Thread: Why do we have foreign owned slaughter houses here??

Do we really have to do this???
http://www.khou.com/news/local/houstonm ... a315c.html
Horses being slaughtered for human consumption

12:30 PM CDT on Friday, September 1, 2006

By Brad Woodard / 11 News


Warning: This video contains disturbing images I didn't watch this...if anyone is brave enough to watch it, let me know how disturbing it was.


From the Alamo to the open range, the horse is permanently woven into the fabric of Texas.


KHOU

A cruel fate awaits these horses at the Kaufman slaughterhouse.
But this symbol of the west is being slaughtered by the thousands here in Texas, only to end up on the dinner tables of Europe.

Next week, Congress could change that and for residents of one Texas town it can’t be soon enough.

In the shadows of a great American symbol, a great American icon quietly begins to stir. A nearby dumpster and a vulture circling above hint at the gruesome fate that awaits.

And so begins another day at the Dallas Crown Plant in Kaufman, Texas.

“It’s a dirty little secret, that doesn’t benefit the city of Kaufman, the state of Texas or the United States,” said Kaufman mayor Paula Bacon.

Americans think there are laws to protect horses. They have no idea that three foreign-owned slaughterhouses, not American-owned, are operating in this country, two in Texas, and killing 100,000 American horses.
Also online

HSUS: End the slaughter of America's horses

American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act

ASPCA: Urge your representative to end horse slaughter
They’re being killed for human consumption abroad, primarily in Japan, France and Belgium. At Belgian-owned Dallas Crown, it’s prime meat day today.

The airline containers are lined up and being readied for shipping.

The common perception in the U.S. is that the only horses sent to slaughter are old and dying and perhaps destined for the glue factory.

But here at Dallas Crown, neither is the case, and while it’s hard to see what’s going on behind these walls, the sounds and smells leave little to the imagination.

The thuds you’re hearing are horses hitting the floor, after a steel bolt has been driven into their brains.

“They deserve a lot more dignity than what they’re getting. Cut up. Hit in the head by a bolt gun, and served upon French people’s plates,” said Julie Caramante, Habitat for Horses.

Caramonta and Jerry Finch of habitat for horses have been documenting the goings on at the plant for several years.

“It’s from a living horse here to three minutes later seeing their skins over there. It’s heart wrenching,” said Finch.

A dis-assembly line of sorts, and a video shot by the Humane Society of the United States at the other horse slaughtering facility in Texas, Bel-Tex of Ft. Worth, leaves nothing to the imagination.

They see other horses being killed in front of them. They’re terrorized. The HSUS has had investigators inside the slaughter plants and we see how inhumanely they are killed.

“I think they absolutely know what’s going on. They know. They can see. They can smell,” said Caramante.

So can Dallas Crown neighbors.

What’s it like living near a place like this? It stinks.

Neighbors say they live with a putrid stench 24/7.

“We’ve seen spills into the street, and carcasses and bones that’s coming off of the conveyor. Dogs pick up those bones and carcasses and come running through our yards,” said Juliene Eldridge.

Citing waste water violations and other environmental concerns, the city of Kaufman recently ordered the plant to shut down by the end of September. The matter is currently pending in court.

We wanted to talk to the plant manager about the practice of killing horses for profit and selling the meat abroad.

He declined, referring us to a public relations firm in Washington. So we went to the Kaufman attorney representing the plant against the city for some answers.

“You’re going to have issues from time to time, whether it’s odor or waste water or the appearance of the plant,” said attorney Mark Calabria, Dallas Crown attorney.

If you look at 2004 tax records, the plant here paid $5 in federal income tax.

It’s an industry that provides a necessary service whether you agree with what they do or not. and their industry, we understand is somthing some folks disagree with, and we also believe we’re a legitimate enterprise.

“We’re being held hostage by a company that doesn’t pay its way. That stigmatizes my community. The development that doesn’t come here,” said Mayor Bacon.

But another kind of development is brewing in the nation’s capital, where Congress will vote next week on the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, potentially reinforcing the horse’s status as companion animal rather than food and laying to rest what so many consider America’s dirty little secret.

“We don’t slaughter dogs and cats for human consumption for export in Europe and Asia, we shouldn’t be doing it with horses either, said Wayne Pacelle HSUS President & CEO.

Now we know why the French are so screwed-up! This is disgusting and must be stopped.

