States Want Slaughterhouses, Despite Decline in Horsemeat Market

The Idaho Senate just passed a resolution in favor of legalizing horse slaughter. Sadly, they're just one of many Western and Midwestern states hopping on the slaughter wagon, using the same rationale we've heard before — blaming the rise in neglected horses on the slaughterhouse ban.

But the Equine Welfare Alliance has disproven that theory. In a recent report (pdf) on horse slaughter trends, EWA concluded that the number of horses slaughtered is directly tied to the demand for meat, not to the number of unwanted horses. In an earlier study, they found that cases of abuse and neglect correlated to rising levels of unemployment, not to slaughterhouse closings.

And demand for horsemeat has been declining worldwide in this tough economy, despite the greater number of "available" horses.

Earlier this month, Italy — the largest consumer of horsemeat in Europe — proposed a ban on the slaughter and sale of horsemeat. Although there's been some outcry from people who want to preserve the culinary tradition, the proposal has received cross-party support in the government and has been welcomed by animal welfare groups and the Italian federation for equine sports.

Horse meat has some new restrictions in Canada, too. Authorities are cracking down on existing guidelines prohibiting the slaughter of animals for consumption if they've ever received prohibited substances, many of which are used regularly in the horse racing industry and by horse breeders. In 2009, over 50,000 horses were exported across the border from the U.S. But effective this July, all horses slaughtered in Canada for human consumption need to have complete records.

So, if there's so little demand for U.S. horsemeat, what's the point of re-opening U.S. slaughterhouses? Do they think they're going to start promoting horsemeat to the American public?

The argument that the slaughterhouse ban is responsible for horse neglect never made sense to me. First of all, tens of thousands of horses are still being shipped across the border to become meat (although the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act would put an end to that, too). But more logically, do people with dogs and cats complain that they have no choice but to let their animals starve and suffer because they don't have slaughterhouses to sell them to?

Horse owners who want to do the humane thing instead of making one last buck off their horses have the same options of calling the local humane society or opting for euthanasia. People who don't want to see their horses subjected to the cruelty of a slaughterhouse, not to mention the transport process, aren't mourning the lack of U.S. facilities, simply because slaughter is not the default option that its proponents  would like you to believe it is.

Photo credit: Valerie Everett