Tennessee legislators have a novel answer to equine abuse: horse slaughter
The Final Solution
by Christine Kreyling
Equine abuse has been in the news ever since November's appalling discovery of 84 starving horses on a Cannon County farm. The attempt by state Rep. Janis Sontany and state Sen. Bill Ketron to ramp up the legal punishment for such aggravated abuse — and the ardent opposition by the Tennessee Farm Bureau — has also received plenty of media play (see "All the Starving Horses," March 11). But State Rep. Frank Niceley has a radically different — and heretofore unpublicized — proposal that he says will curb the abuse.
Niceley wants to legalize horse slaughter.
Niceley and state Sen. Mike Faulk have a bill in the Tennessee legislature that would enable "the humane handling and slaughter of surplus domestic horses" (HB 1428/SB 1898). Prime co-sponsors include a hefty number of the members of the House Agriculture Committee through which the bill must pass.
The reason the slaughter bill has so far not registered on the radar screen is because Niceley filed it as what's called a "caption" bill, a bill whose stated purpose has little-to-no-relationship to its ultimate legislative intent. The real import behind a caption bill is revealed by subsequent amendments to the original. This legislative hocus-pocus is permitted as long as the amendments alter the same sections of the Tennessee legal code as the original bill. Legislators often employ the tactic to conceal the content of controversial legislation until it can be rammed through with a minimum of unwelcome publicity.
Thus when Niceley filed HB 1428 last year, the summary of the bill directed the commissioner of agriculture to "ensure that the statistics and other information" produced by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture "are posted and kept current on the department's web site" — innocuous stuff. Niceley and Faulk eventually deferred this bill to the 2010 legislative session.
The amendments to HB 1428 that recently emerged, however, delete all references to statistics and websites. The amendments declare the intent "to encourage the location of equine slaughter and processing facilities in Tennessee and provide for the operation of such facilities in a sanitary, safe, and humane manner, with such facilities to be licensed, permitted, inspected, and regulated by the department of agriculture." This is legislative whiplash territory.
Niceley says that last week he deferred the slaughter bill's hearing before the House Budget Subcommittee until April 7 because "it's easier to get things passed" toward the end of a session, "when things get busy." One of his senatorial colleagues, who refuses to speak on the record because "I have to work with this guy," detects another motive.
"Frank doesn't want it to come up until the filing date [April 1] has passed for candidates who might run against him," the legislator says.
Niceley points out that he already has two declared opponents. That he was recently pronounced "hostile to business" by the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce is another hurdle he'll have to negotiate. In an interview with the Knoxville News Sentinel, Niceley countered that the chamber is "out of control," "out of touch," and "obviously has something to hide." Under these circumstances, hiding the slaughter bill for as long as possible seems prudent politics.
Rep. Niceley, a farmer who lives in Strawberry Plains in East Tennessee, is a member of the House Agriculture Committee and chair of the House Subcommittee of Agriculture. He's also a member of the Farm Bureau — and the Tennessee Farm Bureau supports horse slaughter. To Niceley, horse slaughter is both common sense and good biz sense. In two interviews with the Scene, Niceley made his case.
"You just can't adopt out all the unwanted horses," he explains. "The reason horses are abused is because the do-gooders try to stop slaughter. We never had this problem before HSUS [Humane Society of the United States] and P.E.T.A. [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] came along."
Niceley says the horses that are starving are the result "of adoptions where they didn't have to pay $1,000 for the animal, which it would be worth if we had slaughter." These adopters "don't realize the expense of keeping a horse, so they get in over their heads." His rationale ignores the large-scale abuse of equines recently rescued in Cannon and Sumner counties, to name just two.
For Niceley, slaughter is the solution because it creates "an end product for a horse, so they won't get so cheap. Right now you can get a horse for $10 or $20 at a sale," he says. A horse can be "a valuable product" for the meat and hide, which will give owners "a reason to keep them healthy."
Niceley says the opposition to horse slaughter isn't rational but emotional — the result of misplaced sentiment by those he calls, with sneering sexism, "Desperate Horsewives. Girls all want a horse when they're little; they don't want to eat Trigger. But we eat livestock, that's what we do."
