Horses Abandoned As Economy Fails Them

(NEWSER) - All US horse slaughterhouses have closed, but horse slaughter remains a big business. Thousands are shipped to Mexico and Canada, with sometimes-grisly results. “The treatment of these animals is absolutely unspeakable,” said one Mexico City veterinarian tells Salon. Now, Congress is considering a bill to ban both slaughter and the export of horses for slaughter. But many farmers think it’s a terrible idea. More»

Banning slaughter in US has unintended consequences across borders

(NEWSER) - A US ban on horse slaughter has had some gruesome unintended consequences, the New York Times reports. American horses are still sold for their meat, but they’re now shipped to Mexico or Canada, facing first a grueling transport, and then often a nastier death than they’d receive in better-regulated US slaughterhouses. “My worst nightmare has happened,” one veterinarian said. More»

Collapse in equine market leads to rise in neglect of animals

(NEWSER) - When the sun was shining on the economy, millions of Americans tried to make hay by buying horses and moving into backyard breeding. As things slow down, the animals are getting harder to sell and pricier to feed, making horse neglect and abandonment a big problem, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rescue centers are struggling to deal with starving horses. More»

Congress lifts ban on funding horse meat inspections

(NEWSER) - When Congress passed a spending bill earlier this month to keep the government from shutting down, it quietly lifted a funding ban on horse meat inspections—meaning horses can once again be butchered in the US for human consumption, and slaughterhouses could open within 30 to 90 days. The US has no outright ban on horse slaughter, although two states do ban it and many others regulate the sale of horse meat, but funding for horse meat inspections was cut off in 2006. Congress did not allocate new money to pay for inspections, meaning the USDA would have to find the money within its own struggling budget. More»

The way we treat thoroughbreds is a disgrace, says Marlene Fanta Shyer

(NEWSER) - You might imagine that the horses who run in tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby live lives of "pampered luxury." But you’d be wrong, writes Marlene Fanta Shyer in the Christian Science Monitor . “The truth is often closer to years of abuse and a brutal end at a foreign slaughterhouse.” The vast majority of these horses are given Phenylbutazone, or “bute,” to help them run while injured, which can cause kidney damage, internal hemorrhaging, and other problems. More»