BY JESSICA WEAVER
Each year, 9.1 billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption. This includes chickens, turkeys, ducks. cows, calves, pigs, and sheep. But when a bill to allow for horse slaughter came up recently, people become enraged. Although the concept of killing horses for food seems gruesome, the act is not any more horrible than the slaughter of other animals. Before people get up in arms, they might want to do more research on the topic.
On November 18, 2011 President Obama signed the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform act, which authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to allow horse slaughter under strict regulations. His rationale was that ban was causing more horses than before to be abandoned and abused. He felt that with the ban lifted, slaughter would become more humane. However, when people hear the words “horse’ and “slaughter”, they instantly assume the worst, without looking up the statistics or considering the reasoning.
When the bill passed, people began to protest without knowing the facts. During the ban, over 90,000 horses a year were abused and sold to slaughterhouse’s in Mexico and Canada. Not only were horses illegally slaughtered in inhumane ways, but they were also abused while being transported. Before the ban, the transportation and slaughter of horses were both highly regulated. The act was performed under tight supervision and was closely inspected. These statistics were not only the reason why Obama supported the bill but also why the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) supported the bill as well. Although the organization is still strongly opposed to the killing of the horses, they claim that legal slaughterhouses would reduce the suffering these animals would otherwise have to go through.
Not only are people oblivious to the reasoning behind the bill, they ignore the thousands of animals that are slaughtered daily for our benefit. Over 35 million cows, 116 million pigs, and 9 billion chickens are killed for our consumption every year. How can anybody justify the slaughter of other animals, but not a horse? It’s true horses are majestic, beautiful animals that humans have been domesticating for centuries, but regardless, a horse is an animal, and should be seen as equal to all others.
The ruckus caused by the bill is unnecessary. If people want to make a change and save animals they should not only focus on horses, but on all animals Americans eat. Also, before they fight to stop a bill, they should do the research to see if the bill could possibly benefit horses. In the end, if horses are going to be slaughtered anyway, they deserve to be treated as respectfully as possible.
