http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills info@washingtonwatch.com http://www.pjdoland.com/chai/?v=0.1 http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38822 A Horse's Tale "How many times have I changed hands? I think it is twelve times—I cannot remember; and each time it was down a step lower, and each time I got a harder master. They have been cruel, every one; they have worked me night and day in degraded employments, and beaten me; they have fed me ill, and some days not at all. And so I am but bones, now, with a rough and frowsy skin humped and cornered upon my shrunken body—that skin which was once so glossy, that skin which she loved to stroke with her hand. I was the pride of the mountains and the Great Plains; now I am a scarecrow and despised. These piteous wrecks that are my comrades here say we have reached the bottom of the scale, the final humiliation; they say that when a horse is no longer worth the weeds and discarded rubbish they feed to him, they sell him to the bull-ring for a glass of brandy, to make sport for the people and perish for their pleasure."... 38822@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:22:13 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38821 Here is a little Mark Twain for you doubters. Twain, a big supporter of animal rights, said once that you could judge a country by the way it treats its animals. We haven't changed a bit and it is a real shame.... 38821@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:21:33 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38820 A 50% growth in feed and hay prices has wrecked the show and race industry. Years of over breeding by unscrupulous thoroughbred and quarter horse breeders has brought us here. But letting them off the hook by sending their culled colts to slaughter is unacceptable and not a mark of a capitalistic economy. They got into a commodity business and now they don't want to deal with the slow side of it.... 38820@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:19:40 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38819 I own horses and run a variety of horse related web sites. I also deal daily with the fallout of the racing industry (as well as the equally bad English and Western show industry). While Bonnie hasn't spent her life around horses, she is bringing important things to light. And the feelings of non-horse owning American apparently do matter to our legislators and to at least a few of us in the business. As an industry, we're worse than boxing ever thought about being. We are completely ungoverned, except by incestuous organizations like the Thoroughbred owners and US Equestrian Federation (their President and the USEF equestrian of the year are husband and wife!).... 38819@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:18:38 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38814 The Bureau of Land Management must be investigated and held accountable under Supreme Court for their crimes. BLM lies and mismanagement have lead to the demise of our wild horses. Go to Thomas and study "Appropriation Bills"!! Contact the government with FACTS to protect our wild horses!... 38814@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:14:57 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38774 Horse slaughter is contrary to American values and given today's renewed patriotism, our message is more poignant than ever. If we do not protect our domesticated and wild horses against slaughter for human consumption abroad then America has indeed, lost her very soul.... 38774@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:38:35 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38773 A recent study of trends in horse slaughter revealed the number of horses slaughtered was determined by a demand for horse meat primarily in Europe and not by the number of unwanted or abandoned horses. These findings contradict horse slaughter industry claims that if horse slaughter is banned, there will be large numbers of abandoned, unwanted horses. The demand for horsemeat creates a market where horse slaughter "kill buyers" compete with other people who want to buy horses. This encourages owners to supply that market through over-breeding horses, for example. If slaughter of American horses for human food is made illegal, there would be less incentive to over-breed horses. The study shows that there would be no significant or sustained increase in unwanted or abandoned horses. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/06/prweb1034414.htm... 38773@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:37:39 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38772 Historically, there have not been increases in abandoned, neglected or abused horses following closures of horse slaughter houses. In 2002 the Illinois slaughter house burned to the ground and was out of commission for some time. Reports of abandoned, abused and neglected horses in the Illinois area were actually on the rise in the 2 years before the fire but decreased afterwards. The number of horses slaughtered in the U.S. dropped significantly from over 300,000 annually in the 1990s to 66,000 in 2004. There was no notable increase during that time of abandoned, abused or neglected horses.... 