Horse slaughter is the practice of slaughtering horses to produce meat for consumption. Human beings have consumed horse meat since the earliest days of human history: the oldest known cave art, the thirty-thousand-year-old paintings in the Chauvet Cave of modern France, show horses prominently alongside other wild animals hunted by humans (Lawler et al., 2015). However, modern day horse slaughter has become highly controversial in many parts of the world from not only basic citizens but also animal rights and welfare organizations. Most of the issues these activists hold against the horse slaughter industry is based on a multiplicity of concerns regarding whether horses can be managed humanely in industrial sized slaughter, whether horses not purposely raised for consumption are likely to produce meat that pass USDA safety standards just like other livestock animal meats and whether it is appropriate to consume a creature that has become a companion animal in affluent societies. Advocates for the horse slaughter industry to be reopened in the United States believe with the unwanted horse population growing that implementing the horse slaughter industry will reduce the neglect and housing needs for these unwanted equine. Determining if the opposition or agreement of horse slaughter in the United States is right needs solved.
Many of the horses sent for slaughter are those that have reached the end of their productive use for recreation or sport. Musculoskeletal disorders are a common reason for culling horses and older horses are more likely to have chronic conditions, such as lameness and low body condition scores than younger horses. If the horses sent to slaughter are those no longer useful for their previous purpose due to factors such as lameness and other clinical conditions, this has the potential to affect their fitness for transport (Roy et al., 2015). Transporting horses to slaughter long distances raises concerns over potential welfare issues, such as fitness of slaughter horses for this type of journey, the environmental conditions the horses may endure during the journey and the effects of prolonged periods without food and water. This is a huge issue regarding horses with low body condition or lameness issues; because of their conditions it makes walking and/or standing very painful. Lameness is an abnormal gait or stance of an animal that is the result of dysfunction of the locomotor system. In the horse, it is most commonly caused by pain, but can be due to neurologic or mechanical dysfunction (Roy et al., 2015). Due to the closure of the equine slaughter facilities in the United States in 2007, horses sold for slaughter must be transported from the U.S. to either Canada or Mexico where horse slaughter is legal. In the U.S., dehydration, fatigue, and injuries were identified as major welfare issues affecting horses transported for slaughter. Although there are animal welfare regulations in both the U.S. and Canada, the transportation of horses from the U.S. to Canada is a controversial practice. The effectiveness of the enforcement of such animal welfare regulations in the U.S. has been called into question due to leaked images displaying horrifying conditions in equine slaughter facilities.
Horse slaughter existed in the United States for decades and served as an outlet for horses without sufficient value in the recreation market. During the 1980’s, sixteen U.S horse slaughter facilities were in operation. That number declined to seven in 1994, and only 2 plants were running in 2002. By 2006, three slaughter plants were operating in the United States, processing a total of 104,899 head annually (Taylor and Sieverkropp, 2013). After the horse slaughter industry received numerous complaints regarding the treatment the horses were receiving prior and during processing regarding how it was inhumane, a bill was sent to legislature regarding shutting down the slaughter facilities. The last three U.S. slaughterhouses were stationed in Illinois and Texas. The state legislatures in these two states soon passed bills outlawing horse slaughter causing the facilities to close down in 2007. In September 2007, bills introduced in the U.S. Congress , known informally as the "American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act", are being considered by congressional committees. The description of these bills is "To amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes." (Cowan, 2012) The AHSPA never reached a full vote so it fell before Congress, but it was still banned to slaughter horses in the United States. In spring of 2014 the White House proposed a budget to again prohibit federal funding for horsemeat inspections. Without proper inspections and USDA employers within the facilities the processing of horsemeat again came to a halt. In fall of 2014 President Obama signed the proposed budget into effect ceasing all slaughter, consumption and sale of horsemeat.
There are 9.2 million horses in the United States that are estimated to contribute $39 billion and 1.4 million jobs to the economy. However, due to legislature decisions and court proceedings have halted the processing of horses for human consumption in the United States, actions that have a substantive negative impact on the equine industry and the people who rely on it as a source of livelihood (Vestal et al,. 2015). Western states were affected greatly by the slaughter ban causing unemployment increase and higher horse sale prices. AN index measuring the unemployment rate for the western United States was used as a proxy for recessionary effects causing an outward shift in the supply of horses brought to market that are within the price range of slaughter buyers. There was a statistically significant -12.8% impact on slaughter-horse prices as the unemployment rate rose (Taylor and Sieverkropp, 2013).
Closure of the US equine slaughter facilities in 2007 along with the concomitant economic recession have contributed to a sharp increase in the number of unwanted horses per year. A study was conducted observing non-profit organizations that accept and care for unwanted horses to obtain comprehensive data regarding the outcome of the horses relinquished to them along with the characteristics of how these organizations function. Most of these organizations are nonprofit so once they exceed their maximal number of horses they can no longer accept anymore unwanted horses due to the lack of space, and finances to provide proper care. The U.S. wild horses are a big contributor to these rescue organizations due to their removal from their natural habitat. Horses can live for more than 32 years, so many of them change jobs throughout their lifetime. The age of relinquished horses ranged from 3 days to 42 years old (12.4 +/- 0.5 years). About one-half of the horses entered in the survey were considered unhealthy due to illness, injury, lameness, or poor body condition. For every 4 horses relinquished to a nonprofit organization, only 3 horses were adopted or sold between 2006 and 2009, and many organizations had refused to accept additional horses for lack of resources (Holcomb et., 2010). The estimated maximum capacity for the 326 eligible registered nonprofit equine rescue facilities of 13,400 is well below the widely published estimate of 100,000 horses that become unwanted in the U.S. every year. Nonprofit equine rescue and sanctuary facilities have historically played an important role in safeguarding the welfare of horses in society, but funding and capacity are limiting factors to their potential expansion in continuing to care for the current population of unwanted and neglected horses in the U.S. So once these organizations are full what do we do with the rest of the unwanted horses? Euthanasia is not predominantly used to eliminate the unwanted U.S. horses due to the fact it is a costly procedure. Unwanted horses within rescue organizations are only euthanatized if they animal is suffering due to pain or illness to eliminate the animals’ uncomforting state. Approximately 1 to 2% of the U.S. equine population is slaughtered each year. That number has not changed since horse slaughter in this country ceased with the closure of the last slaughterhouse in 2007. By comparison, approximately 10 to 12% of the unwanted U.S. equine population dies or is euthanized each year (AVMA, 2012). Advocates argue that instead of resources being spent on the unwanted horses in sanctuaries and rescue facilities that the horses should be sold to slaughter. This would allow for employment opportunities, and would put money into the economy with the sale of the horses to the slaughter facilities and the sale of the meat within the United States, as well as, overseas.
An advocacy effort to stop horse slaughter for human consumption is being seen through bills, lobbyists, and protests. Boone Pickens is a main opponent in horse slaughter in the United States. Pickens was one of many that lobbied for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. He once spoke to a newspaper saying “The brutal slaughter of horses for consumption by wealthy diners in Europe and Japan cuts against our moral and cultural fiber — it's just plain un-American.” (Delmar, 2008) Many other supporters of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act discuss why many European businessmen owned the last 3 United States slaughter horse facilities. Why do they come to our wonderful nation, kill our horses, ship those horses’ meat to European countries and consume that meat? Why come to our country and do their dirty deed? It was also noted that the USDA spends millions to provide inspections in horse slaughter facilities, but one Texas slaughterhouse only paid $5 in taxes while having gross revenue of $12 million.