Action Alert: Horses Need Our Help
Although horse slaughter is illegal in the USA, we routinely ship horses overseas to be slaughtered and sold as meat. Here are three major reasons why this needs to stop:
1. The transportation process is cruel and lengthy. Each year, more than 130,000 horses are slaughtered in Canada and Mexico. To get to the slaughterhouse, they are often crammed into trailers and transported through subfreezing temperatures for days without food or water.
2. Horses are routinely given certain drugs that the FDA considers unfit for human consumption. It is therefore illegal to sell horsemeat in America. So, on a humanitarian level, how is it considered ethical to sell horsemeat to people in other countries?
3. Horse slaughter plants are eco-disasters. They pollute waterways and lower property values, and fill the air with a horrible stench.
You can help stop this cruel, disgusting practice by contacting your representative today and asking them to support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This bill would make it illegal to transport horses outside of the U.S. for slaughter.
Stop The Use Of Carriage Horses In NYC
Another abuse issue is the continued use of carriage horses in New York City. Lea Michele guest blogged about this last year, and recently, a horse named Oreo was in the news for getting spooked and injuring a couple of pedestrians ins the city.
Read Lea Michele’s guest blog about horses here.
An organization called NYCLASS is working to end the use of carriage horses in NYC. They have proposed the use of a groovy electric alternative:
Read my blog about horse-drawn carriages here.
You can support NYCLASS by signing their petition, volunteering, or making a donation.
Eighty percent of Americans say they’re against horse slaughter.
How can we mobilize them to help protect horses?
Share your ideas and suggestions with me in the comments below!
16 comments
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Alicia and fellow-Kind-Lifers,
I took action on both of the above issues. May I use this opportunity to ask for your help on another, critically timely issue? Thank you ...
Green Mountain College in Vermont has used 2 oxen, Bill and Lou, for a decade to help mow and work at their campus. Now, one was injured and can no longer work. The other has been reluctant to work with another partner. (understandably, there is quite a bond between the two!) Green Mountain has decided to slaughter Bill and Lou and serve their meat in the college cafeteria! Vine Sanctuary in VT has offered to take them but the college has refused and says their decision is FINAL! (I can barely even type the words; it is so heartbreaking to me.
While I understand that their logic makes sense to them, I feel the complete lack of respect for Bill and Lou's lives and the complete absence of gratitude to them for their many years of service to the college. They will be slaughtered at the end of October so TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. Sign petitions. Call the college. GO to the college. Please get involved. Thank you.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-friedrich/green-mountain-colleges-f_b_1967361.html -
As a horse owner and carriage livery operator, I am so tired of reading aobut how carriage horses are cruelly treated. I am also tired of seeing all of us lumped in together as "animal abusers."
My horses receive the best of care and are treated every bit as well as the most expensive show horses are, if not better, becuse they do not work nearly as much.
Not all carriage horse owners treat their animals the same, not all carriage horses work the same hours and not all of them work in the same traffic conditions.
Most carriage horses enjoy working. My horses are my partners, and they are treated better than most human employees are treated by their corporate employers.
I do agree that ALL working horses deserve to be given a retirement home, and should not sold off to just anyone when their working days are over. I do not sell mine, they retire here at my farm. Most of the livery owners I know and am friends with do the same for their horses. -
Can't people live healthy on a vegan diet? I mean I'm from India and we are primarily a vegetarian country. I have seen/know of people, who have never touched meat in their life, living long, living healthy and still going strong... The argument then that "animal fat/protein is necessary for growth" seems more like coming from businesses involved in meat production and selling! If there are any qualified medical practitioners out here, would they like to comment?
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I am proud to say that my Congressman, Rep. Ed Markey from Massachusetts, is on board with the House Bill!
And thank you, Alicia, for using your voice to make issues like this a priority at TheKindLife.com. -
Hi all! If you are reading this article, I assume you love horses (and ALL animals for that matter)! Please consider helping a local horse rescue agency that I volunteer for in Northern California called The Grace Foundation of Northern California. They have rescued many horses who were abandoned, abused, and neglected, and they rescue other farm animals as well, including many lucky cats and dogs. Recently, they rescued horses from a man being charged with 65 counts of animal cruelty. These horses are known as the "Susanville 70." They were dying and so hungry that they had been eating dirt and sand. Now, The Grace Foundation is facing bankruptcy due to the extremely high costs (including vet bills) to care for these horses...costs that Wells Fargo and Bank of America originally promised to pay but have failed to do so. We need your help! Even a donation of $10 from those who read this would be so very appreciated.
Here is the link to The Grace Foundation's website to learn more about them:
http://thegracefoundation.com/
Here is a video about this case involving the Susanville 70:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ0jZbkVgdM&feature=youtu.be
Here is information about their story with the financial burden they are facing with these horses:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Breaking-News--The-Real-Story-Behind-the-Susanville-Case-.html?soid=1101922533524&aid=k59a_KpP1iE -
Having everyone a) call their representatives/congress b) spread the word of what they did c) ask everyone to do the same abc) as everyone else to keep the circle going.
Try contacting high-profile people and organizations to carry the message -- like pet food companies that will add the cause to their product packaging and website.
Hmmmm, need to think more. -
So sad. We should do all we can to protect Earths creatures. It is heartbreaking. In the UK at the moment they are contemplating the culling of thousand of badgers because they are... biting cattle and infecting them! There is ALWAYS a more moral solution to EVERYTHING. x -
You can email City Council for the carriage horses (from no matter where you live!) right here: www.nyclass.org/citycouncil
It's a really simple tool, and takes just 10 seconds to send a letter to your rep! -
I have a very special friend in Japan. She and her family eat horse once in awhile. She is a great lover of nature and animals. So when I asked her about this, she said it's always been done. Unconscious. They also eat whale. I believe compassion for animals will happen when it becomes "cool" just like with being green and not smoking cigarettes.
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I looked up my representative and she is Lynn Woolsey for Marin and Sonoma counties in California. I called and gave her assistant my request for her support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and he informed me that Lynn Woolsey is a co-sponsor of this bill. Felt good to hear this :) Hope you all take the time to call yours!
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My pony Baxter was saved out of the "killpen" 2 years ago and he is great horse and a great friend. Not a throw-away, not old or sick, and definitely not food! If you want to do something, there are several facebook groups you can join to help spread the word about horses looking for homes instead of a long ride to slaughter in Mexico or Canada. Here are 3 great groups helping horses in the midwest and on the east coast:
New Holland Direct: facebook.com/NewHollandDirect
A small group of women who bid against known killbuyers at a auction to keep horses out of the direct slaughter pipeline and into new, loving homes.
Sugarcreek Horse Save: facebook.com/Sugarcreek-Horse-Save
Similar start as NHD above. 3 women with hearts saving as many horses as they can from direct to slaughter auction house.
Camelot Horse Weekly: facebook.com/CamelotHorseWeekly
Has helped re-home thousands of horses that would otherwise be slaughter bound. Horses are catalogued and photographed weekly and the auction house allows 3 days for them to be networked. -
Hi Alicia! Folks can mobilize to stop horse abuse by signing the petition at www.StopHorseAbuse.com
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