GUEST POST BY DR. BRIAN SULLIVAN, MD
Updated 1/25/2016 2:40 pm
Just before Christmas I spotted a gorgeous, healthy, palomino quarter horse colt in a kill pen in Bastrop, Louisiana awaiting shipment to slaughter in Mexico. I bought him as a gift for a therapeutic riding school for handicapped children in Victoria, Texas and shipped him to them.
Had I not intervened he would have been crammed into a crowded trailer with panic stricken adult horses and sent to a hellish death or been trampled to death in transit. A foreign meat company would have made a few hundred bucks selling him by the pound and paying no U.S. taxes. His story would have ended there.
However, now that he has been snatched from the slimy clutches of the foreign horse meat trade he will go to on to a loving home and a long, productive life as a therapeutic riding horse. He will help thousands of emotionally and physically handicapped kids overcome their challenges.
In his 20-year life he will generate several million dollars (I calculate about 9 million) in taxable economic activity in hay, grain, stable salaries, lesson fees, farriers, tooth care, vet services, etc.
A few hundred bucks to a foreign corporation, zero benefits to the U.S. and a one-way trip to horse hell for a beloved American icon vs a productive life, enrichment of the lives of Americans, and millions to our economy are the side effects of horse slaughter.
This is the choice represented by passage of HR 1942/S 1214 — to get rid of the slaughter of our horses.
I urge ya’ll to pass this bill in 2016 so that we can multiply this success story by 130,000 per year (92% of the 140,000 horses slaughtered per year are healthy and young just like this one), pump billions into our economy and stop the foreign meat traders from robbing us of a cherished American treasure.
If you’re so inclined please forward a link to this story to your State and Federal legislators as these are all strong talking points for stopping the slaughter of our horses.
Happy New Year!!!
Brian Sullivan
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We will update you with pictures when we receive them. —Editor.
Tuesday's Horse 
Excellent article! I would have never known how horse slaughter negativity impacts the economy. Hopefully our senators, governors and representatives will take this to heart. Sometimes it takes the mentioning of money to make them do the right thing. Standing up for moral principles always yields good results for humans and animals alike.
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[…] Source: A Christmas rescue makes it a happy new year for a horse, disabled children and the taxpayer […]
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Reblogged this on Making Waves Outreach ⚘ Flyers For Animal Rights.
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Thanks for this great article. A very important point made here is that the companies whom make the money off this misery are the ones who usually don’t contribute any taxes. They are parasites through and through.
Another example is the multibillion dollar wagering company called TVG. It carries all the television, and wagering signals in the entire USA. It makes billions off the broken bones and backs of American racehorses.
Based in Oregon, it pays little or no U.S taxes, is foreign owned, and gives little or nothing to racehorse aftercare.
Not only are these companies leeches off the animals, but they are leeches off the entire system.
Then they dump them whereby more environmental destruction is produced.
Stop horse slaughter. It’s not the horses fault that they are dumped.
Increase, and legislate responsibility.
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