Billboard creates debate over ethics of horse slaughter

Cross-posted from OzarksFirst.com

Reported by JEREMY STEVENS

(Highlandville, MO) — The processing of horse meat is once again under review by the federal government.

And an Ozarks woman is making a statement you probably can’t ignore to support the animals she’s dedicated her life to.

Jan Myers and her horse “Wish” are practically inseparable, spending hours together on a Rogersville farm.

Myer’s love for the foxtrotter has made her a staunch advocate for the humane treatment of horses and she wants everyone to see why.

“It says actually stop slaughtering us. It’s a really tasteful billboard. It’s got a picture of two horses.”
Myers raised thousands of dollars for a billboard on Highway 65 near Highlandville.

“Big breeders will breed 100 and only want two,” she says. “And so they’ll put them at auction. Kill buyers go the auction, they buy the horses, and send them to Canada or Mexico.”

Myers and other supporters of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act want to make it illegal to ship or process horses for human consumption or other uses.

“It’s a horrible, horrible process from the day they get on that trailer,” says Myers.

But that transport is the very reason people like Greene County Commissioner Jim Viebrock supported horse processing in the past.

Last year, as a state lawmaker, he sponsored a bill that would eliminate federal restrictions on meat inspectors working in horse processing plants.

Viebrock says the measure would eliminate the painful transport of horses that are near the end of their lives or injured. Opponents don’t buy that argument.

“End of life. Euthanasia. Humane euthanasia, which is not slaughter,” says Myers.

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