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LETTER: Starvation More Cruel Than Horse Slaughterhouse

By Beacon Staff

I would just like to comment on your story about the horse slaughterhouse (Feb. 10 Beacon: “Hard Times for a Western Icon”). A woman quoted said horses, “know they’re being led to death.”

I would question whether she herself has ever been to a slaughter facility. I have had the sad task of accompanying my husband to take our old or crippled horses to the local facility in Alberta. There were often plenty of tears on my cheeks, but not on my horses. The staff is very accommodating to our old friends and always put them in a separate pen so they would not be kicked or bitten. As I stood there with horse cookies in my hand, my old horse would not even come for treats as he was too busy checking out all the other horses – he absolutely does not “know he is being led to death” – he thinks he is at the biggest horse show he had ever been at.

I believe it is one of the more humane ways of putting down and animal – it is over very quickly, and the animals are treated very humanely – fed and watered and not abused. It is a sad thing that people feel forced to let their animals slowly starve to death because they do not have this option. To have a vet put the animal down and then have to find a place to bury the carcass as well as hire equipment large enough to dig a hole is a pretty expensive proposition for someone who can no longer even afford to feed their horse. Perhaps the payment they would get from one horse would pay for feed for the rest of their herd. Starvation is by far more cruel than the slaughterhouse.
Cathy Broten
Sparwood, B.C.