38772@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:36:40 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38771 kill buyers are not looking for the unwanted or abused or neglected horses. They are looking for healthy horses that can be slaughtered for horsemeat, a delicacy in parts of Europe and Asia. The USDA has said over 92% of American horses slaughtered, are healthy. the horse slaughter industry actually encourages the over breeding of horses. Because owners can make money from the brutal slaughter of their horses, they have an incentive to over breed. If the slaughter of horses for human consumption is illegal, there is no reward for over breeding. Pet Abuse.com actually reported a decrease in horse abuse and neglect cases following closure of the last U.S. horse slaughter house in 2007.... 38771@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:36:04 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38770 because it was obvious horse slaughter could not be made humane according to the standards in its 2000 Report, AVMA simply changed the requirements in its 2007 Euthanasia Report! In that report the AVMA removed any mention that horses' heads should be immobilized during use of the captive bolt gun. That pesty requirement that slaughterhouses ignored anyway simply got in the way of the AVMA's campaign to convince Congress and the public that horse slaughter is "humane". Now the AVMA is effectively telling Congress and the public that it is humane euthanasia for an untrained operator to fire metal bolts at a horse's unrestrained head until it is more or less unconscious and then, still alive and perhaps even conscious, subjected to the slaughtering process.... 38770@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:35:34 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38769 Why must we keep an industry in operation that 80% of Americans oppose, just to accommodate criminals? Slaughter is the economic underpinning for indiscriminate over breeding, PMU factory farming of horses and its by-product foal genocide, consumer fraud, horse theft, the extermination of our wild mustangs, and irresponsible horse ownership in general.... 38769@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:34:54 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38743 It is so interesting you label yourself horse abuse. Freudian....actually.... 38743@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:20:15 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38742 Myth: If horses can no longer be slaughtered, their welfare is at risk due to the lack of adequate equine rescue facilities and uniform standards for them. Fact: Standards of care have already been developed and embraced by the hundreds of equine rescue and retirement facilities that exist throughout the country that routinely rescue horses from slaughter. All must comply with state and local animal welfare statutes. In an effort to end the slaughter of racehorses, the New York Racing Association has partnered with other groups to launch the "Ferdinand Fee" to raise funds for the care of retired racehorses, and to honor Ferdinand, a former Kentucky Derby winner who went to slaughter. The organizations leading the charge in favor of a slaughter ban are the very organizations that are actively working to provide sanctuaries and solutions for any horses that would otherwise go to slaughter.... 38742@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:17:52 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38741 Most horse owners already use humane euthanasia for their older or ill horses. Even though the states have shut their plants, our horses are still being subjected to intense suffering and abuse though transport and slaughter over the border. Undercover footage shows live horses being dragged, whipped, and crammed into trucks in 110 degrees on their way to a horrific form of slaughter in Mexico and Canada. These horses are stabbed multiple times in the neck with a "puntilla knife" to sever their spinal cords. This procedure does not render the horse unconscious, and is not a stunning method. Rather, it paralyzes the horse, leaving him/her twitching on the ground, unable to move or breathe, and then they die from suffocation (because their lungs stop working) or from blood loss and dismemberment.... 38741@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:16:41 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38740 Fact: Horse slaughter is a far cry from humane euthanasia. "Euthanasia" means a gentle, painless death provided in order to prevent suffering. Horse slaughter is a death fraught with terror, pain, and suffering. Horses are shipped for more than 24 hours at a time in crowded double-decker cattle trucks without food, water, or rest. Pregnant mares, foals, injured horses, and even blind horses must endure the journey. Once they arrive, their suffering intensifies—undercover footage obtained by The Humane Society of the United States demonstrates that fully conscious horses are shackled and hoisted by the rear leg and have their throats slit. Because horses are skittish by nature, it is particularly difficult to align them correctly and ensure the captive bolt stun gun renders them unconscious. Unwanted horses should be humanely euthanized by a licensed veterinarian when no other option exists, rather than placed on a truck, cruelly transported, and then butchered.... 38740@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:16:05 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38738 Myth: There is no need for a ban because slaughter is humane euthanasia.... 