Horse Slaughter - Some Valid Arguments

I'm a little late to the conversation, but the arguments below are so valuable that I wanted to post them. Thank you Juli Thorsen for some great closing questions. If you're a horse lover/owner, you'll probably enjoy reading Juli's blog Horse Talk on a regular basis. She facilitates some great conversations.

It's never been my intention for this blog to turn into yet another place for people to argue their positions about horse slaughter. As a debate subject, it's never-ending, often disintegrates to name-calling and finger-pointing, and doesn't achieve its intended aim: No one from one side ever changes anyone's mind on the other side.

So instead of throwing more logs on the passion bonfire, let's face up to some facts instead. Here's where we are; let's just start dealing with it.

* There is little likelihood that any kind of factory-processing of live equines into useable byproducts will ever return to this country. South Dakota legislators added fresh evidence to that statement just last week, when they rejected a proposal--S.B. 170--to build an equine processing plant in that mostly rural state.

* Legal exportation of horses for this purpose is likely to come to halt as well. "The killers"--those who attend horse auctions, or who answer ads for free horses with intentions of shipping and selling the animals to meat processors--are about to be eliminated as a horse-market layer.

* This will leave horses without their traditional, by-the-liveweight livestock value--which is close to being gone already. This will create paradigm shifts with far-reaching consequences--some predictable, others not so predictable. But you know what? Humans are an adaptable species; we'll adjust, because we'll have to.

* As part of the adjustment, we'll each become more familiar with the ways and means of equine death and disposal--because the responsibility for it will rest with every individual horse owner.

* When all's said and done, this singular fact will remain: Every horse, with or without a loving home, will someday become a carcass that needs to be dealt with.

* So let's move on from slaughter as a subject, and open up a new one--that of individual disposal plans. You consider yourself a responsible horse owner, right? You're not one of those who'd just turn a horse loose to fend for itself, or dump it onto some unsuspecting person's property. You're not going to pretend that your horse will never die, or ever need to be put out of its misery. What are your plans? What method of euthanasia will you choose, and what will you do with each of the bodies?