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Horse Slaughter Is The Act Of Slaughtering Horses

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For the last five thousand years the horse has been of greater human interest for its strength than as a source of meat. However, American horses are still shipped over our borders and slaughtered for human consumption overseas. Horse slaughter and the export of horses from the United States should be banned because it is cruel and inhumane; furthermore, consuming American horse meat can be detrimental to human health. Horse slaughter is the act of slaughtering horses to obtain their meat for human (or animal) consumption. Horses are mainly slaughtered for human consumption however there are some zoos that feed their animals horse meat. Horse slaughter is exactly what it sounds like, it is slaughter, these horses are not humanely …show more content…

However although horses are not slaughtered or eaten in the United States, more than 100,000 companion, working and even wild horses are shipped to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses for consumption overseas in Europe and Asia each year (Stepping). Horses end up at slaughter through a number of ways. The most common being that horse owners bring their horses to livestock auctions when they can no longer afford them, expecting them to find a good home. However, that is not always the case, what sellers fail to realize is there are middlemen for foreign-owned slaughterhouses, known as “kill buyers”, who frequent these auctions looking for horses. Often kill buyers can be see communicating with the auctioneer in the auction ring. They often outbid genuine horse owners and rescues, robbing the horses of the opportunity for a second chance at life. Sometimes kill buyers respond to “Free horse to good home” advertisements. These advertisements are usually from families who love their horses but can no longer afford them so they give them away. They sign a paper thinking that their horse is going to a good home but in actuality they are signing the horse’s death warrant. Along with kill buyers there are people known as rustlers who steal horses straight from barns and dump them at the nearest auction for a quick buck. Even more alarming, wild horses,

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