The load too heavy

I just spent two days in Indianapolis, Ind., at the 2008 National Institute for Animal Agriculture meeting. The theme of this year's meeting was "Animal Welfare and Well Being."

Indeed, I believe the discussion was timely and most of it was right on. No matter what the topic or species discussed, the current status of harvesting horses for human consumption comes up in conservation.

I am going to qualify the following comments by saying that I didn't hear anyone say, "Yes, I think we will get back into the horse harvesting business on U.S. soil very soon." But I will tell you that I feel the worm has turned in understanding that the unwanted horse scenario is very real.

Everyone in attendance that I had the opportunity to visit with already understands the need for horse harvesting. But I believe that now many of the officials we were trying to convince about the fact that unwanted horses would become a real problem if we shut down U.S. operating facilities are now starting to believe us.

In the past month, the best and most fair mainstream media story about the situation, which I have already witnessed firsthand, ran in USA Today. The title of the article actually tells the story in itself, "U.S. Shelters Saddled with Unwanted Horses."

I recently visited with Dr. Tom Lenz of the Unwanted Horse Coalition. He told me that he is receiving a couple of stories every day about unwanted horses showing up in undesirable places. I have just received data from the Illinois Department of Agriculture that graphs the claims of horse neglect dating back to 1995 and the numbers have tripled.

Most importantly, there have been two spikes in the past 13 years. The first occurred at the end of 2002 and the second at the end of 2007. As you may have concluded, in March of 2002, the Cavel International Horse Processing Plant burned down and, in July of 2007, the plant was closed by state legislation.

An issue that should be even more concerning to all Americans is the complete waste of taxpayer dollars that are spent on unwanted wild horses. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reports on their website that the wild horse population in 11 states is nearly 30,000 head.

With a little more digging, you may learn that they roundup between 7,000 and 8,000 head each year for potential adoption. They successfully adopt out about 5,000 head annually.

The BLM has what they call short term and long term holding facilities. The short term holding facilities house the horse in preparation for adoption. Currently, there are about 9,000 horses in short term holding.

Once a horse is designated as "non-adoptable," it goes to long term care. We have in excess of 21,000 horses being warehoused in long term holding facilities.

Current law requires that these horses are provided an elevated nutritional supply which doubles their life expectancy and costs over 55 percent of the total $38 million budget for the entire Wild Horse and Burro Program.

At some point, common sense must prevail in recognizing that it doesn't make a lick of horse sense to worship these old horses that have no useful future. There are hungry people around the world and zoo animals in this country that need the protein that these horses should be providing.

Instead, we continue to discuss the merits of unwanted horses while the horses are the real losers. The people who believe there are no such things as unwanted horses need to get out their checkbooks and start buying feed for these animals. Unprecedented feed costs, drought in certain regions, and high transportation costs have all contributed to the ever-growing problem of unwanted horses showing up in unusual places.

No one who endorses horse harvesting as a viable option for unwanted horses is attempting to tell all horse owners that they must sell their horse to be eaten by a Frenchmen. But the very rights that we, as Americans, have had for 229 years are being restricted by those who want to eliminate that option for me.

Even more disheartening than the erosion of personal property rights is the fact that the true experts in the horse industry continue to share their concern about the increasing number of unwanted horses and what will become of them without horse harvesting as an option.

The burden of this legislation is simply more weight than any horse should have to pack across the prairie.

Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.

4/28/08
1 Star WK\9-B

Date: 4/24/08

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Reader Comments TX Cattleman — 04/29/2008 09:04:11 I totally agree that horse slaughter must be re-instated NOW! I am tired of seeing unwanted livestock showing up in less than ideal situations. If we are so worried about stolen horses ending up at the slaughter plant, let's devise a plan for identification. I can envision an ID system that uses electric devise that is implanted into the horse....and could be paid for by a checkoff system much like our beef or pork checkoff system. The bottom line is that horses are livestock and should be treated as such. I don't need some California hippie or city slicker deciding how country folk should market unwanted horses. Reader Comments JoAnne — 04/29/2008 07:04:40 Ditto on the first two comments! Plus we need to remember that not all of the "unwanted" horses that go to slaughter are unwanted, many are stolen by men wanting to make a easy buck! Stop all the unnessasary breeding. Quarter horses and Paints are for sale in any newspaper you pick up now a days, and most are only a year old. Easy money that breeding is!!! Reader Comments Sandy — 04/28/2008 03:04:38 My impression is that Mr. Lott is mostly interested in the welfare of his wallet and not the welfare of horses. The point of most Animal Agricultural meetings is how to make a profit on the meat of animals while lowering the cost of production. Please remember that the Unwanted Horse Coalition is pro-horse slaughter. Also, I have seen data that proves that horse neglect DECREASED in 2002 and 2007 when Cavel burned/closed rather than having increased. Yes, the BLM wastes alot of taxpayers' money with cruel roundups and feeding thousands of wild horses at holding facilities. Why not just drop some hay when it's needed by the wild herds and otherwise, leave them alone! Mr. Lott mentions that there are 'hungry people around the world' but the reality is that most of them can't afford expensive horse meat. Let the French eat their own horses. Most zoos don't want to serve horse meat because the meat is tainted with drugs and supplements. American horses are not bred and born to be butchered. There are many alternatives to deal with old, crippled or ill horses and slaughter is not a humane alternative. Reader Comments Lori — 04/28/2008 08:04:40 Mr. Loos, Since you support the slaughter of our US horses for foreign dinner tables, I will have to also conclude that you support the tainted meat that this industry provides. As you should know, horses are not regulated or medicated as food animals. About 70% of horse medications are either illegal to be consumed by humans or have not been tested for human consumption. Are the illegal substances found in US slaughter horses? Absolutely. According to the USDA's Red Book, of the 66,183 horses slaughtered in 2004, 6.6% (4,268.08) horses were in violation for "bute" and 13.3% (8,802.34) were in violation of Penicillin. Of the 94,037 horses slaughtered in 2005, 11.1% (10,344.07) horses were in violation for "bute" and 25% (23,509.25) were in violation of Penicillin. Only small samples of 15 horses and 8 horses, respectively, were even tested. You can bet the other horses that were not tested got the USDA stamp of approval and were sent overseas, even though it is clearly illegal according to our own food laws and the laws of the European Union.What are the alternatives? 1) you can ban the 70% of currently legal medications that horses receive to be in compliance, which would jeopardize the health of the 99% of 9 million US horses that are not slaughtered, 2) you can implement a costly 'passport' system like Great Britain (a country also greatly opposed to horse slaughter) had to implement in 2004 for ALL UK horses to track the medications that horses receive throughout their lifetimes, or 3) you can stop the slaughter of the 1% of US horses for human consumption. I challenge you and the rest of the pro-slaughter folks (including the AVMA) to address this, as you have clearly not done so to date. Article: The load too heavy Add Your Comment To post a comment on this story, enter your screen name and email address then click "Add Comment." Your email address will not be displayed. 348 Recommend | 4 Comments

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