If we rode cows and sheep? Slaughter question.

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Agent XXX999

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Would you still eat them?

Or is the fact that many think it is 'cruel' to eat a horse because people can not differentiate between a horse as a 'pet' and a horse as a farm animal.

Cows/Pigs/Sheep get transported in europe in undesirable ways, but noone seems to make a song and dance about is as they do with horses.

Even in this country, I bet half the people who deem it cruel to "eat a horse" do not consider how the cow/lamb/pig/chicken they eat has been farmed.

Why the different perspective?
 
I think it is alot to do with the dis-association of the fluffy little lamb/cute piggy/baby cow to the meat on our plate.

I was once drawing a pheasant at my house in London in the garage. We had to have the doors open as they were so high and a woman threatened to report me to the RSPCA! I told her not to bother as they had been dead nearly a week and where did she think the chicken she ate comes from!! Ridiculous!

I genuinely believe that some people think that chicken come from a tree wrapped in clingfilm on a plastic plate!
 
I have made a big song and dance about the transportation of some piggies I saw in Spain.
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We were crossing the desert on our way to Madrid and stopped at an eatery when a huge aluminium stock truck pulled up with piggies inside. We were eating outside and the driver left his truck in the full glare of the midday sun. He went inside to have a cold beer and some food. I sat there eating and watching the piggies. After a while the pigs started grunting and squealing and it dawned on me that the metal was starting to burn their skin. I went into the restaurant and asked the driver to move his truck into the shade - he looked at me as if I was crazy. I explained to him that these were obviously pigs destined to the slaughterhouse and if he could make this journey as painless as possible then it would please me a lot. Well he left his lunch and moved the truck into the shade - I smiled at him a smile that hopefully would have made him think a little more in future.

Anyway getting back to your point, I view all meat animals in the same light - they should all be treated with compassion and dignity to the end.
 
I have no problem with horses being slaughtered for meat, same as I have no problem with cows/pigs etc going. However, they should always be well cared for right up to the very end. As Tia states, they should all be treated with compassion and dignity to the end.
 
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Anyway getting back to your point, I view all meat animals in the same light - they should all be treated with compassion and dignity to the end.

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I agree with this, which is why I try and eat locally farmed meat. I wouldnt touch Bernard Matthews with a long barge pole!!!! However my point is, that people tend to get very irate about horses - is it because we love them, but have no association with cows/sheep/pics and therefore are not as fussed how they are slaughtered.
 
It really depends how hungry we are, doesn't it?
I would eat horse meat and most other things, I think. After all there are well documented cases of people resorting to canabalism when desperate enough
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Personally I think that of all the meat available that the animals that are grazed (i.e. horse, sheep, cow) probably have a better quality of life up to the point of slaughter than poultry or pork - which can and are terribly badly treated.

I don't just not buy factory farmed poultry but when I'm out I don't have any poultry based meals - so no chicken dansak, no 'chicken' chinese and no chicken based soups or pizzas
similarly with pork

lots of people buy 'organic' poultry in the supermarkets and then forget and eat 'chicken' when out in a restaurant - completely forgetting that the restaurant food is the b. matthews type of produce in most cases (Raymond Blanc, etc an exception).

so no - don't mind the idea of horses being eaten - it's the transport issue - quite rightly - that is important for the horse/cow/sheep. For the others - poultry and pork - its the whole production issue as well as the slaughter issue.
 
Absolutely! you are so right but don't get big headed
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The issue is the way animals are treated! I would have felt and done exactly the same in the same situation. You are clearly an opinionated and willed person and your character was clearly an advantage in this situation because some people would not bother saying anything and you maybe gave the driver some food for thought.

if everyone dealing with horses/animals had compassion, they would be considerate and there would be less suffering and cruelty.

As for the original post, i do not think it is a question of being more concerned over the welfare of something because we can ride it, thats a bit of an insult to intelligence. People who care about their horses tend to care about other animals the same way. There have been videos circulating showing cruelty to other animals and birds-i was sickened in the same way as when i watched the viva vid on live export.
 
well, I once dabbled at breeding angora rabbits and quite like them as pets, but would still happily shoot some for tea (wild ones, not angoras).
 
