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Lives: Ending the Horrors of Horse Slaughter in Texas
by Lynn Cuny, Founder & Executive Director,
Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation
Monday, March 19, 2007
A well-worn cliché holds canines to
be "man's best friend." While dogs have shared our
firesides for millennia, hunting and scavenging alongside
us in our quest for survival, it may be the horse to whom
our nation owes the deepest debt of gratitude.
It was on the backs of horses that our country
was built. Not only did horses pull our plows, wagons, and
heavy machinery, leading us through the agricultural and into
the industrial revolution, but they were also the main transportation
source in our cities, farms, and towns before the dawn of
the automobile.
Heavy draft horses carried the iron rails
and mining debris that made our railroad network possible.
Meanwhile, the bond between horse and rider in the Old and
New West has become the stuff of legend. If any animal deserves
our abundant historical gratitude and respect, it is Horse.
Sadly, this long-standing relationship has
not always been a two-way street of reciprocal respect and
kindness. For all of their hard labor, these noble animals
have too often been beaten and put to death for failing to
endure more demanding labors. While some atrocities have been
popularized by childhood stories like Black Beauty,
the worst abuses have not been seen on the silver screen or
treated in Young Adult literature. But recent action by state
and federal lawmakers, prosecutors and judges, may start righting
our historic moral debt.
The target is the horse slaughter industry;
Texas is the battleground.
It was over 50 years ago that horse-loving
Texans first stood against the practice — banning horse
slaughter for human consumption in 1949. Still, two foreign-owned
plants in Texas kept right on killing and slaughtering horses
for diners in France, Japan, and other countries, despite
the law.
In the places where this happens, horses are
clubbed with bolt pistols. As in slaughter houses in general,
the shock doesn't always render the animal unconscious. Too
often, they feel the knife as it slashes their throats and
they are hoisted up to be bled before their flesh is stripped
away.
And imagine the experience of horses standing
in line, waiting their turn for the knife — is there
any more sensitive and intuitive domesticated animal? Is it
conceivable that they don't sense their fate and feel panic
at the prospect?
 Last
year, a federal judge ruled the plants were, in fact, operating
illegally. However, it was too late for the 100,000 horses
that the two plants — along with one in Illinois —
had already killed that year.
On March 5, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled that the prior judge's logic was sound and,
consequently, slaughtering horses was not. The horse meat
lobby struck back the next day when state Rep. Sid Miller
of Stephenville filed House Bill 2476 with the aim of repealing
the 1949 ban that prohibited this loathsome practice in the
first place.
This is where you and I come in. We know that
too often government and Big Business conspire in ways that
are not reflective of our common values. This could become
one of those cases if you and I don't make sure our state
legislators know right now that Texans don't approve of slaughtering
our horses for exotic "appetites" — foreign
OR domestic. We love horses far more than that.
First, we need to block HB 2476. Second, we
need to push our representatives in Washington, D.C., to pass
the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and settle this issue once
and for all.
I'm sure that our neighbors around the Hill
Country abhor the very notion of horse slaughter and wouldn't
knowingly sell their horse to that end. There are, sadly,
not only deceptive buyers out there but outright thieves looking
to exploit this bloody industry as long as they are able.
This is our moment to start making good on our historic debt
to the horse.
For more information on this important issue,
contact Habitat for Horses at www.habitatforhorses.org,
or the Texas Humane Legislation Network at www.thln.org.
About the Author
Lynn Cuny is the founder and director of Wildlife
Rescue & Rehabilitation in Kendalia, Texas. She is the
author of two books, Through
Animals' Eyes and Through
Animals' Eyes, Again. Her monthly column "Wild
Lives" examines animal issues and the intricacies of
human-wildlife relationships.
About Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation
Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation (WRR)
(www.wildlife-rescue.org)
was founded in 1977 in San Antonio by Lynn Cuny. Our mission
is to provide rescue, rehabilitation, and release of orphaned,
injured, and displaced wildlife, and provide sanctuary with
dignity for non-releasable and non-native wild animals who
have been the victims of the exotic pet trade, rescued from
roadside zoos, or used in research. Today WRR volunteers and
staff annually receive 5,000–6,000 animals at our 187-acre
sanctuary outside Kendalia, Texas. Over 600 wild and farmed
animals make their permanent home at WRR.
Contact Information
For more information about Wildlife Rescue
& Rehabilitation's sanctuary operations or educational
programs visit www.wildlife-rescue.org
or contact Education & Advocacy Coordinator Gregory Harman
at education@wildlife-rescue.org
or (830) 336-2725.
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