Horse rescues weigh in on Congressional decision
MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 12/14/2011

A decision by Congress earlier this month has horse experts torn on the impact it will have on an industry that they consider inhumane and barbaric.
In lifting a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections within the United States, some believe it’s just a matter of time before slaughterhouses return in the U.S. after the last one had closed in Illinois in 2007.
“They’re coming,” Joey Ogborne, the founder of Luv Shack Ranch, a horse rescue, in Cave Creek. “I wish it wasn’t the case, but if people want to ignore it that’s a mistake. This is going to happen. That being the case we need to push for regulations with regard to how the animals are treated so they aren’t slaughtered in misery.”
Without much in the way of standards in Mexico, Ogborne said the animals, often young healthy horses, are killed in the same facilities and with the same equipment used to kill cows. Horses, though, don’t react like cows.
 “The horses move so it takes several blows to the head with a metal bolt to knock them out and then they’re strung up by the legs and have their throats cut,” she said. “I’d love to be able to save all the horses and we try to save as many as we can, but if there have to be slaughter houses I think we can at least set up some more humane standards here in the United States.”
Ogborne said even PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is in favor of slaughter houses opening in the U.S. with the expectation that the United States would handle the practice better than Mexico does.
She said estimates are that more than 60,000 horses are sent to Mexico each year for slaughter, and that those numbers have been rising.
Thompson said the mistreatment of animals isn’t limited to how they’re killed. She said the transportation of animals also is inhumane.
“They jam them into double-decker trailers where they can’t even lift their heads and then during the trips to Mexico they’re not fed or given any water,” she said. “A lot of them get trampled or otherwise injured in the transport to the slaughter houses.”
Thompson isn’t convinced that U.S. slaughter houses necessarily will run any better than those in Mexico. She gets angry simply talking about what has happened recently.
“If the method of transport and the method of euthanasia were humane it would be a lot different,” she said. “I still wouldn’t like the fact that so many horses were losing their lives, but you could at least handle it better. I’m totally opposed to what’s happening. The cattlemen have a lot of lobbyists. It’s a business decision. Money, money, money.”

Thompson said that in some countries horse meat is viewed almost as a delicacy.
Both women say that while they do as much as they can to buy horses destined for slaughter houses they are overcrowded and financially strapped due to an abundance of horses being abandoned by owners and the cost to feed animals getting ever higher.
“This year alone we’ve taken in 45 horses alone that were being sent to Mexico,” Ogborne said. “Several were pregnant, or had a baby on their sides.”
Thompson said that sometimes, as much as it pains her, she simply has to say no to people looking to find a place to send their horse.

“We get calls from people every day,” she said. “I’ve referred people to other rescues. Unfortunately we’re just full right now. I’ve got 65 animals to feed and it’s a challenge. What I find unfortunate is that a lot of people have lame or sick animals, or old animals that have just reached their time. I ask them why they aren’t willing to euthanize an animal which doesn’t have any quality of life any more. It’s so said. Instead of spending the money to have a vet come out and humanely end their suffering they want the rescues to do the dirty work for them. We don’t get any discounts from veterinarians on those things. They should be responsible when their animal’s time comes rather than dump them in the desert or try and pawn them off on the rescues.”

For information on Cave Creek’s Luv Shack Ranch go to luvshackranch.com or call 602-299-8975. For information on New River’s Dreamchaser Horse Rescue go to dreamchaserpmu.org or call 623-910-6530.