WARNING: Graphic image.
When we first came across this story, we ignored it not wanting to be part of the sensationalism. On further reflection, we decided to go ahead and post about this story. There is a lesson to be learned here.
Yes, it is disgusting for a teenager to post an image of a horse being bled out in a New Zealand horse slaughter plant in a sick attempt to grab attention for himself. And to be sure, it is scary that the boy boasted he had carried out the gruesome act himself.
What is nonsensical is that his father, who runs the facility, has disowned his son for it.
An article in the New Zealand Herald reports:
The picture was taken at No Moore Hassell Pet Food facility in Levin.
Director Doug Hassell insisted his estranged son didn’t kill the horse and said he wanted nothing more to do with him.
“We have a pet food slaughter facility and Ethan comes down here now and again,” Hassell said.
“What we had was a horse that was shot and bled and we were doing a bleed-out.
“While it was bleeding out, he was there taking photos and now he’s tried to make himself look a hotshot.”
Furious Hassell said Ethan wouldn’t be welcome back.
The image generated a flood of complaints on McLean’s Facebook page on Thursday. Within hours he removed it.
So, let’s get this straight. The father slaughters horses for a living, is angry when his son takes a picture of a horse being bled out at his plant, further outraged that the boy takes credit for the brutal proceedings, and throws him out and tells him not to come back?
Is it not rampant hypocrisy for a man to set this type of example — slaughtering horses for a living — then appalled when his son pulls this kind of prank?
Perhaps the father is angry because his son has exposed his grisly business to the public. Or do they care about such things in New Zealand?
What this distasteful story clearly demonstrates is what sort of effect exposure to horse slaughter can have on the human psyche. Any community considering operating a horse slaughter plant in their area: Beware.
Part 2 of When Horse Slaughter Comes to Town tells us:
” . . . the type of work undertaken in slaughterhouses contributes to the social disruption observed.”
and
” . . . the correlation between dismembering animals and victimization of less powerful human groups such as women and children is clear and bears itself out in increased domestic violence in communities surrounding slaughterhouses.
Hopefully this is the beginning and end of horse cruelty for this young man, in fact or fiction. But one wonders what the future bodes for him. Is he sorry, or is he relishing the notoriety, and some day carry out something much worse.
What about Facebook? What sort of message are they sending out? Why are Facebook allowing brutal animal cruelty images like this on their social media website? They obviously know about it. Although the boy had taken the image down, Facebook provided the image to the New Zealand Herald for use in this story.
Perhaps this story was little more than an April Fool’s joke, but the ideas in it are relevant all the same.
Source: Teenager’s sick joke falls flat (Warning: graphic image); by Russell Blackstock and Edward Rooney; New Zealand Herald; 1 April 2012
Tuesday's Horse 
None of us prefer the sentencing to death or slaughter of any animal, regardless of the species; but, the reality of it all is, that we need horse slaughter houses as a practical alternative and solution to govern the horse population. Public Laws forbid burying a horse on your own property these days because of possible contamination of water sources and supplies; so, what’s the practical alternative or solution? I agree that the need of unnecessary suffering needs to be resolved in all slaughter houses, regardless of species . . . cow, pig, chicken, etc. As for horse meat for human consumption, if it is untainted and USDA inspected, it is an excellent source of meat protein and an alternative to beef, pork, poultry, and other human-grade meat sources. If that is too hard for the U.S. human meat industry to consider, use horse meat for carnivorous animal food diets, just as other animal sources are used. The horse industry has crashed since the close of horse slaughter houses, and reopening of the horse slaughter houses is the only resolution to the over population of horses in the U.S. Do you really think that hunter’s get the shot exactly right for an instant kill every time, or slashing the throats of cows and pigs is a quick death, or wringing the necks or cutting-off the heads of chickens is instantaneous demise? Sit-back and give serious thought to all animal slaughter solutions, not just that of horses; if you’re going to sympathize with one species of animal, sympathize with them all; but the end result and reality-check has been the same for thousands of years of animal slaughter for human and animal consumption. Citizens within the U.S. need to ban together and offer better solutions to the overall humane slaughter of animals for whatever the meat by-product use is and not the concentration of one species.
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That is a tired excuse, that something has been done for 1000s of years. Many horrendous activities have gone on for 1000s, or even 100s of years that no longer continue. It is called elevating your soul, or thinking.
We advocate for horses because that is where we have specialist knowledge. Horses are sorely misrepresented by far too many animal rights’ groups, and the reason we exist.
Also on this site is a page called Advocate from Your Plate. Check it out!
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Tuesdays Horse, thank you for replying to “Larry”. His comments made me so mad I couldn’t have been so polite. Luckily, Larry is in the minority concerning horse slaughter.
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I just shared this on Facebook. It’s awful, I know, but the people who think horse slaughter is OK need to see stuff like this.
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It should be on facebook, people need to know what is really going on with our horses and maybe something would be done about it, i was in the dark until 2 years ago about alllllll the different kinds of horse abuse, and i have 2 wonderful horses, i stay upset about it now fulltime, and try hard to advocate in different ways, im so sorry for all of this abuse.
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This is truly horrible, however if more graphic clips and photos were shown on horse slaughter maybe more people would vote NO to this hannis act of abuse and cruelty.
I for one am in favor of people seeing the real truth on what happens instead of not facing what really takes place….I have viewed several clips from start to finish on what happens from the sales and auctions, to the transportation to crossing the borders and it will truly make most everyone sick……..I viewed a clip of a horse hanging from its neck and tail while still alive giving birth how much worse can it get……Sometimes people won’t take a stand because out of sight out of mind……WAKE UP HUMAN RACE and take a stand against this horrible act……HELP those that can’t help themselves…”NO MORE SLAUGHTER” …….Be responsible human beings that have a brain and a heart!
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i think it should be shown on Facebook too. A huge number of people live in cities and suburbs that never see horses, cows or any livestock of any kind. They don’t know where the food they eat comes from or anything else. There was a saying a number of years ago from one of the animal rights groups, if the slaughter houses had glass walls they would be shut down.
But NZ is doing what the US used to do, kill horses for dog food but the public put a stop to it by refusing to buy it. That is what should be done here in NZ if the public had sense enough to do it. This horses life is destroyed to grind it up and put it in a can and the US and Canada shipping ours to be put on the dinner plates of Europe.
There is something seriously wrong with the human race.
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I SEE NO REASON WHY IT SHOULS NOT BE POSTED ON FACEBOOK. IT IS TIME PEOPLE SAW THE TRUTH OF SLAUGHTER. THIS PICTURE IS MILD FOR THE TRUE PICTURE. THE BLAME IS ON THE FATHER THAT HE ALLOWED HIS YOUNG SON TO WITNESS WHAT WAS TAKING PLACE WITHOUT PROPERLY EXPLAINING THE CRUELTY OF SLAUGHTER. NO DOUBT THE CHILD HAS BEEN PUT DOWN BY OTHER CHILDREN BECAUSE HIS FATHER HAS A SLAUGHTER HOUSE AND IS SEARCHING FOR PEACE OF MIND AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT FROM OTHERS. YOU WILL FIND THAT DOPE, KILLINGS, ETC. RISES WHEN A SLAUGHTER HOUSE COMES TO TOWN ESPECIALLY IF IT IS FOR HORSES.
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Sick people absolutely disgusting !
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