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I have made a big song and dance about the transportation of some piggies I saw in Spain.
crazy.gif


We were crossing the desert on our way to Madrid and stopped at an eatery when a huge aluminium stock truck pulled up with piggies inside. We were eating outside and the driver left his truck in the full glare of the midday sun. He went inside to have a cold beer and some food. I sat there eating and watching the piggies. After a while the pigs started grunting and squealing and it dawned on me that the metal was starting to burn their skin. I went into the restaurant and asked the driver to move his truck into the shade - he looked at me as if I was crazy. I explained to him that these were obviously pigs destined to the slaughterhouse and if he could make this journey as painless as possible then it would please me a lot. Well he left his lunch and moved the truck into the shade - I smiled at him a smile that hopefully would have made him think a little more in future.

[bold]Anyway getting back to your point, I view all meat animals in the same light - they should all be treated with compassion and dignity to the end. [/bold]

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I agree with you Tia- all animals should be treated humanly.
 
Sorry, I have to disagree with you. If horseowners cared as much about 'farm' animals (sheep/cows etc) then we would be inundated with campaigns to rescue these poor herds and flocks and we would all be buying up sheep and cattle. I see no Charity working to stop the long distances to slaughter of these animals, in the way the ILPH are working.
I think we see horses as pets and get far too sentimental over them. I am not against horse slaughter, but would hope that ALL animals are treated well during their lives up to the second they die.
 
I don't think it is cruel to eat horses, personally. For me, yes my horse is a pet essentially and I wouldn't want to eat him/her but in other countries horses aren't viewed so much like this, they're more of a commodity. I do think there are plenty of people over here who aren't able to differentiate between horses as pets and horses as animals.

I also have dogs yet in some countries they eat dog meat as well. I personally dont have a problem with any animal being reared for slaughter, killed and eaten as long as all of this is done in a humane manner. The horse/dog/cow/pig doesn't care whether it's going to be eaten, it just wants/needs to be kept in the proper manner.
 
I think of it like this. Horses did soooo much for us and our country in the past, back when there were no such things as cars how did we get around? Who took us out to battle in the wars? etc etc. I just think we should be paying horses back for all they have done for us in the past.

Im not saying cruel transportation of cows/sheep etc isnt wrong because it is.
 
What does that mean? Horse have no higher level of concisousness than cows or sheep, we just view them differently in this country. All I am saying is that, as with any animal, they are reared and slaughtered humanely.

I also think that if it was more acceptable for horses to be sent to slaughter and people didn't try to pull at the heart strings so much, there wouldn't be so many poor horses around, so many unrideable horses, and so many "project horses" who no one can handle or ride. I know of a horse that has been through Beeston Market 5 times (!!! yes 5 times) within several months. Said horse is downright dangerous..who made him like that is not the question, however I know professional riders who can't do anything with it, it has nearly killed a couple of people. Is it right that it was just sold on unwarranted in the sales so many times? No, it should have been sold to the meat man - better all round. That horse was totally psychotic, it wasn't having a happy life. No amount of waving carrot sticks at it would have sorted it out, it would have just tried to kill someone else.
 
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I think of it like this. Horses did soooo much for us and our country in the past, back when there were no such things as cars how did we get around? Who took us out to battle in the wars? etc etc. I just think we should be paying horses back for all they have done for us in the past.

Im not saying cruel transportation of cows/sheep etc isnt wrong because it is.

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It's sentimentality like this that means unrideable and unhandleable horses end up abandoned in fields! You can't suggest to people they stop eating horse meat "because of what they've done for us in the past"! That's like suggesting we don't allow anymore young men to sign up to the army or RAF in memory of what their grandfathers did in WW2.

What we need is for horses to be slaughtered here and then transported, not driven 1000s of miles to slaughter on the continent. THAT's what I have the problem with.
 