Niceley admits that Americans aren't exactly clamoring to their butchers for equine flesh. "But there's a good export market" in Europe and the Far East "that would bring new wealth into the state from overseas," he notes. "They eat a lot of horse meat in China." Of course, what Nicely doesn't mention is that some Chinese eat dog meat, as well. Maybe he's also hit on a master strategy for the state's pet shelters.
Even if his bill passes, Niceley acknowledges, equine slaughterhouses won't immediately spring up in Tennessee because of federal policies. While horse slaughter is not strictly speaking illegal in the United States, it is illegal to transport horsemeat across state lines for human consumption. The last such slaughterhouse on U.S. soil closed in 2007 after legally necessary federal inspections of equine slaughter plants were de-funded by Congress.
Since then, horses have been shipped for slaughter primarily to Mexico and Canada — approximately 100,000 a year. The majority come from the horse racing and walking horse industries, according to Leighann McCollum, the Tennessee director of HSUS. The organization opposes horse slaughter, she explains, because "the horse is not a food animal in this country."
The horrific conditions to which these animals are subjected is available to anyone who Googles "horse slaughter" and can steel himself to look at the pictures. Transport is often provided in vehicles designed for shorter cattle or sheep in which horses cannot raise their heads. And because equines evolved as flight animals, they are difficult to stun in the killboxes. Horses are infamous for remaining conscious while being shackled, hoisted, cut and "bled out."
Niceley says bringing horse slaughter home would stop such cruelty because state regulations for transport and slaughter would be more humane. "My goal is to have the best, most modern, most humane slaughterhouses in the world right here in Tennessee." He says his bill would create a "friendly environment" for perhaps a firm from China to construct an equine slaughterhouse in a state that's in "the heart of horse country, so they" — the horses, not the Chinese — "would have a short trip."
If Tennessee were to become the go-to state for equine slaughter, however, horses could arrive on our doorstep after lengthy journeys from all over the country. How the Tennessee Department of Agriculture would regulate their transport is still to be determined — stop every slaughter truck at the state line?
One of the most questionable aspects of Niceley's bill is the punitive strictures it places on the person or organization challenging the licensing or permitting of an equine slaughterhouse. As currently written, the bill requires anyone mounting such a legal challenge to post as surety bond "20 percent of the estimated cost of building such a facility or the operational costs of an existing facility." And if the challenger loses, "such a person is liable for all financial losses the facility suffers if the court issues an injunction that halts operations while the action is pending." Such edicts raise troubling questions about citizen access to the court system, a right guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution.
Of course, legalizing horse slaughter could provide Tennessee's Department of Tourism Development with new marketing possibilities for its agritourism programs. In addition to corn mazes and pumpkin patches, the department could pitch tours of our "modern" and "humane" slaughter facilities. Not to mention billboards featuring images of shackled and hoisted horses overlaid with the department's current catch phrase: "In Tennessee, the Stage is Set for You!"
Niceley's proposal ultimately recalls — at least to those familiar with English literary history — an essay written by Jonathan Swift published way back in 1729. In "A Modest Proposal," Swift suggests that the starving Irish could relieve their plight — and turn their children from burden to public benefit — by selling their offspring as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. Swift's essay, however, was a savage satire attacking British policies in the Emerald Isle. Frank Niceley, on the other hand, isn't kidding.
Email editor@nashvillescene.com.
Comments (27)
Showing 1-25 of 27
As often occurs, Leighann McCollum has her facts wrong. Horse racing does not contribute a majority of horses to slaughter. The racing industry is one of the few horse endeavors that provides ongoing retraining for new jobs for horses as well as retirements homes. They've been doing this for literally decades. According to one estimate, less than 15 percent of the horses going to slaughter are Thoroughbreds.
