Cross-posted from Riverfront Times Blog
by PAUL FRISWOLD
Sue Wallis, the CEO of Unified Equine, resurfaced in the media recently to hint that her plans for a horse slaughter plant in Missouri continue apace. Wallis claims that the company has designs on a shuttered cattle processing plant in “western Missouri,” with the exact location being kept a secret. The secrecy is necessary at least in part because of the public outcry over Unified Equine’s initial proposed location in Mountain Grove, Missouri — the local populace strongly opposed the plan.
Let’s say Unified Equine follows through with this new location, and a plant opens and processes horse meat for human consumption. What exactly would be in that meat?
Valerie Pringle of HSUS mentions just a few toxic items.
“Horses aren’t raised to be eaten, not like cattle,” Pringle says. For example, the United States and the European Union both have prohibitions against phenylbutazone being used in food producing animals. According to Pringle, phenylbutazone is at the top of the list of drugs given to horses as a matter of course.
“Phenylbutazone is kind of like horse asprin. We keep a big container in the barn. It’s used to treat pain or swelling from a bug bite — horses seem to injure themselves all the time. It’s very, very common,” Pringle explains before rattling off a list of further commonly dispensed medicines. “They get wormer generally every eight weeks. Fly spray, fungicidal shampoos, hoof treatment, copper tox for their hooves — that kills bacteria — all of those drugs are common for regular horses, including show horses. These things are done to keep them healthy. None of them are approved for human consumption.”
In case anyone other than a horse owner has any doubt about this, Pringle adds:
“I own a horse, Sue Wallis doesn’t. I know what’s in horse meat.”
The Springfield News-Leader reports Unified Equine is considering western Missouri because of large horse populations nearby.
The Int’l Fund for Horses is campaigning to put boots on the ground to lobby and speak to local business leaders in Oklahoma, Missouri and Wallis’ home state of Wyoming, where she and her colleagues are busy working to get horse slaughter plants into operation by the end of the year.
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Tuesday's Horse 
Sue Wallis reminds me of Wile E. Coyote: she always underestimates the adversary. Secretiveness is not an option given the number of agencies–at the local, municipal, state and federal levels which must be apprised before such a facility could even incorporate. I don’t know how it works in the States but that’s how it works here in Canada, and there are horse-loving “moles” in every agency. And I agree: Runaround Sue doesn’t hate horses; she is just greedy and persists in believing that despite the caveats issuing from the EU and the current pressures being put upon the CFIA, for example, American know-how (or some other misplaced jingoism) will win the day. For Sue, it will be a “long day’s journey into night” for her obsession that horses are lucrative food animals will soon be turned into “an endless journey” leading nowhere. As for consumer demand, an ex-patriot Romanian now living in Canada informed me rather petulantly that horsemeat can be had for “nearly nothing….$2 to $3 per lb in Europe” (versus Animals-Angels’ recent comment that it costs $17/lb).” Maybe so…but that horsemeat doesn’t come from North America, as “imported” horsemeat only goes to the finest establishments. Bute a l’orange, anyone? Anyway, we may not be able to control consumer demand in foreign countries, but we can seek always to control consumer demand in situ (and there are communities in Florida which eat horsemeat), and refuse to export the flesh of our horses. I know that some people say “if people insist on eating horsemeat, then if they get sick and/or die, it serves them right.” I don’t agree. Horsemeat is dangerous to human health, and it’s my belief that if you care about anything, you need to care about the inhabitants of the ENTIRE planet (despite our rapacious appetite for the kill). Revenge is not the answer because revenge will not diminish consumer demand…whereas education might.
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By all means keep trying in Washington. Why not? Shows American public still demanding an end to horse slaughter.
But these federal tactics have been tried well over a decade with the same old sponsors; the same old no result. US Congress fails again and again. EU regulations only way to go with any expectation of success; plus ending demand at consumer end.
I challenge any politician in DC to make me eat my words.
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Pls pardon typos–time is short.
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Sue Wallis was literally run out of MO already, according to those who live in MO and who observed the activity there. TN refused to even vote on any slaughter idea. NM stated in public media that these pet killing con artists were wasting time even trying the idea there. Sue Wallis and her buddies is unimportant and has no credibility anywhere, even in WY.