I dont think it's as simplistic as that and as for campaigns, there's CIWF for a start... also there is a growing awareness that it is unacceptable to treat any animal inhumanely whether it's food or not...Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has recently started a campaign to raise awareness of broiler chickens.

I think some people are still hypocritical and treat their horses, cats, dogs etc as family and then go out and buy MacDonalds or whatever. But there are also a lot of people choosing organic, free range, etc.

I have pet rabbits and have enjoyed eating rabbit: much rather a wild rabbit shot with a gun than some poor pig or chicken reared in a factory farm. I'd quite happily eat a horse too, providing I was happy with it's provenance - and that's a criteria I apply to all meat anyway.
 
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Sorry, I have to disagree with you. If horseowners cared as much about 'farm' animals (sheep/cows etc) then we would be inundated with campaigns to rescue these poor herds and flocks and we would all be buying up sheep and cattle. I see no Charity working to stop the long distances to slaughter of these animals, in the way the ILPH are working.
I think we see horses as pets and get far too sentimental over them. I am not against horse slaughter, but would hope that ALL animals are treated well during their lives up to the second they die.

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That my point!
 
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That's like suggesting we don't allow anymore young men to sign up to the army or RAF in memory of what their grandfathers did in WW2.

How is it anything like that? Im not saying horses cant be used in ways to benifit us like they used to. Im not disagreeing with eating horse meat-each to their own, there are probably people that would grimace at the thought of eating rabbit, deer, crocodile etc etc, all im saying is that its wrong to treat an animal thats been so faithful to us in such an inhumane way by transporting without food/water/adequate space etc. Ive got no problems with animals being slaughtered before transportation. I dont see why they dont just slaughter in the UK or wherever the animal is based and then transport the meat in a lorry that has freezer compartments, surely that would meen that there would be just as much horse meat but that animal campaigners would be happy too??
 
The problem is more compex than that unfortunately.
One thing is that cost come into it. I doubt it would be seen as cost effective to set up.
Then there is the issue of wanting to be able to use the blood from the horse. Also the people selling the horses for live export in France would not be very happy because France will not slaughter mares in foal but hypocritically they will send them to other eu countries to be slaughtered.
 
This is how I ended up vegan - through thinking through these kinds of issues. My grandad was a farmer - chickens & pigs. These animals were treated to the absolute letter of the law - but the law is inhumane.

There is soooo much cruelty in factory farming at every turn. One small eg - day old chicks being thrown alive into a mincer because they are the wrong gender to lay eggs. Imagine if people did that to foals? Or dairy cows having their calves taken away from them year after year after year - there was a furore on here a few months ago or longer because someone *said* that ordinary riding horses' foals were taken away from them so they could be foster mums to comp horses. But no-one gives a cr*p about dead calves & their bereaved mothers.

**Will now get off my soapbox & go & cook some tofu**
 
If everyone in the world were to become vegans there would be no cows, no cattle, no sheep, no chickens, no pigs....just a point to consider.
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For me personally I just couldn't eat horse because I'm a fluffy horse owner!

I gave up meat for 8 years but eat it again and do try and buy organic and better quality meat so that you are safe in the knowledge that the animal led a 'humane' life and was slaughtered fairly.

I admit that I look at my horse as a pet and it's probably wrong but I'm a happy hacker at heart and don't think I'll ever change.

M does often tell me how nice horse meat is ....
 
think of the wider picture here....

i mean, its not that easy to find a saddler that can fit a saddle to a bloody horse, let alone cattle or sheep...

and feed? supplements? rugs? shoes?

bloody hell no............

i'll stick to ponies...and have them shot as and when i feel fit...thank you all the same.......................
 
IMO there is nothing wrong in eating any animal if they have been raised humanly & despatched humanly. I dont eat very much meat because I like to know where it has come from. Having kept my horses on various working farms over the years, it is enough to make you vegi. And one of the saddest things is to see a cow crying for her calf & in pain from a full bag because she has come of the milking line into the meat herd. Years ago the UK used to have veal crates, this has been stopped, so public opinion can work. As sad as it is though, the public are not prepared to pay the prices to support farm animals being kept other then in factory units.
 
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