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We need horse slaughter plants re-opened in the US immediately to leave non viable horses other than massive money drains on us with enriching a few involved in the scam on our emotions. There's no sanity at all in poisoning horses with drugs that ultimately end up further contaminating our water tables. Spouse and I live in Maine. Our governor recently took breakfast away from the live human beings who are unable to live independently and must live monitored in assisted living homes. Some have diabetes and can not exist without regular meals. While animal radicals have sprung up like mushrooms across the country it often seems nowhere are they more rabid or more rampant than in Tennessee and Maine. When I think of unsalable worthless spavined horses put in "horse sanctuaries aka horse nursing homes for the 20 or 30 year remainder of their lives" (which enormous cost is hidden in how it's dumped on the public), it's sickening. The public has NO notion that these animals will be gonad gutted for profit. The public has no less understanding these animals will be forced to keep breathing despite chronic illness pain or how much misery they are in for the financial benefit of the head of animal radical and animal sanctuary organizations. We must not let the irrational ideas held by city folk (many of whom fit the profile for those prone to gall bladder disease of being: fair, fat, and 40 -- who draw their animal knowledge from cartoons, for profit animal tv channels and other propaganda -- not from formal animal husbandry education or farming. Celebrities get involved for money and free publicity. One evening of wearing black tie or a gown being photoed at a "shelter or animal sanctuary" rakes them in tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of bucks of free publicity they'd otherwise have to shell out the money out of pocket to buy. Most celebrities with aging body parts slowly slipping toward their feet would kiss either end of a horse for thousands in free untaxed publicity. Far fewer of the public understand the heads of the animal radical organizations are helping drug companies market drugs faster without properly testing them for safety on animals. Even fewer lack any understanding global corporations are using animal radical groups here to help achieve the long term goal of moving US meat production abroad under mega-monopolies particularly to Pacific rim nations. It's much better that spent horses be slaughtered for meat than used to further more massive outright financial scams of the American public and the even worse global corporation alliance with foreign governments to move US meat production abroad.
The tactics of the pro slaughter community seem heavy on name calling and light on logic. "do-gooders" and "desperate housewives"? By most accounts the abused Cannon County horses were destined for slaughter - yet they were abused. All of the rescued horses found homes. Rep. Nicely says "You can't adopt out all the unwanted horses". All of the Cannon County rescued horses found homes with the assistance of "do-gooders". Stating that "The reason horses are abused is because the do-gooders try to stop slaughter." is simply an attempt to deflect responsibility from those doing the abuse. Instead of acknowledging the problem there is a campaign of denial and rationalization. The abuse issue is relatively simple. Animal owners have an obligation to insure the proper care of those animals. The fact that there is a market overseas for something doesn't mean we need to supply it. In this country horse slaughter is not legal. I certainly hope our state doesn't become the exception to that. I hope we can begin to elect legislators who can apply more creativity and compassion in their work and less denial.
Christine Khryling should be ashamed of herself and her journalism monitored before printing to prevent such horrifically prejudicial bleeding heart inuendos & slander of well intended legislation as published in this review. This proposed legislation is to alleviate the very cruelty imposed by the stupid HSUS & PETA backed legislation that is the direct cause of the "unintended consequences" of starvation and neglect. Christine reveals her own stupid shortsighted allegiance with those very oppresive organizations who aim to take away constitutional rights of freedom of choice and ultimatly impose a vegan society, if not directly, then through a backdoor.
But horse slaughter IS legal... and abuse and neglect still happen. There is absolutely nothing preventing you from selling your horse at the nearest livestock sale and have him end up in the processing plant. Let's call it for what it is: a lawmaker is trying to entice a foreign meatpacking corporation to open a processing plant in the state. The reason the previous US horse processors closed were because they were huge nuisances, didn't add value/revenue, and became a drain on local infrastructure (sewer). It was the STATES themselves which passed the laws to boot them out of IL and TX. They're what you call "bad neighbors": they bring property values down, lower public opinion, cause spills (check the history of the Texas plant's many violations), don't create any jobs worth anything (plant jobs tend to be low paying, often filled by immigrants because Americans won't work there). Nationwide the public doesn't approve of slaughter,and some were boycotting those areas that had horse processing plants. When California banned the sale of horses for slaughter, not only did neglect NOT increase, thefts went DOWN. LOOK at the history in Texas and Illinois before you bring this disaster into your own community.
YES PLEASE, Rep. Nicely, and THANK YOU for having the brass balls to take up this issue and stand for it. Equine professionals statewide THANK YOU!!!!!
