Have you just seen those shocking videos on ITV?

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fruity

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A gorgeous healthy grey about to be shot,filmed stopped just before as it was to disturbing to see the killing,a pony laid down in agony after not being shot properly,left for ages until it was finally put out of it's misery. A horse dragged over a lorry partition by 5 men it's injured and screaming. Horses squashed into lorry's kicking each other,foals being trampled.

This was a shocking 5 mins of footage,i hope non horsey people will also realise what happens to these poor creatures, it makes me sad that us mankind do this to these animals.

They think that 80 of the Amersham case were stolen and that the bloke would of got up to £650 for each horse for meat hence why it's getting more and more popular in this country. It's thought that some 'businesses' that trade the horses earn upto 2 million each year from this act.

Over 30,000 horses a year are slaughtered in the UK alone. Most are all very healthy, more and more being TB's that were likely to of raced.

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*buries head in despair*

I'm afraid you may just get pounced on, because this discussion has been battled out to the death!!!!

That footage was released back last year by Animal Aid - it was designed to shock, but to most horse lovers, what it actually did was show that what Animal Aid and the likes believe to be torture is actually a very swift and humane process. That 'gorgeous and healthy grey' could have had any number of problems - it may have had behavioural/mental issues, or terminal lameness etc. Just because it looked healthy, does not mean it had found its way there by default. The full length video actually shows a female owner stroking her horse goodbye as she leaves it in a pen filled with straw and a full hay rack. I, personally, would never have a horse sent to slaughter, but for some it is just the way they do things; just because they choose the slaughterhouse rather than the hunt kennels/having PTS at home does not mean they don't care, it just means they do things differently.

I thought that ITV video was horrendously biased; they had a chance to highlight the terrible plight suffered by those poor Amersham horses - and to shame the evil bastard who was behind it - but instead, they dragged up some ill-meaning past footage and blamed the racing industry. Makes no sense to me!
 
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*buries head in despair*

I'm afraid you may just get pounced on, because this discussion has been battled out to the death!!!!

That footage was released back last year by Animal Aid - it was designed to shock, but to most horse lovers, what it actually did was show that what Animal Aid and the likes believe to be torture is actually a very swift and humane process. That 'gorgeous and healthy grey' could have had any number of problems - it may have had behavioural/mental issues, or terminal lameness etc. Just because it looked healthy, does not mean it had found its way there by default. The full length video actually shows a female owner stroking her horse goodbye as she leaves it in a pen filled with straw and a full hay rack. I, personally, would never have a horse sent to slaughter, but for some it is just the way they do things; just because they choose the slaughterhouse rather than the hunt kennels/having PTS at home does not mean they don't care, it just means they do things differently.

I thought that ITV video was horrendously biased; they had a chance to highlight the terrible plight suffered by those poor Amersham horses - and to shame the evil bastard who was behind it - but instead, they dragged up some ill-meaning past footage and blamed the racing industry. Makes no sense to me!

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* Applauds *
Well said, MizElz.
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And what exactly are we to do with surplus horses???

Burden charities? or leave them to rot in fields after being bought by people like James Gray?
Horses can appear healthy, but it could haev been riddled with tumours.
I haven't seen the vid yet but I am off to look for it.

I personally am not against horse slaughter as I believe that it stops there being a surplus of horses to fall into the wrong hands and suffer. We cannot burden the charities with all these horses, not everyone can afford horses as pets, and I wouldworry about a 'do gooder' getting them and not knowing how to keep them. My friend once had a rescue pony that was handed over to a charity after its owners who had tried to 'save' it by keeping it in their back garden in Rubislaw Den and feeding it on Kitchen scraps, realized that was NOT the way to do it.
 
I'm with MizElz on this as well, without horse slaughteres we would be in a dreadful jam. We are fortunate to be within 10 miles of a horse slaughterers, a family concern that has been in go for many years. Twice they have come out and pts our old horses and then taken away the corpse. We have paid them for this service and they have been excellent. There is no point in "saving" a life if the animal is not going to have any meaning ful quality of life?
 
Oh sorry may of come across wrong there,i was just typing exactly what the TV presenter said re the grey horse etc!

I totally agree that there is a place for slaughter houses my aunties previous horses went to one and 2 more recently went to the hunt kennels.What i was shocked about was in a couple of pics the horses were being mis treated,kicked and beaten for no reason really as the horses were complying. I personally was mainly shocked that they didn't go into much detail about the Amersham case considering most were probably stolen you would of thought they might of stuck on that particular case but yep like you all have said they then went on to show the footage from animal aid-the film has been on You Tube the lot and i was quite shocked that they showed it,i was sure they would be showing more footage at the recent cruelty site and getting info from the R.S.P.C.A,what action was being taken with the bloke etc

Sorry just wanted to inform you on the most recent T.V news regading this incident,didn't want to spark a debate as after all everyone has different views about a lot of things in this world!
 
