Horse Slaughter

The topic of horse slaughter doesn’t usually come up very often in everyday conversation. Horse slaughter is more of an implicit subject, which your everyday person doesn’t know much about. Because it is highly controversial, it has gone through the cycle of being banded and then reinstated twice in the last 5 years. With being involved in the horse industry my entire life, I have witnessed the effects first hand. Some people see it as killing pets, animal cruelty, and morally wrong. However, I see it as a source of income, a way to stop the starvation and abuse of horses, an export industry for the United States, as well as a quality meal for in times of despair. The history of people eating horse meat dates back to …show more content…

He also makes mention that he is sending horse carcasses to Mexico instead of live horses. If the horses are killed in the US they are still under regulation. (NM Meat Plant Owner Defends Horse Slaughter Plan)
I often hear the statement “Dead horses don’t help the economy!” But before it was banned; the export industry in the US was nearly $65 million dollars a year. That is $65 million dollars that could be coming into the US, but isn’t. (Shesgreen) Mr. De Los Santos mentioned in his interview that due to the closing of his plant, he laid off over 160 workers at his small scale plant. With our economy in its current state, I believe we should not be cutting corners with people losing jobs or missing out on opportunities to make money.
On the contrary, “Horses were never raised or bread specifically as a source of food because they have a much lower grain and grass efficiency rate then cows do. They take a lot more food and time to fatten up. Their immune systems are also not as strong as cows and they have the tendency to get sick easier; which can cause weight loss,” explained veterinarian Kathy Ott, owner and senior vet of Clearly Lake Equine Hospital. I did an interview with Dr. Ott knowing that I would receive a perspective of the opposing