If you are against horse slaughter, please check your facts. Yes, people haul from local sales all the way to Mexico - 20-plus hours on overloaded trailers with no food or water - only to be killed by whatever means at hand. Mexican plants have little to know regulation and don't care if a horse arrives in horrible condition. Canadian slaughterhouses, on the other hand, are carefully regulated. They don't accept underweight animals, they don't like slaughtering draft horses for meat, they have laws on how animals can be transported, how long they can stand on a "feedlot" before they are killed, and a method that must be followed in the slaughter process. It is quick and no more painful than the double-dose of drugs given to "humanely euthanize" an animal. Furthermore - people who can no longer sell their animals for a price - DO allow them to stand around and starve. It's simply not worth it to them to haul them to a sale and make $20 per head. Not only that, but the price of a GOOD, well-bred, and carefully cared for animal has markedly decreased due to the lack of a "floor" - which used to be $500-$600 "kill price" for any animal selling directly to the slaughterhouse. People can't survive by breeding and training horses anymore, not when they can't sell an animal for 1/5 the cost of breeding, feeding, and raising it. The "these horses were starved BECAUSE they were going to be shipped to slaughterhouses" argument is RIDICULOUS -- do you want to eat steaks off a starved cow? I don't think so. If the horse doesn't have the meat on his bones to make him worth "per pound" price...he has no value to the slaughterhouse. More likely, in the Cannon County case, he ran out of money to buy hay to feed the loads of horses he kept buying, he couldn't ship them to slaughter fast enough, and he couldn't get rid of them. About 70% of them were in no worse shape than you'd see on any night at any local sale, and that's not to his defense, that is a FACT. Visit Cookeville, Woodbury, or Lewisburg to see it for yourself.
Wow, what a man! He uses a caption bill to sneak through a sleazy horse slaughter bill while hiding behind the skirts of the Farm Bureau.
Well I must declare, you have spoke such word's of WISDOM~So in other word's sending as many horse's to be slaughtered (got a ring to the word slaughter, dosen't it)is the answer...LET'S STOP THE DO GOODER'S, oh my, your another fool without a heart..So slaughter to you would be compariable to a horse roaming free or walking through a field of alfafa,God Help us Do Gooder's and THe Horse's..You can laugh and blow it off, however you will one day stand accountable for the Slaughtering of THE HORSE'S.
Well I must declare, you have spoke such word's of WISDOM~So in other word's sending as many horse's to be slaughtered (got a ring to the word slaughter, dosen't it)is the answer...LET'S STOP THE DO GOODER'S, oh my, your another fool without a heart..So slaughter to you would be compariable to a horse roaming free or walking through a field of alfafa,God Help us Do Gooder's and THe Horse's..You can laugh and blow it off, however you will one day stand accountable for the Slaughtering of THE HORSE'S.
It would be interesting to know the statistics on horse theft before the US slaughterhouses closed and after. I wonder if making slaughterhouses legal in Tennessee which raises the profitability on theft would increase incidence? It is my understanding that killer buyers can clear 4-600 per horse depending on the purchase price. This net profit would rise if the killer buyers no longer have long transportation costs to other states and Mexico. My instinct tells me if this passes I'll need to keep my eyes on my horses.
Look people I don't like to see horses slaughtered either but I think its more humane than them starving. There are worse things than dying people. Peoples emotions have gotten the best of them here. I grew up around horses and rodeoed thru high school and college and after for a short time and I am a big horse lover but having too many of these nags is bringing the horse market down. The Tennessee Walking Horse is a big business in this state and brings lots of money to the state but because of the overpopulation of horses the cost of good performance horses has decreased. And lets face it a high value or sale price on horses would keep the starving to a minimum. Who is going to pay $5000-$25000 for a performance horse and let it stave or not care for it. The problem with these adoption horses is they aren't going to any better places than where they are taken from in some cases the adopters don't realize what they are getting in too just like lots of people who buy a horse for the sake of having one who are fair weather horse people as I call them. People have got to realize these animals eat not only during the recreational times but all year and the cost to properly feed a horse yearly probably is around $1000-$2000 per horse annually. We cannot save all these horses, people adopt so many that they end up starving as well because they don't have the means to care for them either. You people have forgotton that animal shelters put dogs and cats to sleep everyday there is at least of means to controlling the dog and cat population and they are easier for the average person to care for than a horse. One of the previous posters said something about a horse roaming in an alphalfa field this goes to show the general public don't have a clue about horse care. Alphalfa is an excellent nutrient for horses but a responsible horse owner would never turn one out in a alphalfa field too much of this type of grass or hay is bad on their kidneys and as sensitive as a horses stomach is too much of this high protein nutrient could cause a horse to colic and people that have alphalfa fields don't use them for free grazing it's for hay. You radicals are some of the reason we are having these problems with the starving of horses and till you understand the facts I think you need to ask someone who knows the business and horses instead of acting on emotion.
