Voices for Horses

(Please share with every horse person you know!)

December, 2010

By Allen Warren – Horse Harbor Foundation, Inc.

Poulsbo, Washington

IN COLLABORATION WITH THE FOLLOWING LEADING EQUINE RESCUE SANCTUARY OPERATORS FROM ACROSS THE UNITED STATES: Jerry Finch, Habitat for Horses, Texas; Hilary Wood, Front Range Equine Rescue, Colorado; Grace Belcuore, California Equine Retirement Foundation, California; Teresa Paradis, Live & Let Live Farm, New Hampshire; Katie Merwick, Second Chance Ranch, Washington, and Melanie Higdon, Hidden Springs Equine Rescue, Florida.

THERE IS A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO THE CONTINUED SLAUGHTER OF U.S. HORSES IF THE COMMERCIAL EQUINE INDUSTRY PARTICIPATES

According to its proponents, if the slaughter of America's displaced horses in Canada and Mexico were to be halted tomorrow, there would be approximately 100,000 needing to be dealt with each year by alternative means which they claim do not exist today.

Those that would continue the practice of disposing of these companion animals, never bred or raised to be part of the food chain, and that totals only about 1% of the total U.S. population of horses each year, argue that equine slaughter for human consumption abroad is the only economical way to handle what they call the "unwanted" horse problem.

The purpose of this paper is to prove that not only does an alternative already exist, but that it can be quickly expanded to accommodate America's not unwanted but displaced horses if the commercial equine industry will stop using slaughter as a dumping ground for its byproduct and participate in providing for the true welfare of the animals upon which its businesses are based.

Elimination of horse slaughter would also remove the present incentive for bad equine husbandry and therefore reduce the number of displaced horses in itself by the simple laws of supply and demand, and also serve to improve the quality of all breeds.

That total of 100,000 horses sounds overwhelming until broken down by the number in the pipeline at any one point in time, and that is the factor that makes the alternative viable.

One hundred thousand horses annually translates to 8,333 per month. Divide this number by the 48 contiguous states these horses are found in and the average is only 174 per month per state. Broken down even further into the weekly cycle of livestock auctions and the number of horses that actually must be dealt with at any one point in time is on average only about 40 per week in each state.

The ultimate solution for homeless horses is to reduce this number dramatically through more responsible breeding practices, a massive public education effort to make both current and potential owners aware of their lifelong responsibility to companion animals that can live 30 years and other measures. However, a viable interim alternative for re-homing displaced horses does exist today if the commercial equine industry and the horse rescue sanctuary community join forces instead of battling over this issue.

It is indeed a sad state of affairs that all over the country equine rescuers are being forced to bid against kill buyers to save horses, using financial resources that could better be used for expanding and caring for those in their sanctuaries and foster home networks. These are supported almost entirely by charity with virtually no help from the $102 billion a year industry from which the problem stems.

Proponents of equine slaughter claim that the nation's horse rescue sanctuary resource is inadequate to handle displaced and neglected horses and many are even trying to revive equine slaughter in the United States based on this premise.

The fact is that leading equine rescue sanctuary operators across the country have developed innovative new programs since the recession began in 2008 to save more horses than ever displaced by the economy. This places them in a unique position today to immediately play a major role in re-homing and caring for the country’s displaced horse population at this time, thus eliminating the perceived need for equine slaughter while long term measures are implemented to reduce the numbers needing re-homing in the future.

Another myth being perpetuated at the moment by those who do or would profit from equine slaughter is that the nation's equine sanctuary resource is at capacity due to the current economy and therefore there is no place for homeless horses to go other than slaughter. The simple fact is that rescue sanctuaries are and always have been at capacity. When a space opens up either to adoption or loss of a horse due to natural death or euthanasia brought about for medical reasons, another immediately takes it place. That is the way they have always operated.