USDA Approves Slaughtering for Horse Meat

[gnomonist]

Let the Gentiles eat what they want.

 

I'm more concerned with the additives, drugs and hormones they feed the cattle, plus the WRONG foods.

 

You hear a lot these days about "unhealthy" saturated fats.  Well, that's not the problem.  If there's any reason why any meat is bad, it's because of the way man altered it, so there's no reason to lump a grass-fed, hormones-less and antibiotic-less cow in with the corralled types if there are saturated fats in the healthy cow.  The normal human liver, if it is truly normal, breaks this down into monounsaturated fats and a host of harmless fatty acids, unlike vegetable oils (polyunsaturated) which the body has more issues with, not the least of which most of all that is processed, too (as opposed to occurring naturally, such as in nuts).

 

Frankly, if they slaughtered a wild horse, that would probably be more healthy than farm-raised bovine because it eats it's natural foods, "kosherness" aside.  Likewise, I like to throw a mouse or bird to those cats of mine that do not eat such stuff rather than the canned or dry cat food all the time.  The cats that eat the wild have a shiny coat and the vet is amazed at how healthy they are and how long they live without chronic disease like indoor cats.  When man plays God and messes with foods, this is why we have people sick of (previously unheard of) heart disease, cancers, depressions, allergies and whatnot and this is why people get sick, we pray for them, and they die anyways.  Can't live that kind of life against what God intended and expect a bail-out later.

[JHERB]

Roswell, New Mexico?

 

Umm...is this for real?

I don't think it is a hoax - I wish it were though - I am totally against it!!!

[woundeddog]

I hear all these stories about old horses being starved to death because their owners can't afford to feed them. Horse rescue is a much more complicated thing than cat or dog rescues. It would seem to me to be more humane to dispatch an unwanted horse and put it to some useful purpose than to let it suffer and finally die emaciated and unloved

[Guest LadyC]

woundeddog, you brought up such an important point.

 

i'm a horse lover. always have been, always will be. i have a cousin who has raised horses as long as i can remember. we recently had this discussion because i sent her an ad where someone was offering a horse, (a relatlvely YOUNG horse) free to anyone who could and would care for it properly. 

 

she told me about how slaughterhouses had shut down, and how that has caused so many horses to have no place to go when they are old, lame, unwanted, or unable to be cared for. the slaughter houses, like it or not, provided a much needed service. think about it. if your cat or dog is old and can't be cured, you take it to the vet, they put it down, and then the animal is cremated. not so easy for horses. 

 

slaughter houses don't just process meat that we don't eat in america. there is so much that is done with the byproducts. and while we don't eat it here, other countries consider horse meat a delicacy. i wouldn't want to eat one, for personal reasons, but the reason the slaughter houses have shut down is because the government had ceased allowing the meat to be exported. now what to do with all that horse meat? see the problem?

 

so although i love horses more than any other animal (except, perhaps, cats), i'm in favor of slaughter houses. i'm in favor of allowing horse meat to be exported for human consumption in other countries. 

 

if you want to know what i'm totally against, regarding horses, it is the senseless round-up of wild mustangs. they shouldn't be rounded up for any reason. not for slaughter, not for adoption, not for anything. they should be allowed to run free. and yet the BLM keeps rounding them up to keep ranchers and lobbyists happy. ranchers don't want to their cattle to share public lands with wild animals. it's all politics. wild mustangs are an endangered species because of this crap.

 

off my soap box now.

[The_Patriot21]

I don't mean to offend-but what's so special about mustangs? They're just small horses. They weren't even wild originally wild-they were domesticated horses the Spanish brought over and traded to the Indians. The only reason they are wild is the Indians lost them and what not and they became wild-any breed of horse when let out of human captivity will become wild.

[OakWood]

Hey some people like it so why not. Meat is meat

I agree. It is no different from pork, lamb, beef or chicken.

[Guest LadyC]

there is nothing special about them. but they should be protected, not rounded up to suit some political bent. i lived in nevada for a year. the condition that those wild horses are kept in is deplorable. they are so much healthier running free, but after captivity, most die within a couple of years because of anemia and malnourishment.

[The_Patriot21]

if theyre dieing from anemia and malnourisment, then I suspect then the people owning them are the ones to blame-not the fact their in captivity. A well cared for horse is a well cared for horse-a starved horse is a sign of lousy owner, regardless of breed.

[Guest LadyC]

that's the thing, patriot. the horses aren't owned! they're not being adopted, they're being herded up, and kept in overcrowded government funded pens, without adequate room to exercise, no grass to eat, and standing around day after day in puddles of their own excrement, little if any shade, and less shelter. even back when people were willing to adopt horses, the ratio of horses rounded up by the BLM and kept in these conditions to the ones that got adopted was extremely unbalanced. far more of the wild horses were sent to slaughter houses. why? because ranchers did not want their cattle having to share the resources on the open range. but, and this goes back to the OP, with the slaughter houses shut down, the problem has become worse and worse. now people can't afford the horses they already have, much less the ability to adopt wild ones... and there are far more wild ones then ever before. it's a vicious circle. and what have these horses done to deserve it? they don't use THAT much of the open range resources, because their numbers are so far down it's rare to even spot a herd. and when you do, the herds are a fraction of the size they were in previous years. so why should they be rounded up? it's all politics. nothing more. and it is a tragedy.

[The_Patriot21]

I see where your coming from. In my opinion, they should be let run free or at least given decent living conditions-not treated like that.