Look people I don't like to see horses slaughtered either but I think its more humane than them starving. There are worse things than dying people. Peoples emotions have gotten the best of them here. I grew up around horses and rodeoed thru high school and college and after for a short time and I am a big horse lover but having too many of these nags is bringing the horse market down. The Tennessee Walking Horse is a big business in this state and brings lots of money to the state but because of the overpopulation of horses the cost of good performance horses has decreased. And lets face it a high value or sale price on horses would keep the starving to a minimum. Who is going to pay $5000-$25000 for a performance horse and let it stave or not care for it. The problem with these adoption horses is they aren't going to any better places than where they are taken from in some cases the adopters don't realize what they are getting in too just like lots of people who buy a horse for the sake of having one who are fair weather horse people as I call them. People have got to realize these animals eat not only during the recreational times but all year and the cost to properly feed a horse yearly probably is around $1000-$2000 per horse annually. We cannot save all these horses, people adopt so many that they end up starving as well because they don't have the means to care for them either. You people have forgotton that animal shelters put dogs and cats to sleep everyday there is at least of means to controlling the dog and cat population and they are easier for the average person to care for than a horse. One of the previous posters said something about a horse roaming in an alphalfa field this goes to show the general public don't have a clue about horse care. Alphalfa is an excellent nutrient for horses but a responsible horse owner would never turn one out in a alphalfa field too much of this type of grass or hay is bad on their kidneys and as sensitive as a horses stomach is too much of this high protein nutrient could cause a horse to colic and people that have alphalfa fields don't use them for free grazing it's for hay. You radicals are some of the reason we are having these problems with the starving of horses and till you understand the facts I think you need to ask someone who knows the business and horses instead of acting on emotion.
Look people I don't like to see horses slaughtered either but I think its more humane than them starving. There are worse things than dying people. Peoples emotions have gotten the best of them here. I grew up around horses and rodeoed thru high school and college and after for a short time and I am a big horse lover but having too many of these nags is bringing the horse market down. The Tennessee Walking Horse is a big business in this state and brings lots of money to the state but because of the overpopulation of horses the cost of good performance horses has decreased. And lets face it a high value or sale price on horses would keep the starving to a minimum. Who is going to pay $5000-$25000 for a performance horse and let it stave or not care for it. The problem with these adoption horses is they aren't going to any better places than where they are taken from in some cases the adopters don't realize what they are getting in too just like lots of people who buy a horse for the sake of having one who are fair weather horse people as I call them. People have got to realize these animals eat not only during the recreational times but all year and the cost to properly feed a horse yearly probably is around $1000-$2000 per horse annually. We cannot save all these horses, people adopt so many that they end up starving as well because they don't have the means to care for them either. You people have forgotton that animal shelters put dogs and cats to sleep everyday there is at least of means to controlling the dog and cat population and they are easier for the average person to care for than a horse. One of the previous posters said something about a horse roaming in an alphalfa field this goes to show the general public don't have a clue about horse care. Alphalfa is an excellent nutrient for horses but a responsible horse owner would never turn one out in a alphalfa field too much of this type of grass or hay is bad on their kidneys and as sensitive as a horses stomach is too much of this high protein nutrient could cause a horse to colic and people that have alphalfa fields don't use them for free grazing it's for hay. You radicals are some of the reason we are having these problems with the starving of horses and till you understand the facts I think you need to ask someone who knows the business and horses instead of acting on emotion.
OH no YOU don't!! I am a level headed female thank you & I have Iron shoes on and am looking to kick butt! After all the progress we rescuers have labored for (who might I add are also MALES involved) are we really going back to the stone age with this for the sake of profit? My mind is reeling with the thought that this could even be a proposal in our legislature. As far as "Trigger" well I had an actual pony named Trigger as a child but that doesn't mean I'm too emotional as a female to have a moral sense. I don't appreciate the insult that because I ACTIVELY CARE I am an idiot so to speak (anyone else get that feeling or WAS it just me?)The comment he made about horses that are adopted out are starving in peoples backyards because they are cheap to get from us rescue facilities...well I as a rescue am obligated to check these homes they go to and have legal contracts that grant me the right of removal from them if they fail to care for them properly and we have taken horses back in my former rescue in Virginia without any problem WE haven't had that happen here YET. The rescue does not stop for any rescue that I know (and I know them all)in Tennessee after the trailer leaves the barn. We monitor horses in their new homes and would never leave them abandoned to the same situation we spent so much time getting them to recover from. He obviously has no clue what we do or who we even are or the enormous task we undertake without any help from the state and how much we help the state to continue to turn a blind eye to handling the problem properly instead of the people having to do something ourselves and open a NON PROFIT RESCUE. We will do what it is we do best: SPEAK FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NO VOICE OR VOTE BUT WE AS HUMANS HAVE A RECOURSE AND WE ARE GOING TO USE IT FOR THEM. All I can say is "See you in April!"
