Long Island Press
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Americans Wake Up To Equine Abuse |
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BY ALICYN LEIGH 08/31/2006 10:45 am |
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Imagine
traveling to Japan, Belgium or France, sitting down to dine in a fine
restaurant and finding that the special on the menu is American Thoroughbred. In
2005, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 94,037 horses
were slaughtered for human consumption at the three foreign-owned horse
slaughter plants in this country (two in Texas and one in Illinois). Michael
Markarian, executive vice president of The Humane Society of the United
States (HSUS), says he believes the numbers are even greater than that. "An
additional 34,796 horses were exported to Canada, Japan or Mexico for
slaughter," he explains. "So, in total, an outstanding 128,833
American horses were slaughtered for food, either within or outside the
United States." Severe
equine abuse occurs every day, as these magnificent, intelligent animals
continue to be betrayed by humans. According to USDA statistics, seven out of
every 11 horses will be slaughtered, says Christine Berry, president and
founder of the Equine Protection Network (EPN) in Friedensburg, Pa.
Horses have given their lives to the human race for centuries, and have
served in wartime, in law enforcement, as carriage horses for transport,
providing therapy for the disabled, providing companionship and so much more.
Money
is what many experts say is the reason behind abuse and slaughter. A horse
sold at auction in America for 40 cents per pound can rake in up to $15 per
pound on the retail market. European restaurants charge as much as $40 for a
horsemeat entrée. "When
the combination of money and horses come together, our horses suffer,"
states the EPN's Berry. Serving It Up The
three U.S. slaughterhouses that export horsemeat for human consumption are
Cavel International, in DeKalb, Ill., owned by Velda N.V. of Brussels;
Beltex, in Fort Worth, is owned by Multimeat N.V., also of Brussels; and
Dallas Crown, in Kaufman, Texas, is owned by the French company Chevideco.
The slaughterhouses have had an effect that goes beyond their borders,
though: For several years, people who live in Kaufman have complained of the
health hazards. One resident stated that she finds horse blood "in my
bathtubs, sink and toilets," a result of the blood spills and overflows
that clog up the local wastewater treatment plant and septic systems. The
complaints have led a city commission to unanimously rule that the plant be
closed by September. Billionaire
oilman and Texas rancher T. Boone Pickens and his wife, Madeleine, heard
about horse slaughter for human consumption four months ago, while aiding in
the rescue of some 800 pets from Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Pickens
says that "horse slaughterhouses receive USDA oversight that costs
taxpayers millions of dollars—all for horsemeat that is sold and consumed as
a delicacy in high-dollar markets and restaurants in Europe and Japan." Apparently,
these slaughterhouses use accounting loopholes to pay little or no taxes,
shipping 100 percent of the horsemeat and the profits abroad. The largest
customers are France, Belgium and Italy. The plants sell to importing
companies that are owned by their own parent corporations, and thus adjust
their income so as to avoid paying American taxes. "Last
year the Dallas Crown slaughter plant in Kaufman, Texas, paid only $3 in
taxes," says John M. Holland, an independent horse advocate from
Shawsville, Va. To add insult to injury, after the HSUS prompted Congress to
cut the funding for equine slaughterhouse inspectors, the USDA avoided those
good intentions by "permitting slaughterhouses to pay for their own
independent inspectors," according to Markarian.
