those looking for money exported horses under inhumane conditions to importers on a long and frightening journey to countries such as Canada and Mexico, to meet their end in slaughterhouses there.  The horses were ultimately being put into worse conditions than they were previously facing.

Not expecting this change, even PETA began to support reverting to the old ways, permitting slaughtering.  Although the organization was not in favor of slaughtering horses, according to past PETA documents, it was better than sending them overseas and selling them to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada, which then had the permissibility to treat them however they choose.

But why not put a ban on exporting the horses to foreign countries in addition to slaughtering? That seems to be the most practical solution to the problem.  I find the act vulgar all together.  Slaughtering horses in the first place should not be done for the purpose of exporting it to demanding countries.  If those countries choose to consume horse meat, then they should be their own suppliers.

It seems so simple.  Stop it all at once.  Why prolong the process any longer?  For the time being, the ban suffices for the horses’ sakes, hopefully halting the inhumane exportation that the ban instigated.  Regardless, the act as a w