I own horses, I love horses, and I have over my lifetime rescued many horses. I support both the felony cruelty bill and the horse slaughter bill. When horses are unwanted and unusable, they end up dead one way or the other. Better to be humanely transported and slaughtered, than to slowly starve in someone's back pasture. When slaughter is an option, there is an economic incentive to feed the horses and keep them in reasonable health. You can't sell them otherwise. The slaughter price sets a floor for horse value. Since slaughter was outlawed, the price of horses has fallen so much that people who cannot afford to keep horses either abandon them to misery or give them away to cretins like those in Cannon County.
The quotes from Rep Nicely in this article are downright laughable. Horse slaughter would encourage tourism?? Just because you say it, doesn't make it true. In fact, the opposite is highly likely, since most tourists don't want their water supply choked with blood and tissue and the foul odor of decaying meat. These are some of the actual complaints from the town in TX, where Beltex was located: http://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/when-horse-slaughter-comes-to-town-environmental-impact/ Re: #7 "Canadian slaughterhouses, on the other hand, are carefully regulated." You're kidding right? Or perhaps you missed the CBC undercover expose and subsequent closing of Natural Valley Farms in Saskatchewan, and the recent sweeping undercover investigation of Canada's leading equine slaughterhouses with damning evidence of inhumane treatment? http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chambers-of-carnage---a-sweeping-undercover-investigation-of-canadas-leading-equine-slaughterhouses-89506497.html Also, availability of horse slaughter has NO bearing, I repeat NO bearing on neglect or abuse. ZERO. NADA. It is entirely related to the economy. Also, it's STILL legal to send your horse to slaughter and we still have neglect. But for those who continue to have their heads in the sand, crying for slaughter to end neglect, here is the statistical evidence to disprove your ridiculous theory: http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/Horse_Slaughter_Trends_2006-2009.pdf You pro-slaughter advocates really need to be honest about your motives. All this hand-wringing over the necessity of slaughter to end neglect is not sufficient cover to distract from your personal profit motives related to US-based equine slaughter.
I question race/walking horses being the majority sent to slaughter...far & away the #1 breed by volume is the quarter horse and that is a much higher rate to consider all the unregistered ones. Slaughter isn't an ideal option for sure - but on the other hand where do the horses go? Rescues cannot take them all. this was pointed out before the slaughter ban - and discounted and yet rescues in every state I've heard of turning horses away and 'overstocked' on what they have. That leaves 55-100,000 horses per year to what fate?
I use to rodeo and go to horse actions. 1st I need to clear the air horse racing is responsible for half of the horses sent to slaughter (i know I have delt with the industry for years) we would go to the action and hear people when they would tell them that this horse is an ex-race horse oh never mind the only good thing for it os slaughter. So before you write know what your talking about. Most race horses can (with time) be retrained for some thing else the problem is that people only see them as a useless animal. Also babies are sold with there moms to slaughter houses and go right along with them. There is no age limit on hold the animal has to be. Its not going to help the abuse or neglect a the horse industry has. Hay if we are going to pass it think about this why not start slaughtering dog's and cat's they eat them too think about that. Would you eat any of it?