This is terrible! I feel so sorry for those poor horses!
And I will be sending emails to my reps on this one! Is there no end to make a buck!
And to everyone in my email list asking them to pass it on.

I just sent my email from www.congress.org

There was another letter there from a concerned person that said she watched this program, that it reported the horses were sold by owners, thinking those horses were to be at a good home....unaware they were to be killed.

I say shut it down, kick out these foreign owned slaughter houses and send them back to wherever they came!

Here is another animal welfare group that has made an issue about horse slaughter:

http://www.sharkonline.org/horseslaughter.mv

I'm not familiar with this issue (but will contact Congress as suggested). SHARK's biggest campaign(s) right now is rodeo. They have also targeted bullfighting south of the border.

Please, please, please contact your senators and reps via the following link. This goes to vote Thursday!
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED ... nsorhouse6

I can't watch the video either. I have had horses all my life and I saw something at the New Holland horse auction that will haunt me forever. A stock truck, meant for about 4 horse or cows pulled up, and when they opened the back there were about 8 Thoroughbreds (obviously race horses) jammed in there and ALL had suffered devastating leg injuries (had broken down) and ALL should have been humanely put down when the injury occured. It was so horrible! These poor things, hobbling on 3 legs, were taken off the van some catatonic, some in obvious pain. There was no doubt about who would be buying these poor creatures.

I saw at least three of these young horses with compound fracture injuries which appeared to be at least a few days old (areas around the injury caked thick with dried blood from bleeding, rebleeding, ect) so I can only imagine how long they had to endure their pain while the owner/owners waited for auction day (every Wed.) to make a few hundred bucks each on them.

It is bad enough that these animals are slaughtered in such a cruel, inhumane manner, but in many cases, like the horses I witnessed, their extremely cruel and inhumane ordeal begins long before they get to the slaughterhouse.

When a horse breaks down during a race, the horse is put down right then and there (behind a tarp to spare the audience the sight) but sadly, the same cannot be said of many of these horses that break down during their early training or morning workouts. I know.

My heart aches for the horses. However, how is that any different from cows, or sheep? They all suffer horrible treatment in slaughterhouses.

My heart aches for the horses. However, how is that any different from cows, or sheep?

When was the last time you saw a police cow, a riding therapy chicken, a polo pig, or a race sheep? Unlike cows and sheep that are specifically raised for meat, horses only end up in the slaughterhouses when they can no longer serve in their intended capacities, typically because of old age or injury.

They all suffer horrible treatment in slaughterhouses.

And this IS the real issue, for me anyway. Whether it be an old pony that was beloved by it's first little girl owner and sold to a killer 20 years, and 10 owners later, or a chicken that was destined for a dinner table the day it hatched, the very least these creatures deserve is a humane, terror-free death, that is as painless as possible.

Before anyone assumes I am some vegetarian PETA activist, let me assure you that I am not. I eat meat, wear leather, and I think PETA has crossed the line from activist to terrorist too many times to be worthy of my support.

In he words of Ghandhi:

The way that we treat animals measure our greatness

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it's animals are treated.

I agree with him, wholeheartly.

Originally Posted by americangirl

My heart aches for the horses. However, how is that any different from cows, or sheep? They all suffer horrible treatment in slaughterhouses.

I agree with you, Americangirl,

Here is a quote:

"The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?"

Jeremy Bentham, philosopher and animal rights activist
English jurist, philosopher, & legal reformer (1748 - 1832)

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/4191.html

Wait until I start quoting Mark Twain or George Bernard Shaw.

I didn't watch the horse slaughter videos and don't plan to. I've seen enough videos of factory farms and slaughter houses of cattle, hogs and poultry to last me a lifetime.

Originally Posted by noillegalimmigrationannie

Originally Posted by americangirl

My heart aches for the horses. However, how is that any different from cows, or sheep? They all suffer horrible treatment in slaughterhouses.

I agree with you, Americangirl,

Here is a quote:

"The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?"

Jeremy Bentham, philosopher and animal rights activist
English jurist, philosopher, & legal reformer (1748 - 1832)

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/4191.html

Wait until I start quoting Mark Twain or George Bernard Shaw.

I didn't watch the horse slaughter videos and don't plan to. I've seen enough videos of factory farms and slaughter houses of cattle, hogs and poultry to last me a lifetime.

We are all on the same page here!