Today, the New York Times ran an article about the currently banned slaughterhouse industry in the United States. Here are photos from a Shipshewana, Indiana "loose" horse auction held weekly. The Department of Agriculture reports that somewhere between 105,000-138,000 horses per year are slaughtered in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Unfortunately, there have been worsening consequences for horses since we placed a U.S. ban on horse slaughter last year.
As Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, reported in the NYT, "My worst nightmare has happened. This is an example of well-intentioned [choices] but very bad unintended consequences." Because of our ban, 10s of thousands of horses now have to take very, very long cattle car trips to Mexico and Canada to face slaughter. They travel without food and water, and in Mexico are allowed to be killed in inhumane ways, for example, by being stabbed to be paralyzed before the murdering injury. Because of rising fuel prices and rising cost of grain and horse feed, many horses face a very cruel calculus -- do people waste the money to feed and to ship or do they just neglect them or kill them outright with no use. Here are photos of some of the affected horses from just this past week. Many were not sold, some were killed right at this auction house. But many, many were sold cheaply to be shipped to Canada for slaughter, including foals, yearlings, and elder horses who probably cared for human children and families before falling, falling, falling through their last safety nets.
