I had to do some research on animal welfare for a class, and I came across this website which I chose to evaluate as part of the paper: http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/index.php
As I was writing my evaluation, I came across some videos of horse slaughter on this website, and I became upset by it, so here is what I wrote (not edited):
This website has many graphic photos and videos regarding horse slaughter and it is difficult to tell if these are worst-case-scenario depictions from unregulated facilities, or if these are depicting the best case for these horses in terms of slaughter. Prior to watching these videos myself, I was of the impression that horse slaughter might be a necessary evil with the numbers of horses being left without food, water, or shelter due to the overpopulation of horses and lack of financial resources. However, watching these videos has drastically changed my mind. The most disturbing part of these videos to me was not the captive bolt itself, but the level of stress the horses were undergoing prior to death. When we have been taught about slaughter of livestock for food, there seems to be a lot of research from people such as Temple Grandin as to how the cattle for example can be transported, and moved from trailer into the slaughter facility in the least stressed manner. And so I guess I ignorantly associated horse slaughter in the same light. That the horses perhaps walked in relatively calmly, were shot unconscious, and that it could be a humane way to end their lives. However, from watching these videos, I am acutely aware of the sensitivity of horses. Something I have always known, but didn’t put two and two together. Horses have to be DE-sensitized to most things before they feel less stressed. Humans, halters, trailers, saddles, bits, etc. So to think that you could for the first time, shove a horse into a chute and expect them to remain calm is stupid. These horses were falling down, slipping, doing whatever they could to try to escape because they knew whatever was happening to them was not going to end well. And that I couldn’t stand to watch. It is true that leaving a horse out to starve and die is not fair either. So as a future veterinarian do I decide to promote horse slaughter in the US as a means of decreasing the excess horse population, or do I decide to try to make an impact in those horses lives I CAN impact, my clients, those horse owners in my community? I think it is hard to saw what is worse, a starving horse, or a horse shoved onto a potentially 24 hour long trailer ride where he/she can be injured, and in that short time deprived of food and water, and then forced into a dark chute where a human stands overtop with a huge metal gun, and try with their last breath to escape their impending fate. In the short run, captive bolt is a fast and if done correctly, painless way to go (although judging from these videos, how accurate can you be with a horse rapidly moving his 200+ pound head around?), but are the pains and stresses before worth it? Obviously in practice, I would never suggest slaughter, but it’s the horses I won’t have control over I worry about. Those right now that might be homeless. Which would they prefer? I would prefer to starve. But I am a human with conscious thoughts. And horses are not people. But I think its clear they aren’t livestock either. And this human-animal bond class has made that even more apparent to me. Cattle, at least those that I have been exposed to, are raised with a purpose to provide meat or milk for humans. Horses on the other hand are our pets, our family members, and I for one am bonded to them. Even the crazies. So I leave you with this to think about. I for one need more information to form my proper opinion, but I think I know where I am headed. All the horses that have touched me, I could never send them knowingly into such a fate.
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