The
Arabian Horse Association has provided a personal letter
from AHA secretary Jan Decker outlining her own sentiments
in explaining why she believes the AHA was moved to
support the re-establishment of horse slaughter in the
United States. This letter was provided by Glenn T. Petty,
executive vice president of the AHA, and was also published on
The Jurga
Report.
Here
is the complete text of Ms. Decker's letter (AHAMS
responses in RED):
Decker: I will not attempt
to speak for all of the Board members, (however
Mr
Petty has confirmed
he considers your explanation representative of the Board
members' reasoning behind their endorsement of
slaughter…)but I want to share my thoughts
with you related to this issue. I have had a passion for
horses all of my life (and I mean all my life) and I share
your concerns especially for the welfare of, not just
Arabians, but all horses in the United States.
Unfortunately, time has proved that the discontinuation of
equine slaughter houses in the United States was a
government action that was meant to be good thing, but
turned out to be bad thing for the welfare of a lot of
horses, in my opinion, from what I have observed since the
inception of slaughter house closings.
I am still struggling with the concept of a horse breed
organization going to the American Horse Council trustees
meeting this summer in the position of condoning horse
euthanization aka slaughter.
AHAMS: The concept of a breed organization
supporting slaughter is in fact unconscionable. As a breed
organization, the AHA has absolutely NO BUSINESS endorsing
slaughter — this endorsement is not in line with the
Mission of the organization.
To be clear: euthanasia is NOT 'also known as' slaughter.
Decker:
However,
the facts of starving horses standing in squalid
conditions because owners can not or will not provide feed
due to current economic conditions is horrible. Trucks
hauling loads of debilitated horses thousands of miles to
get across the U.S. Borders south to Mexico or north to
Canada is not a pleasant thought.
AHAMS:
Starving, neglected horses exist even when slaughter is a
convenient, legal, and available option. Last year, the
Canadian ASPCA, acting on numerous complaints about dead
and dying horses on a property near Edmonton, AB, found
Axel Hinz-Schleuter and Dale Huber living on a ranch with
100 Arabian horses in profound stages of emaciation.
Carcasses of over 20 horses that had died apparently from
starvation lay around the farm. Not only is horse
slaughter legal in Canada, but the farm was only 75 miles
from the Lacombe, AB slaughter facility. So, despite the
fact that horse slaughter was legal, available, and
convenient, Huber and Hinz-Schleuter allowed horses to
starve.
Decker:
I have
been told herds of 'wild' horses out west in open range
are growing greatly in numbers as owners haul their horses
out to open range and open the trailer doors and abandon
their animals. There are countless tales of horrible
events all across the USA related to equines that I can
not go into here of horses just "dumped" on
rural roads and other stories of horror.
The state forest/parks here in Indiana now have adopted
the position of counting the horses in a trailer when they
come into a park to be sure the people do not leave horses
behind in the park turned loose to fend for themselves.
Local fairgrounds with horse stalls are patrolling them to
insure no one has broken into the locked fairground stalls
and left behind horses in those facility's stalls.
AHAMS: To verify the above statement, we
called the Indiana Parks department on August 19th, 2009
and spoke with John Bergman, the Assistant Director of
Parks and Reservoirs for the State of Indiana.
He said that in the 20+ years he has worked for the Parks
department, he has never known of horses being
‘abandoned’ in any of the state parks. He stated that
Brown County, home to one of the largest horse-campgrounds
in the Midwest, does charge a per-head admission to the
park, but this has nothing to do with making sure people
don’t leave a horse behind. He then stated that there is
absolutely “no policy of counting the horses in a
trailer when they come into a park to be sure the people
do not leave horses behind in the park, turned loose to
fend for themselves”.
John Seifert, State Forester with Indiana Department
of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, was quoted last
year as saying "I can assure you that there are no
abandoned horses, or to our knowledge have ever been
abandoned horses on Indiana state forests."
The stories of horses
abandoned across the US are repeated endlessly in
newspaper articles and on the Internet, until with
repetition, though unsubstantiated, they become accepted
as ‘fact’.
That such a story is repeated here serves to confirm that
the information used to support the board’s decision to
pass this motion was based not on fact, but on rumor,
propaganda, and conjecture.
Decker:
One suggestion I heard of recently that has come up
is a 'Euthanasia Clinic' and I have been solicited to
donate money to such a 'Clinic'. I can not visualize that
picture of a lot of old, crippled, starved, or just plain
unwanted horses hauled into one location to be 'put to
sleep' at a cost of $200 - $500 per animal. Would they be
buried on site? Would a winch truck be there to pull all
the bodies up into a big 'dead wagon' truck? I just can't
envision this happening with a lot of dead horses lying
around after such an event.
