In 2011, well meaning, big hearted, but totally ignorant people pushed through the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011. Heedless of the fact, that in their zeal to do good, that they were replacing a perceived abhorrent practice with consequences far more abhorrent.
https://www.nola.com/news/article_4706a788-aa6f-11e9-9ca0-17b8041f61a4.html
The linked article is a relatively lengthy read, but it points out what the lack of a legal slaughter avenue has created.
FACT: The horse racing industry breeds thousands of new foals each year.
FACT: Only a fraction of those foals are going to be profitable over their lifetime.
FACT: The vast majority are going to be losers, not only on the track but on the bottom line of the spread sheet.
FACT: At a minimum, a horse requires $4,000 a year to maintain, food, water, acreage, vet care, etc.
FACT: A business is going to shed an unprofitable asset.
FACT: There is not anywhere near enough kindhearted people, WITH sufficient acreage and resources to care for them all. Realistically, only a tiny percentage can be accommodated.
FACT: The balance of horses must be disposed of.
Until 2011, there was a safe and humane way of doing so, via American slaughter plants. That humane option was closed in 2011.
The linked article details the horrific results.
Horses suffer en route to a likely horrific end in a poorly run Mexican slaughterhouse.
Horses end up starving to death.
Horses end up in the hands of dirt-bags like the ones detailed in the article, that run “ransom” operations to try to make quick cash on a horse that probably is already beyond saving.
There are two options I see to solve this.
- Ban the horse racing industry in the United States, which would end the breeding of these horses in the first place.
That is not likely to happen.
- Repeal the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 and restore the legal and humane way of disposing of these horses.
This goes to show, that by acting on their heart strings, instead of thinking logically, well meaning people have enabled a far more cruel outcome than what existed before.
