Horse slaughter. It has a very definitive place in our economy. You may say its only 3 plants but think about how many people those plants employ. This is how they make their living and care for their families. No one says they like their jobs; odds are they don't. However they need the jobs to care for thier families. I am sick to death of hearing people hollering about stop horse slaughter as if the only ones affected by the bill are the horses themselves. News flash this will affect humans a lot more. The men and women who work at these plants will be out of jobs and regardless of where you live jobs are hard come by. Fact is horse slaughter has a purpose. It takes care of some of the overbreeding excess and most importantly helps some feed their families.  Think on this before you push for it because there will be repurcussions if slaughter is removed from the states. Instead of horses being killed they will sit and rott in pastures. You can say this won't happen but it will. As for backyard breeders being the cause of overpopulation of horses I'm sorry but you are sadly mistaken. Look at a number of websites they even have discounts for non registered breedings.  Then you have your bloodline happy people who assume that since he has the bloodlines thats all that matters even though the said horse may be knock-kneed, ewe necked, sickle- hocked and have a parrot mouth to  boot. They breed these because they have the "ink on their papers". I have seen so many trash horses on websites advertising them as top quality simply because they have such and such bloodlines.  You know what will happen to these horses? Some one will eventually buy them  and guess what more than likely breed them because they want the bloodlines. The backyard breeders maybe have few each year if that. Big time breeders tend to have quite a few more foals each year. Then you have the racing industries ... and the show industry... what happens to all those horses afterwards? Not everyone can afford to take them in  and each year there are still more. Without horse slaughter you will have an extreme excess of horse flesh and  neglected horses. Think before you act on this because there is soo much more involved than just horses. There are very much alive human beings who will suffer if these jobs are lost.  I myself do not work my hubbys army and I am a housewife. However it hasn't been that long since we lived in a small town that relied on a few plants to support them. So while you can afford to take in a horse or two do you also feel like taking in a family or two to support as well? or did you even begin to think how this would affect those who transport  and work for the plants? There is soo much more to this picture than the horses. If you have ever had to depend solely on your job to be sure your children had food in their stomachs and roofs over their heads then you should know very well what will happen to these people. Yes maybe they can find other jobs but how long will it take considering it will be a whole company out of work? where will the jobs come from? Do the protesters plan on giving them jobs? I doubt it.  If you want to think with your hearts think on this you could very well be the cause of children doing without supper on more than one night simply because its just too horrible for a horse to be killed.  Won't happen you think? Haha I know for a fact that it can and will happen. Because sometimes there is no safety net .  I came from a mill family and the worse thing that could happen for us was the mill shut its doors for two weeks thats just two weeks now. Things would be very hard for us  butterbeans and rice most nights.  Then there were the evictions that came when the mill shutdown because my parents both worked there and had to find new jobs. Unemployment pays squat. Welfare ..lol.. believe it or not most people cannot get it. Even when they do it takes awhile before it comes in. Just think you could be the cause of people being booted from their homes because they can no longer pay the rent. Yes I know I am inserting drama into this but for the families who will be affected by the removal of these slaughter plants this isn't just drama its reality. If you want to talk about inhumane focus on how humane it is to shut these plants down without thought to the people affected by the closings. Ok I will now step off my soapbox.  Have a good day everyone and I would say I hope I didn't offend anyone but on this subject I don't care if I did offend someone its my point of view.

Laters everyone and have a good one,

Lively

My dad (and hubbys dad(s)) was in the military when that happened and the only thing that helped us was that my mother was working off base.  We had our horses boarded on base so they understood why the board wasn't paid, but a lot of people had problems. 

Most people don't stop to think about what something as small as closing one plant down can do to a town.  I have lived in some towns that have only had one "plant" and if it had closed down the town would have been in serious trouble.  The town I live in is fairly poor and has one grocery store and if it was closed the people that live here that don't have transportation would starve.  One buisiness can affect lots of people not directly connected with it.   

Lively and Terri,  Well put!   I don't think those who are anti slaughter actually think of the human children involved!   There is far more cruelty in a family losing its finances.  

 Right now is NOT the time to end slaughter.   Those in Washington want us to believe the economy is strong...well maybe in their building it is...not where I am at it isnt.  All the major corporations are outsourcing to Mexico, India, etc.  Cheap slave labor.  If we end slaughter the horses will be sent to Mexico, and do you think they are going to be treated more humanely there????? Heck no..it will be even more tortuous for them.

If they want to do something humane go do your rescue thing, put your $$$ where your mouth is.  Go buy the horses from the slaughter pens.  Raise funds from private sources.   The problem is they want something for nothing.  They want the slaughter to end and the taxpayers pick up the unemployment checks for the slaughter related workers, the added expense of having to hire MORE animal control officers because there will be MORE neglect and abuse. 

They don't think about all the repurcussions involved.  That galls me more than anything.