Bless you, I didnt mean to jump on you! You threw me a minute there when you said about the horses being 'kicked and beaten' then I remembered (having watched the ITV clip) - that particular piece of footage was from a foreign horse slaughterer - I believe it may have been Mexico? Again, how wrong are ITV to integrate that into their report on the BRITISH horse meat industry! I too found that piece of footage repulsive; go and search for mexican horse slaughter videos online, and I promise you you will change your opinion on the British horse slaughter issue! I know I certainly did.
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I thought the ITV video shouldn't have been released, there is no wonder this country is so very ill informed and backwards when only one opinion is broadcast over the entire nation, and when one person sees such torturing images without knowing the side of the debate we do, then of course this country goes anti-slaughter.
I'm all for it, all of our horses have gone straight to hunt kennels which is slaughtering, all humane and justified.
 
I was present when 3 of our work horses went to slaughter and i havn't got anything against the UK market as i know a couple in the S.E that do it and they treat the horses with dignanty and respect right up until the end,there horseboxes are 5* as well! It was the footage in the middle that threw me,i didn't realise it was totally different footage,now i know it was prob from Mexico it sais everything really,that was very bad of them as now everyones going to think a uk site did this!
What is the uk coming to???
 
I know, I was so furious when I saw it. Mum went one step further and said 'Go online and email ITV now, say how one sided it was, how wrong they were to mix footage, etc etc.' I didnt, because I know they wont give a scheisse.
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I hate sounding like I know and have seen all the types of footage, but in actual fact I have, because I wanted to learn and discover exactly what the controversy is about, and decide for myself whether or not the action justifies the uproar. In Britain, I can safely say it doesnt (at least in most places). In Mexico, it most certainly does.
 
I was going to say about writing to them but they couldn't give a monkeys i quessed
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I havn't researched into it but from what i've experienced i'd say the UK is very professional in what they have to do. I actually am involved in putting down animals in my job although not horses, i hold the animal and stop the blood flow before the lethal injection is administered and i occasionally here about our 'horse' jobs our vets have attended and all of the vets i'm friends with have nothing but praise for these companies,i bet the poor people that make a living out of it are fuming!!!!!
 
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*buries head in despair*

I thought that ITV video was horrendously biased; they had a chance to highlight the terrible plight suffered by those poor Amersham horses - and to shame the evil bastard who was behind it - but instead, they dragged up some ill-meaning past footage and blamed the racing industry. Makes no sense to me!

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I was just in time to see it and it made me very angry that they just put their spin on it. I've seen the whole video from Potters and all the horses were handled quietly and professionally by a guy who's clearly good at his job.

The issue should be live exports and the fact these animals were allowed to get in this state, not the actual slaughter
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Yes, it was awful BUT I think it's useful that the plight of all horses destined for slaughter is now getting some recognition and publicity on National TV.
A very small bit of good may come out of what has happened to those poor horses in Amasham (sp)
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I may be throwing up a whole new angle here, and I said this yesterday regarding the time delay, the Jamie Grey issue, and long suffering of the animals, but if we were eating horse meat in this country, don't you think that DEFRA etc would have prevented the suffering of those horses long before RSPCA got their prejudiced acts together?
 
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I didn't see this, but if ITV have misled viewers by showing footage from abroad and implying the mistreatment took place in the UK, it might be worth complaining to Ofcom?
link here (I hope it works)
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/progs/

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Didnt think of that, Nettle, but have just gone and complained now! Thank you!
 
The worst part of the Mexico business is horse slaughter has been banned outright in the US so many of their "surplus" horses now go to . . . Mexico. This means longer journeys, fewer restrictions and less social pressure over the "end result", and more opportunity for corruption/negligence/wilful ignorance. But hey, so long as the Americans get to feel better about themselves it's all okay.

It also means more horses get shipped to Canada, where care and handling laws are much stricter but again, huge travelling distances and less control over shipping conditions. Plus the Canadian auctions and slaughter houses weren't equipped to cope with the influx and are under their own animal rights pressures. Not to mention that it stresses Canadian rescues and interested parties because all of a sudden there are so many more horses to "save".

Seems like passing the buck to me. It's all very well to pretend a perfect world and every horse with a loving owner and a perfect end but the fact is we make too many "extra" horses - many of which are not suitable/healthy enough to be even pets - and it's unrealistic to expect everyone who breeds a horse to keep it until the day it dies of natural causes. Unless we're going to sort out a way to only make as many horses as homes, only have suitable ones that never get wrecked, and make every owner perfect, I can't see how to change the situation. To simply cover one's eyes is not only selfish but irresponsible.
 
Exactly Cruiser, you only have to look at the mess in America due to the banning of horse slaughter and you can see how awful it can get.

I have said this a hundred times, whilst I personally do not eat horse meat, I would rather have horses (and any other animal for that matter) get slaughtered here than travel in horrific conditions to Italy (n.b. that the Italians eat 84% of horsemeat exported to Europe - not the French!).

For those that don't believe me as to how bad it actually is in the US, go to http://fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/ to see it for yourself.

No it isn't pleasant to know that this happens, but let's be honest, if you eat meat, this is what happens. Just try to be responsible about it IMO.
 
I guess you haven't seen today's Daily Mirror yet then, a beautiful Sec A being destroyed, a shotgun no less, pity it did not backfire. This is a licensed slaughterhouse! How disgusting and cruel is that? The problem is that people breed indiscriminately and then sell in the markets and the meat man generally buys them up, I do not know what the answer is to this terrible problem, however, everyone who owns, breeds or buys and sells equines need to be made to do so responsibly, only then will this terrible situation start to stop.
 
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