My fiance is a horse trainer, and I own four horses myself. There are several people who have made excellent points in their comments, but the problem is that the people who are for horse slaughter don't consider all of the consequences of their opinions. One person said that cats and dogs are put to sleep in this country everyday. That is true. I had to put one of my own dogs to sleep last year. The difference is that I didn't sell my dog to a slaughter house so that someone in another country could eat him! You can take a horse to a vet and have it put to sleep just as easily as you can any other domestic animal. These people who "can't afford to feed their horses" are full of crap. They are NEGLECTING their horses. Even if they can't get their horse into an adoption group or find someone else to take it, they could still have it humanely euthanized as a last resort instead of letting them starve to death! There have even been clinics opened across America that will euthanize horses for FREE. The bottom line is that it is easier for ignorant, lazy people to let their horses die in a field rather than accept responsibility for them and make a hard decision. Please don't misunderstand. Euthanizing ANY animal should be a LAST resort, but I would much rather see someone do that than make a buck off of slaughtering them! There are horrible horse auctions all over this country...MANY of them in East Tennessee where I live...where you can buy a perfectly healthy, beautiful horse for $50! And these people show up with semis to buy them and take them to Canada or Mexico to make money from their deaths. People should NOT be able to make money by slaughtering domestic animals that our country doesn't use for food!!! MORE horses will die as a result of having slaughter houses because people will get paid for taking them there. This is logic...not a bleeding heart. I don't want to see any living creature, human or otherwise, suffer...but to be able to PROFIT from having horses killed is NOT going to solve the problem!
I have lived in Tennessee all my life and most people here do not want horseslaughter or any other animal abuse. I hope and pray this is not another instance where politicians dont listen to the people. I wander about the motives of Mr Nicely and why he is so for this when most of the state and nation are against it. It has to be money. Why else would anyone in their right mind want this. We had packing companies shut down because of abuse. Its always about the money and the payoff in the long run and the truth will come out. Watch and see.
Rep. Nicely is definately not a friend to farm animals. Last week a bill was defeated that whould charge anyone with a felony for the abuse of farm animals (horses included).The state agricultural comittee decided that withholding food and/or water from a farm animal resulting in starvation, neglect or death should not be a felony. It is only a misdemeanor now. Both the Farm Bureau and the Agricultural comittee wanted this bill defeated. You all know about the 84 horses, goats and chickens that were rescued from a farm in Cannon Co. by the Humane Society and volunteers. There were some horses that were found dead from lack of food and water. Foals were so weak they couldn.t walk and some of the horses so weak they couldn't stand. The two men responsible for this were charged with a misdemeanor and their bond was set at $1500.00 each. There was the husband in Sweetwater who tied his wifes horse behind his truck and dragged him until the horse was close to death and then prodeeded to take a pitch fork and kill the horse. Apparently the wife went to the D.A. and asked him to file charges but was told that it would only be a misdemeanor and would be a waste of time. The powerful Farm Bureau and it's Lobbyists and the State Ag. Comittee have ridiculous reasons for not wanting this bill passed. One being that we, the public do not understand general farm practices and might misunderstand it as inhumane treatment. If the farm bureau wants to keep the good name of decent farmers then let them speak for them and not those inhumane abusers. If Nicely is so concerned about the abuse of horses then why didn't he vote to pass the bill. There are so many other humane alternatives to horse slaughter houses if a horse is aged, sick or crippled . Call your Vet and have him put down humanely and if you can't afford to do it, reputable horse rescues here in Tn. will take care of it for you. Every time I have heard Nicely speak he comes up with a different idea as to why we should have horse slaughter in Tn. He mentioned bringing in China to build a plant ugh!!! They can't even make childrens toys or sheetrock that is safe. I have raised horses most of my life and to me Horses are god's gift to mankind. There has always been a close bond between man and horse. Please read the following interview that I am enclosing and then you make up your mind. This is just one of his many reasons for horse slaughter in Tn. How do we get politicians like him and some of the others representing us!
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/te…
WhoaDolly, and all you other pro-slaughterers to go here:http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/ChambersofCarnage.html
First, read the page, maybe check out the links, and then WATCH THE VIDEOS! I DARE you! Go WATCH and then come back here and tell us how wonderful, tightly regulated Canada's slaughter plants are. Just like the ones you'll get here in Tennessee. Just like the ones we had in Texas. I have seen the REAL DEAL up close and personal. The info at this link is all too accurate.
I'll be watching for the comments of those of you who are pro-slaughter and watch the videos with the understanding that they are REAL and ACCURATE. I KNOW.
If you can't stomach the videos, and still support slaughter, well... If I told you what you are, this wouldn't get posted.
Before anymore horse killing houses are built,perhaps the public should view the videos on www.defendhorsescanada.org, Horse slaughter is sadistic and insane. People if you own horses please get the Vet to put them down, when you no longer think they should live. Take responsibility for the welfare of your horse.
