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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From the article cited above:
Date: 2005-11-10 05:15 pm (UTC)This implies that there were (at least) two distinct species of horse in North America, including the species that includes the wild ancestors of domestic horses. Most likely these were a separate subspecies from the actual wild ancestor of domestic horses but they would be close enough to interbreed, yes.
I'm sure there's a real scientific answer to your second question, but I would be tempted to say "never." That is, if the ancestors of a population of animals are domestic animals, that population will always be "feral" not "wild." The horses that currently live in North America have only been there for (at most) a little over 500 years. Longer than almost any other introduced domestic, but still just the blink of an eye.
Re: From the article cited above:
Date: 2005-11-11 05:46 pm (UTC)Re: From the article cited above:
Date: 2005-11-11 06:10 pm (UTC)(why don't I have a pigeon icon?)
Re: From the article cited above:
Date: 2005-11-11 06:12 pm (UTC)Why DON'T you?!
Re: From the article cited above:
Date: 2005-11-11 06:16 pm (UTC)Re: From the article cited above:
Date: 2005-11-11 06:17 pm (UTC)