On Sun, Jan 21, 2007 at 09:40:08PM +0000, Ingvar Ragnarsson wrote: > Isn?t pretty much the same in the US you also > have a hole lot of horses going to slaughter > every year and foals also I think the foals are > mostly from the PMU business ...........
yes, very often pmu foals (though some are rescued) and non-winning racehorses (although again there are active rescuses who do their best) and random equines who wind up at the sales. when i was a child my pony went blind and my parents and vet tried to have him sent to slaughter. as a doctor's child i injected him with opiates and called the transporter and told them he was not fit for meat slaughter. i then called my vet who (reluctantly) sent someone out to at least kill the pony on our property (he never did trailer well), and i led him out to be shot myself. as an adult i might have the option of simply retiring him or exploring his remaining abilities, but not everyone has these options, and many owners of unsound/disabled horses prefer to make a few hundred dollars at the end. btw it's about 100,000 horses per year in the usa that go to slaughter. the meat is sold overseas. --vicka