38738@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:14:21 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38737 Myth: Transport guidelines protect horses shipped to slaughter from harm. Fact: The 2002 guidelines allow horses to be shipped for more than 24 hours without food, water or rest, with broken limbs, with eyes missing, even heavily pregnant. Industry pushed to delay the prohibition on use of double-decker trucks until December 7, 2006. The regulations only cover the final journey to the slaughterhouse. If horses are loaded and unloaded at various places as part of their route to slaughter, only the final leg of the trip is covered. Enforcement of these guidelines will only occur once the truck reaches the slaughter plant, so these guidelines will have little preventative effect. These guidelines are wholly inadequate and allow extreme suffering in transport to continue.... 38737@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:12:38 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38717 Same person repeating the same things over and over. I know you are paid by HSUS or PETA to continue to comment on this message board. You are WRONG....selfish and with YOUR OWN AGENDA.... 38717@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:38:29 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38706 Our Congressmen need to wake up and pay attention to the people that own horses, not the people that are making the money off of slaughtering them. After being medicated all their lives with medicines that are not for "human consumption" they are slaughtered and send to Europe for human consumption. Horse owners need to stop breeding just because they "like having the babies around". Dangerous horses need to be EUTHANIZED so they can't hurt "anyone". Not taken to auction where they might end up in the wrong hands. I belong to a horse rescue and constantly see the horses that are bound for Canada. These are not the old, thin frail horses that are ready to die...these are the young, fat healty horses that people take to auctions because they don't want them any longer for the almighty "buck" instead of trying to find them a good home, even if its for free. God forbid they give the horse away for nothing. These bills need to be passed NOW.... 38706@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:08:08 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38661 See John Holland's article cited above. There is NO change in the number of abused or neglected horses. STOP LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. It isn't true that as things lose value "people tend to take less care of something." Maybe this is what you do but not everyone is LIKE YOU. The reason for Animal Cops is to educate the public about the existing laws established to stop abuse. People like you TALK about abuse and neglect to promote their own agenda.... 38661@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:01:45 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38651 Lame horses that need to be put down are given to families with no knowledge of the equine health and nutrition. Example: Sarah wanted a horse, the family had land but no idea of the cost of raising a horse. The horse appeared fine but as Sarah became more confident the horses lameness showed up. Needless to say the little girl was heartbroken when they had to put her "friend" to sleep because of cost and then being lame.... 38651@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:26:49 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38650 Is on the rise as the economy fails. As something loses value, people tend to take less care of something. Watch Animal Cops and see that there is abuse of horses going on, if you still believe that this person who claims it isn't, check it out.... 38650@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:20:20 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38588 READ: "It's not that hard to do a better job." HOW NOVEL AN IDEA!!!... 38588@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:09:12 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38587 Diana Baker, a former Thoroughbred Retirement Fund board member who has been involved with several high profile cases, said the new policy is a positive step but that she believes there are still some horses going from the track to slaughterhouses. “I hope it’s not just lip service,” Baker said. “It would be a breath of fresh air to have someone in racing actually protect the horses.” She agreed that it may be difficult to make a direct connection between a trainer and a horse sold for slaughter. “That’s a tough call, it will be interesting to see how it plays out,” she said. “It’s an open secret how these horses get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B.’ The trainers always say they don’t know. When you’re pulling horses that were trained or owned by the same people over and over again, it doesn’t add up, it doesn’t make sense.”... 38587@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:08:07 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_311.html#38586 Blowen noted that it may be difficult to prove a direct link between a trainer and a horse that winds up in a slaughter pen. “It is hard, it's a nasty circuitous trail, and of course anybody that does it doesn't want to get caught,” he said. Blowen, who worked as a hot walker at Suffolk Downs in the late 1990s, said he remembers gut-wrenching scenes in the track's stable area of horses being loaded onto trucks bound for slaughterhouses. “I still think it's an issue,” he said. “It's a problem with every track. Since the fairs have been closed in Massachusetts, it's not as big a problem. It's not that hard to do a better job. All we have to do is find people that are willing to play by the rules.”... 38586@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:07:12 EDT