My Old Kentucky Home

Unwanted in Kentucky
Jeff McMurray of the Associated Press reported in a March 15, 2007 article:

Kentucky, the horse capital of the world, famous for its sleek thoroughbreds, is being overrun with thousands of horses no one wants – some of them perfectly healthy, but many of them starving, broken-down nags. Other parts of the country are overwhelmed, too.

The reason: growing opposition in the United States to the slaughter of horses for human consumption overseas.

With new laws making it difficult to send horses off to the slaughterhouse when they are no longer suitable for racing or work, auction houses are glutted with horses they can barely sell, and rescue organizations have run out of room.”

In our opinion, many of the sentiments in this report clearly have no basis in fact, and are slanted in favor of the horse slaughter industry.

Kentucky is certainly not being overrun with thousands of unwanted horses. What other parts of the country are being overwhelmed?

With the closure of the two horse slaughter plants in Texas and temporary closure of the one in Illinois (reopened as of this writing), horses bought by killer buyers on their behalf were exported to Mexico and Canada. It has been reported to IF4H that the feedlots in Canada are “crammed full of horses” awaiting slaughter.

Horses butchered at horse slaughter plants are not “starving, broken-down nags” as McMurray so cruelly calls them. Slaughterhouses pay by the pound and killer buyers rarely if ever acquire skinny horses for them. Horses in this condition, known as “skinners” fetch very little money and are killed for their hides, not meat. “Walk ins” by owners represents a miniscule number of horses killed in horse slaughter plants.

No statistical evidence exists suggesting horses will be turned loose to roam the highways and byways of America, or banning horse slaughter will result in increased cases of abuse or neglect. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California states, “The people voted for it [ban on horse slaughter], and the state has seen no increase in neglect and no abandoned horses – and this is from the largest state in the Union.”

Horse rescues and sanctuaries are certainly full. Sadly, they most likely will continue to be to some degree. This is a human induced condition, however, not a horse one. Abuse and neglect occurs because certain humans abuse and neglect the animals in their care. However, when horse slaughter is banned, horse welfare groups who currently rescue horses from slaughter will be in a position to devote their time and resources to rescuing horses in need.

Then there is the problem of overbreeding. The banning of horse slaughter will certainly impact breeders. The absence of horse slaughter plants will remove a convenient dumping ground for horses not suitable for the intention for which they were bred. Though the Thoroughbred industry has largely supported a ban on horse slaughter, interestingly not many breeders can be found among them.

Wild in Kentucky
There are reports of horses roaming the hills of Kentucky. However, the number of horses cited ranges from 150 to 250, according to who you listen to.

Writes Bryan Crawford of the Louisville Courier-Journal:

State investigators say hundreds of horses whose owners are unknown are running free on thousands of acres of unfenced, reclaimed strip-mined lands in Bell, Breathitt, Harlan, Knott, Magoffin and Perry counties.

The land includes more than 50,000 acres in the Begley, Robinson Forest and Addington Enterprises wildlife management areas. The forests and grasslands provide habitat for much of Kentucky’s elk herd and for several game habitat research projects on lands owned, leased or managed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Cavel International Inc., the horse slaughter facility in DeKalb, Illinois, being temporarily shuttered.

Portions of the reclaimed strip=mined lands in Kentucky counties are being leased by the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife for hunting. They are receiving complaints about the horses from leaseholders. According to the article, the horses have already “cost the Fish and Wildlife an estimated $100,000 in license revenues from sportsmen.”

Sound familiar?

Breathitt Sheriff Ray Clemons told Crawford “he doesn’t have the money to impound the horses, regardless of whether a local ordinance is enacted.” State law prohibits free-ranging livestock.

“The elk roam free, too, right with the horses,” Clemons said. “And people own some cows up there, all mixed right together. It’s all just been one big family.”