Horse Slaughter Revisited
Nov. 9th, 2005 06:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanI'm listening to an NPR editorial railing against the slaughter and export of unwanted race horses , by Frank DeFord. I've mentioned the issue here, and at the vegetarians community before.
I'm a bit of a knee-jerk liberal, I confess. Usually on NPR I agree with the liberal editorials and disagree with the conservatives (yes they have conservative commentors). This issue isn't liberal or conservative, it's blindfolded sentiment versus no other solution offered.
The commentor did not offer an alternate method of disposing of the thousands of horses that are unwanted, nor did he mention that the same fate awaits cows (mentally equal if not equally aesthetically pleasing animals) by the thousand-fold. He did ask if we would do the same to our dogs and cats. Why not? 10 to 15 million unwanted animals euthanized every year, and we just send them up chimneys. I'd rather someone eat them than they become part of the greenhouse effect. Not very sentimental, I know, but I don't think that sentiment should be the primary factor in solving problems.
I'm a bit of a knee-jerk liberal, I confess. Usually on NPR I agree with the liberal editorials and disagree with the conservatives (yes they have conservative commentors). This issue isn't liberal or conservative, it's blindfolded sentiment versus no other solution offered.
The commentor did not offer an alternate method of disposing of the thousands of horses that are unwanted, nor did he mention that the same fate awaits cows (mentally equal if not equally aesthetically pleasing animals) by the thousand-fold. He did ask if we would do the same to our dogs and cats. Why not? 10 to 15 million unwanted animals euthanized every year, and we just send them up chimneys. I'd rather someone eat them than they become part of the greenhouse effect. Not very sentimental, I know, but I don't think that sentiment should be the primary factor in solving problems.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-10 04:43 pm (UTC)By "someone" I'm guessing you mean human. If so, are those really the only two options? How about letting other (more clearly carnivorous) species eat them? Microbes, bugs, carnivorous birds, etc. like to eat horses, right?
Obviously, not creating an "entertainment" industry that directly causes many thousands of unwanted horses that never learned to survive in the wild is something that might not be so great in the first place. Though I would definitely agree that the industry that kills cows by the billions is a far worse offender. But people do still believe that eating animal flesh is a necessity for human survival, while watching animals run around in circles is not so much.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-10 04:56 pm (UTC)I don't care who eats them.
But someone (I suppose the Federal Government) is making money selling horse meat overseas, so if we landfilled or vulturized (me make new word) tens of thousands of horses, someone's going to complain about the "waste." (of money, not life)
while watching animals run around in circles is not so much
Right. And getting back to the original editorial, it was presented by a sports journalist, who defended horse racing as a sport and form of entertainment.