From Deseret News archives:
They eat horses, don't they?
That was the message from the U.S. House of Representatives, anyway, when it voted 263 to 146 to approve the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. The bill will keep horses from being slaughtered and sold as dinner steaks.
Utah's congressional contingent voted against the bill, feeling it was pointless and ill-timed.
We feel the timing was right. And the point was this: The amount of respect a nation shows its domestic animals is a barometer of its humanity. Think of the wholesale "dog slaughter" in China this summer that triggered consternation around the globe.
Since America was founded, the horse has been an emblem of nobility, grace and power here. Some argue that horses not dogs should actually wear the monicker "man's best friend."
Congress was simply saying Americans shouldn't eat their friends.
To wit: Last year, not only U.S. horses were slaughtered for meat here, but 7.5 percent of those horses were imported from Canada for the express purpose of butchering.
One slaughterhouse in Texas made $12 million in revenue by slaughtering horses for meat but paid only $5 in taxes.
In 2002, Ferdinand the winner of the 1986 Kentucky Derby was slaughtered, packaged as meat and sent to Japan where he was served for dinner.
None of the slaughterhouses in the United States are owned by U.S. citizens. Yet each year, those "abattoirs" butcher 100,000 American horses and sell the meat to France, Belgium and Japan.
In slaughterhouses, horses are killed with a "captive bolt gun" that drives a metal spike into their heads. Sometimes the horses are only stunned, so are hoisted by a rear leg to unceremoniously have their throats slit.
Such details should not only make horse lovers cringe but make everyone balk before ever saying again they are hungry enough to "eat a horse."
Recent comments
I tottaly agree with Chloe too.
sandy | Dec. 10, 2009 at 9:12 a.m.
Omgoddness you guys are evil to think that this is alright.
horse lover 4-ever | Dec. 8, 2009 at 2:18 p.m.
wow they are right !!! I mean come on they are living creatures That...
mary lynn | Dec. 8, 2009 at 2:16 p.m.
- Depleted uranium OK'd for storage 6:51 p.m.
- Snow may fly with weekend warm-up 6:33 p.m.
- ATK to cut 800 jobs 6:11 p.m.
- Cops: Artist's son swipes paintings 5:57 p.m.
- Incentives to create new jobs 5:51 p.m.
- Teen to be tried as adult 5:45 p.m.
- Study: 5 steps to creativity 5:44 p.m.
- Former CEO is Entrepreneur of Year 5:40 p.m.
- Calendar of events for December 5:36 p.m.
- New films and special screenings 5:30 p.m.
- Nude bathers cited for lewdness
- Few details on missing W.V. mom
- Jazz fall apart late at L.A.
- Crash landing next to I-15
- I-15 expansion barreling south
- Palin signs books, chats with fans
- BCS = power conference monopoly
- Y.'s Emery bruised, but rarely beaten
- 5 officers lose their certification
- Mutated version of H1N1 found
- Letters: Global warming a lie
254 - TCU to play Boise in Fiesta Bowl
206 - BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
193 - Palin signs books, chats with fans
158 - Cougars going back to Vegas
150 - Utah/BYU rivalry can be more civil
149 - Andersen apologizes for Jordan hoax
142 - Max Hall wants to look ahead
123 - Nude bathers cited for lewdness
117 - Jazz fall apart late at L.A.
108
Love him or hate him, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch knows how to get attention.
For the latest news in the health care debate and how it affects you...
Mike, Emma and their children did reject Joseph’s teaching of...
Funny thing, running the Las Vegas Marathon this year was also my eighth...
Some one asked who you would trade Boozer for? I believe last summer they...
@ 5:48, Here is the full text from Matthew 7: "Judge not, that ye be...
When I was younger I used to wonder why some adults seemed to be leery and...
So all stats identical with Pitta and Hernandez, except that one small...
I think Chick-fil-A is great food. It is not plasticized. This is a wonderful...
Gee, with "friends" like that to protect you, who needs enemies?....
Let's face it, these are a bunch of Yao Ming fans in China who love the...
"What in christainity could lead to the fall of an empire? The love your...