AHAMS: A visit to
the Nor-Cal Rescue site attests to the fact that they are
not so callous as imagined here. Horses brought in are
evaluated by staff and a veterinarian to determine if
their condition offers a good quality of life, making
adoption an option. Also, euthanasia services are free as
funds allow. If there are insufficient funds for free
euthanasia it becomes low cost clinic where horse owners
pay a total of $125.
Decker:
It is
never easy to euthanize a horse anytime, but when the
suffering does not validate continued life it is
necessary. I had the veterinarian euthanize a horse on
this farm last Saturday and then buried it with a back
hoe. This old mare had some age on her, a thyroid
condition and had grass foundered and her system was
shutting down, we had doctored her for a month and she was
not getting any better.
Many counties/states do not allow horses/livestock to be
buried and cremation costs about $1500.00 so I am told,
thank goodness, we still have space to bury them on our
farm and can do it legally in our county.
AHAMS: To use carcass
disposal as the reason to re-open slaughterhouses is
ludicrous. Horses regularly die a natural death, or must
be euthanized and owners remove the body either by burial,
rendering, cremation, or disposal in a landfill. They
don’t deny their horse a merciful death, or surrender a
beloved companion to a kill buyer because it will be
inconvenient to dispose of the body.
Decker:
Animal slaughter is necessary to obtain meat
for consumption by humans and if the cattle, hog, chicken,
sheep, goat meat slaughter houses can be regulated and
maintained using humane methods to kill these animals,
there is no reason humane standards of treatment and
euthanasia can not be met for horses even though not for
meat to be consumed by humans.
AHAMS: Evidence from
federally-inspected slaughterhouses around the country
shows that due to increased production speeds and industry
deregulation, violations of Humane Slaughter Act
regulations are commonplace. The most
brutal of these violations is the common occurrence of
inaccurate and ineffective stunning which does not render
the animals unconscious yet still forces them to move down
the line through the slaughter. There are also numerous
other violations such as dragging, beating, excessive
electric prodding, and abusive treatment of disabled
animals. These illegal practices happen every day at
USDA-inspected plants across the country. Slaughterhouses
exist to make a profit, not to address welfare concerns.
Decker:
Yes, there are rescue facilities around the country
and here in Indiana. I had a college student/boarder here
at my stable that was unable to maintain paying her
pasture board here at my location so she
"donated" her two fat healthy horses to a
"rescue" place in southern Indiana. These were a
palomino quarter type horse and an Arabian gelding
(without papers) trained to ride, sound, and good looking
horses. She had to pay some amount of money to the rescue
location to take these horses off her hands and she still
owes me $1700.00 in back board. The "Rescue"
site would not take her horses until I agreed to let her
make payments on what she owed to me. And this is just one
story of thousands.
AHAMS:
It is naïve to believe that Rescues should blithely act
as convenient dumping grounds for horses. A good Rescue
ensures that they will also be able to provide adequately
for the animals in their care.
Decker: In conclusion, am I in favor of regulated horse slaughter,
yes, if the alternative is mistreatment of horses.
Regulated being the key word here. Am I in favor of
starving, mistreated, abandoned horses of any breed
absolutely not, but people must face reality even though
it can be ugly at times. Life is just not fair.
AHAMS:
This conclusion implies that there are there only two
options – slaughter or mistreatment – this is a
simplistic point of view. Mistreatment of horses occurs
with the same regularity regardless of whether
slaughterhouses are an option or not. Mistreatment must be
addressed by enforcement of anti-cruelty laws in already
in place.
No
one is in favor of starving or mistreating horses, but
slaughter does nothing to address the root cause of these
ills. The reality is that with horse ownership comes
personal responsibility for their welfare. We cannot be
absolved of our responsibility for those in our care by
lamenting the unfairness of life.
Decker:
Do not judge any of us to harshly, I believe we
really do have the best interest of the horses in our
hearts. It was not an easy position to take."
Jan
Decker, owner of horses for 64 years
AHAMS:
It is questionable whether endorsing re-opening
slaughterhouses in the US is truly in the best interest of
horses. That is a personal issue for members to decide
for themselves. To act in the best interest of the horse
as a breed organization is to provide and promote
activities involving the Arabian and Half Arabian, which
in turn creates interest in, and increases the value and demand for the breed.
If there is ever a
question whether to choose a particular course of action,
look back on the mission statement and see if the proposal
is consistent with it. The Board’s position would have
been clear had they chosen to follow AHA’s definition of
purpose and primary objectives, the Mission statement.
Their decision to take this position is an ill-considered
action that does nothing to inspire support and ongoing
commitment, nor does it motivate those who are connected
to the organization.
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