Don't Let Horse Slaughter Come Back to the U.S.

Christine Distefano of Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue and Sanctuary in Southampton sent out a mass email on Tuesday that got my attention.

The horror of horse slaughter may be coming back to the United States, and if you don’t speak your mind about it, then it probably will. How can you not react to this?

The email from Christine Distefano reads:

It is amazing to me that I must again make this request on behalf of the horse nation. Believe it or not, the well-heeled pro slaughter advocates have paid the way clear for not one, but two prospective horse slaughtering plants to open on American soil.
 
I refuse to react emotionally, you will see that as a weakness often shared by the “tree-huggers” of the world. I will neither react rationally, which would cause me to point this ship in the other direction due to the fact that the combined efforts of the self proclaimed horse rescues of the nation have fallen quite short of the mark of ending the butchering. I will react morally, however.
 
The outrageous, barbaric and murderous butchering of thousands of horses is unacceptable. MAKE A CALL and declare your stance. THERE IS NO CHOICE. You choose to speak for the horses or YOU ALLOW THEIR HELL TO CONTINUE.
 
Slaughter is not euthanasia.  Europeans do not look to eat elderly meat. Crimes against equines from point of transport are horrific. The expense of euthanising a sick, injured or elderly equine is quickly reimbursed in the following month of their absence on the feed and board bill. There are NO excuses for brutality.
 
Capt. Jack Sparrow was yanked off a Mexico bound slaughter truck many years ago. He is what they slaughter. Young and healthy. Do not be fooled by the propaganda of the BREEDERS and DEALERS, for it is they alone who profit from the butchering of horses.
 
The myths are well stated but false. There are starving horses (and every other creature) in the country because the heart of some people is black. The contracted slaughter trucks deliver their full loads for payment regardless if they have to steal the horses from backyards. The ‘rescue‘ option in certain killpens and feedlots is available (for a little extra cash) to save a particular horse (important to that horse, yes) but increases the buying power of the kill buyer next time out. It is quite like shooting ourselves in the foot, (though we worship those we have rescued).
 
Nobody considered the borders would not close to transport of horses to slaughter once the US plants were ceased. Why is it the evil always have the ways and means?
 
YOUR CALL, YOUR LETTER, YOUR VOICE MUST BE HONORED. There is a horse shivering in a butcher yard right now, not knowing why she is there. After all, she won 3 races, she bore 4 foals, she carried a youth through preliminary eventing and she stood her ground under her adult owner who had a stroke until help arrived. She was not left in a will, she was given to a friend who decided it was just too much effort to care for another being. Conveniently a dealer was running an ad for horses (to go to good homes) and she was picked up. The friend walked away very happy with herself for finding the horse a new life. And she lived happily ever after’ was what the friend would tell people.
 
Do you see the reality? If the slaughter option is removed completely, then a moral responsibility takes effect. Slaughter is a convenience and the nations finest horses are continually being butchered. Stop the slaughter and you stop the entire pipeline of hell. Breeders can reduce their numbers and take responsibility for those they put on earth.
 
YOU MUST CALL to make a difference. Stop the proposed funding for horse slaughter in the US. Call Senator Barbara Mikulski and the Senate subcommittee – tell them to “restore the defunding language”.