State by state law re outlawing slaughter will never work due to lack of enforcement. For example, TX had anti-slaughter law (circa 1949) while Dallas Crown operated, finally closing in 2007 by EPA action.
Congress has to act and fund enforcement adequately. We need national law and national enforcement or we will never end the scam of slaughter. As Congress plays partisan games, U S taxpayers lose 123 million a year in taxpayer dollars per report issued from The White House some months ago. .
The AQHA is a major provider of pro-slaughter lobbyist funding, along with other well known supporters of slaughter. Some in racing contributes their own horses. Breeders use the breed-and-kill solution in order to make fast cash, too. Check out the bizarre rationale behind the so-called “Unwanted Horse Coalition” and its support of slaughter. There are horse rescues and vets who are affiliated with that group along with the US Hunter Jumper Association, for example. These supporters believe horses are disposable. According to the “Unwanted Horse Coalition”, any horse can be killed for reasons such as “color” or “lack of performance”. That is what we are dealing with here.
There never was and still is not any reason to kill horses. There is no “excess” horse population. That is merely another lie to justify this ripoff.
The Ag Commitee changed language re inspections of slaughter plants behind closed doors and forced the language through. Congress has to be forced to act so that we can stop this national disgrace.
This is all about cash. The horses are incidental.
Please call and email your Congress members through http://www.Congress.org (bills HB2966 and S1176). Tell friends to act. Voters have to hammer Congress until they can hear us.
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Does this low-life Sue Wallis ever give up……She goes from place to place in her attempts to slaughter helpless animals….Will she ever STOP!..She truly must hate horses with all of her plans to kill them just imagine if she put all of her efforts towards stopping the slaughter of horses she could do some good work….She must truly have have a lot of issues within herself as much as she wants to torture helpless animals….I’m sure she has low self -esteem issues probably more issues than we know with all of anger directed towards innocent creatures….What is the saying “Karma is a bitch” Sue Wallis will have everything come back to her one day either in this world or maybe afterwards what is called “HELL” the same way she is putting these helpless, voiceless animals through.
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I don’t think Sue Wallis “hates” animals; she most likely — like all animal agriculture — think that animals are commodities, products, to be killed and their body parts turned into something “useful”. As foreign a concept as that is to us, this is the thinking I have come up against time and time again. They say that humans have the “right” to use up everything on the planet, including animals and seem very firm in this way of thinking.
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Benjamin Franklin said “all secrets are lies.” Slaughterhouse Sue thinks she is smarter than people in the “show me” state, but that will prove to be false.
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You are so right Tim. She is trying to hide the locations of her would be horse slaughter plants, but she will not be able to do it for long. There are people who are opposed to everywhere, and someone will tip us off.
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I am a resident of Rockville, MO and the people here are overwhelmingly in favor of this! This isn’t Mountain Grove by any stretch of the imagination. Agriculture is just about the only thing happening here and that means the people are down to earth and not moved by emotional appeals. They also tend to be skeptical of anything that sounds as if it might come from an animal rights frame of reference. As far as worrying about having a bad reputation from a horse-slaughter plant being here, do you think it will bother anyone here for a second? It will just make them laugh!
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What about all the rest of the things that are part and parcel to a horse slaughter facility???? Or maybe they are unaware of it??? All one has to do is look at Kaufman Texas and the dilemma their community faced with Dallas Crown…a 20 year battle, and definitely not pretty. Here is a link that perhaps the community of Rockville should read. Only one of many but nonetheless eye-opening.
“Texas Mayor Paula Bacon Kicks Some Horse Slaughter Tail”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/vickeryeckhoff/2012/01/10/texas-mayor-paula-bacon-kicks-some-tail/
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So I guess you are OK with shipping horse meat with banned drugs in it to other countries. Guess you never complain about the toxic products the Chinese ship here. Same difference.
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What can we do to help this plant to not open? I can’t believe the people of the area having good feelings about this. Is the truth getting out to the people of Missouri rearding how their community will be affected and the reputation they will have as the “horse slaughter-house town”?
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The people here are overwhelmingly in favor of it. This isn’t Mountain Grove! This is farming country and we’ve had a cattle processing plant here as long as I’ve lived here. Good luck trying to come in here with your lies and distortions.
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