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA)/H.R. 503 Pickens
testified on July 25 before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and
Commerce subcommittee in support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention
Act (HSPA) (H.R. 503), a strongly bipartisan bill designed to end the
slaughter of horses in this country, as well as their export, for human
consumption. "Horse
slaughter is un-American. It's a black eye on our nation that demands
action," says Pickens. At
present, the AHSPA has about 180 co-sponsors in the house, but U.S. Rep. Joe
Barton (R-Texas) has yet to let it out of committee. And time is running out
on this bill. "People
can help by contacting their representatives and telling them that it is
unconscionable that a bill with such overwhelming bipartisan support both
from the people and Congress should be blocked by a few powerful men at the
behest of a group of foreign-owned companies," pleads Holland. The vote on
H.R. 503 is scheduled in the House of Representatives for Sept. 7, and then
the Senate will vote. Responsible Racehorse Ownership Ferdinand,
the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, ended up in a slaughterhouse in 2002, with
his highly prized
meat ending up in Japan. Chris E. Wittstruck, Esq., founder of the Racehorse
Ownership Institute at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, teaches
responsibility through his invaluable program, the only course available for
Thoroughbred and Standard-bred racehorse owners. Wittstruck also Wittstruck's
continuous mantra is that if you want to buy a racehorse, the
last thing you should do is buy a racehorse. One needs to first be immersed
in every aspect of the business and industry (tax, insurance, licensing,
acquisitions, claiming, auctions, race conditions, illness, injury, etc.). "My
course includes raising awareness—that responsibilities don't end once the
racing career is over," says Wittstruck. "You have a 1,000-pound
living animal. It needs constant care and attention. What provisions are you
making that it won't fall into the hands of killers when taken to
auction?" The Road To Slaughter Equine
Protection Network founder Berry began her quest in 1995, determined to make
a difference in the lives of abused, neglected and slaughter-bound horses.
Berry says that she founded the EPN after she witnessed the violation of New
York law regarding the transport of horses in double-deck cattle trailers,
known as "torture trailers," and what she describes as horrible
living conditions for horses at the New Holland Sales Stables (NHSS) in New
Holland, Pa. "I
could not understand why hundreds of weekly visitors to the NHSS stood by
doing nothing, while sick, injured and lame horses were loaded into inhumane
trailers," says Berry. Privately owned NHSS is the largest public horse
sale facility on the East Coast. Approximately 200 to 400 horses, depending on
the time of year and the "New
Holland may be the largest sale of its kind east of the Mississippi, but it
is not the only one," shares Berry, who has many disturbing memories of
the animal abuse she has witnessed. She's seen horses being loaded onto
double-deck trailers, horses whipped viciously in the face (two pony mares
actually spun around and ran over their foals) and more. She has seen horses
that had broken legs or untreated injuries, as well as some who were
emaciated and
nothing more than skeletons. She saw one downed horse on the ground, crippled
and in so much pain that he could not rise to drink. Celebs To The Rescue Amanda
Sorvino and her dad, well-known actor Paul Sorvino, have been rescuing large
canines for the past five years. Referring
to the image of sides of beef hanging in a meat locker, accomplished
horsewoman Amanda says, "Since we moved to a 58-acre equine compound in
rural Pennsylvania, we've been sparing ex-racehorses a hanger at the meat
locker, with our new organization called HorseFellas, a privately owned
division of www.dogfellas.net." HorseFellas
offers lodging, pasture, training, rehabilitation and advanced vet care to
once slaughter-bound Thorough-breds and Standardbreds. Some of the horses are
being retrained to become "The
horses will then be adopted out to approved homes. The others, having
sustained serious injuries on the track, will either remain in the family or
be adopted out to 'friend and pasture' homes," says Amanda. Paul
Sorvino sends a message to the horse show kids and their families:
"Never obtain a horse that you do not intend to keep forever. If your
horse is no longer 'in the ribbons,' don't get rid of it to make room for
your next horse. Make sure it gets placed in a reputable home." Amanda
and Paul do know of some trainers/owners, such as friend Bob Kotenko, an
ex-jockey-turned trainer from Penn National, Pa., who places slow runners or
injured horses in new homes after their time is up at the track. But the
Sorvinos still believe that "horseracing is not the sport of kings, but
the sport of death." "It's
a black mark against a society that is so empathetic towards a near Triple
Crown winner, but turns a blind eye to the plight of less accomplished
racehorses," says Paul. "These lesser lights [horses] suffer
injuries every day at tracks across America and land in slaughter plants like
Dallas Crown. If a horse can't race its way to the Triple Crown, it could end
up at Dallas Crown."
