There is nothing more deplorable to me than animal cruelty. Not that I believe in hell, but if I did, there would be a certain place designated for those who abuse and mistreat animals.
As a meat eater who primarily eats fish, I have found myself needing to come to terms with the humane slaughter of animals being a necessary evil for my propensity for eating meat.
It is because of my love for animals and hatred of the unnecessary and unethical practices that certain slaughterhouses employ that caused me to cringe when I came across the following story.
According to The Washington Times, “A New Mexico slaughterhouse has petitioned the federal government to become the first business to offer horses for slaughter since an effective ban on the practice ended last year.”
Not only is it bothersome that the ban on slaughtering horses for their meat came to an end last year, but it is also especially disturbing that people would actually want to eat horse meat, which comes from an animal that is known to be a pet or used primarily for sport.
While horse meat is a popular food in certain countries, it has in the past been heavily frowned upon in the United States, England, Ireland, and Australia.
I recognize the need to eat meat and I am okay with humane slaughtering techniques that are used by many farms in the industry, but the slaughtering of horses just rubs me the wrong way. Furthermore, it is a wasteful process since a horse doesn’t produce nearly as much meat as his cattle or sheep brethren.
Besides that, according to a European animal welfare organization, the Food And Veterinary Office, horses are often injected with a type of medication that is effectively banned for use in animals that are typically used for food consumption.
This poses an interesting issue in that it would be nearly impossible to track which of these medications were used in a particular horse, because in this country horses have never been raised with the intent to later become food. I realize that as an admitted meat-eater some of my opinions expressed here may sound somewhat hypocritical.
I can’t argue with that, and have often found myself questioning my own enjoyment of eating meats such as bacon. Pigs, which are surprisingly smart animals, are often treated terribly in slaughterhouses.
The only way around this is to either stop eating meat altogether or support the organic method of raising and slaughtering animals for food, which I wholeheartedly approve of. In a world where it is necessary that we eat meat, we owe at least this much to the animals that provide us with nutrition.
At what point do certain animals become exempt from food status? Aren’t horses deserving of being seen as domesticated pets like cats or dogs?
I understand the potential necessity to eat horse meat in life-or-death situations for survival, but the idea that certain Americans would willingly order horse meat on a menu if it were available is just completely unnecessary.
The senseless and unnecessary killing of animals has always sickened me, from the blood sport killing of bulls in Spain, to the cockfighting popular in Asia, to the dogfighting supported by certain athletes and others here in the United States.
It is with this in mind that I urge the Humane Society Of The United States to interject and put an end to the potential for horse slaughter for the consumption of their meat.
Gerry Wachovsky is a graduate student and columnist for the Daily49er.