Premarin Mares Holland,
a lifelong horse owner who works with many humane groups, became an outspoken
opponent of horse slaughter in 2003. He and his wife, Sheilah, read a story
about the plight of the pregnant mares' urine (PMU) horses used to create
Premarin, a female horse urine-based drug used in hormone replacement therapy
(HRT) to ease the symptoms of menopause in women. "We
decided to adopt a PMU mare from a site run by United Animal Nations.
The mare was so undernourished that she lost her foal in transport to our
farm," Holland says. The HSUS estimates that there are at least 50,000
production mares on the 500 PMU farms in North America. Peter
Touham (not his real name), an undercover investigator who works on "I
became an advocate for Premarin horses while in the course of doing an
investigation into Premarin," he says. Mares used to produce Premarin
(named for its source, pregnant mares' urine) are usually either Percherons,
Belgians, Quarter Horses or some combination thereof, who are tied up to a
urine collection device for at least 150 straight days, starting in September
every year. "In
order to produce PMU, mares are impregnated and confined to tiny stalls for
the duration of their pregnancy," describes Touham. At
the PMU farms, urine is collected from mares of all ages chained inside
narrow stalls who are forced to stand on concrete floors and unable to turn
around. A harness keeps them held in place to a rubber collection cup, and
they sometimes get so tired that they go down but are unable to avoid lying
in their own feces. There is little or no hoof care. "I have personally
seen cases where the front hooves have been so neglected that they grow out
and curl back up," says Touham. Women
can help to prevent the abuse of female horses by asking their physicians or
gynecologists not to prescribe Premarin. Instead, women can choose from other
hormone replacement drugs not manufactured from the urine of pregnant mares. "Alternative
choices made synthetically, such as Cenestin, Estratab, Estraderm or
Ortho-Est, do have similar efficacy when used to treat hypoestrogenic
[estrogen- Premarin Proof Positive Equestrian
enthusiast Lesli Hiller has been in the saddle for more than 30 years. Every
day, she rides a privately owned horse, stabled at North Shore Equestrian
Center in Greenvale. Her experiences are unique because the horse she rides,
Oatmeal, was a Premarin foal. Hiller has been riding and caring for Oatmeal
since he was 3 years old; he is now 5. She says that horses "can be
highly intelligent. Oatmeal knows words such as 'good boy' and he knows what
'back' means [to back up]." If she repeats an exercise more than once he
gets it right away. Oatmeal also knows his grooming routine and picks up his
feet for cleaning even before she asks for his hoof. Hiller says she is
inspired to be with these gentle giants because she "really loves them.
Once they know you, it's like having a big dog. When you are riding, there is
a level of trust I have for the horse, and vice versa: We are one. And when I
am on his back, he does anything I ask him to do—it is truly an amazing
feeling," says Hiller. Because
Oatmeal was not raised in
What To Do Equine
abuse must stop. Every horse deserves to be treated with kindness and respect
for all that the animal has given to society throughout time. "Issues
like slaughter and rescue don't usually present well unless somebody is doing
a Sally Struthers-like 'Save the Children' exposé," states the Racehorse
Ownership Institute's Wittstruck. The EPN's Berry advises those who still
don't see the harm in animal abuse to read the book Black Beauty, by
Anna Sewell, which encourages people to treat animals with less cruelty. She
says, "In Black Beauty, the character, Joe Green, recognized
Beauty and brought him home from the auction. But for 5 million American
horses, including Ferdinand and Excellor [a champion racehorse who was sent
to a slaughterhouse in Sweden], there was no Joe Green at the auction—and
they were forced with whips and electric cattle prods onto double-deck cattle
trailers on a one-way ride into hell, forgotten and betrayed by the owners
they gave their lives for."
Rally Date: The HSUS is holding a
national rally to stop horse slaughter at |
