Christine Distefano of Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue and Sanctuary in Southampton sent out a mass email on Tuesday that got my attention.
The horror of horse slaughter may be coming back to the United States, and if you don’t speak your mind about it, then it probably will. How can you not react to this?
The email from Christine Distefano reads:
It is amazing to me that I must again make this request on behalf of the horse nation. Believe it or not, the well-heeled pro slaughter advocates have paid the way clear for not one, but two prospective horse slaughtering plants to open on American soil.
I refuse to react emotionally, you will see that as a weakness often shared by the “tree-huggers” of the world. I will neither react rationally, which would cause me to point this ship in the other direction due to the fact that the combined efforts of the self proclaimed horse rescues of the nation have fallen quite short of the mark of ending the butchering. I will react morally, however.
The outrageous, barbaric and murderous butchering of thousands of horses is unacceptable. MAKE A CALL and declare your stance. THERE IS NO CHOICE. You choose to speak for the horses or YOU ALLOW THEIR HELL TO CONTINUE.
Slaughter is not euthanasia. Europeans do not look to eat elderly meat. Crimes against equines from point of transport are horrific. The expense of euthanising a sick, injured or elderly equine is quickly reimbursed in the following month of their absence on the feed and board bill. There are NO excuses for brutality.
Capt. Jack Sparrow was yanked off a Mexico bound slaughter truck many years ago. He is what they slaughter. Young and healthy. Do not be fooled by the propaganda of the BREEDERS and DEALERS, for it is they alone who profit from the butchering of horses.
The myths are well stated but false. There are starving horses (and every other creature) in the country because the heart of some people is black. The contracted slaughter trucks deliver their full loads for payment regardless if they have to steal the horses from backyards. The ‘rescue‘ option in certain killpens and feedlots is available (for a little extra cash) to save a particular horse (important to that horse, yes) but increases the buying power of the kill buyer next time out. It is quite like shooting ourselves in the foot, (though we worship those we have rescued).
Nobody considered the borders would not close to transport of horses to slaughter once the US plants were ceased. Why is it the evil always have the ways and means?
YOUR CALL, YOUR LETTER, YOUR VOICE MUST BE HONORED. There is a horse shivering in a butcher yard right now, not knowing why she is there. After all, she won 3 races, she bore 4 foals, she carried a youth through preliminary eventing and she stood her ground under her adult owner who had a stroke until help arrived. She was not left in a will, she was given to a friend who decided it was just too much effort to care for another being. Conveniently a dealer was running an ad for horses (to go to good homes) and she was picked up. The friend walked away very happy with herself for finding the horse a new life. And she lived happily ever after’ was what the friend would tell people.
Do you see the reality? If the slaughter option is removed completely, then a moral responsibility takes effect. Slaughter is a convenience and the nations finest horses are continually being butchered. Stop the slaughter and you stop the entire pipeline of hell. Breeders can reduce their numbers and take responsibility for those they put on earth.
YOU MUST CALL to make a difference. Stop the proposed funding for horse slaughter in the US. Call Senator Barbara Mikulski and the Senate subcommittee – tell them to “restore the defunding language”.
Every day and night I have written emails, pounded on doors and made phone calls for more than a month, I have bombarded the pro slaughter groups with REAL horse people do not want this, I have pushed pulled, and prodded people to speak out in any way, anywhere, and to whomever will listen, I would do it all over again and again as long it saves the horses. Please do not listen to lies and propaganda that the horse market will go up and help the industry-because folks it was the same killers who lied to say it would drop and enough of those lies and it happened, however, you are the ones who regulate the values and prices of horses, the owners are the ones who have control-theres no stock market or wall street putting prices on the horses, no associations control the going rates. So when killer buyers put the word out the market would drop people believed it and the organizations like AQHA supported that story-because they back the slaughter regime. The believe that slaughter is good for the industry. A futher look into that statement and it shows that there are at the minimum 5 officials in AQHA who gain to make alot of money, staggering amounts of money off the deaths of horses-and that’s the only reason they support this because they want to make as much money as they can in a short amount of time. A dr who has worked with the captive bolt gun stated to the pro slaughter people that they shouldnt slaughter horses because if they dont stun them on the first attempt they are incredible amounts of pain and are harder to hit repeatedly, she recommended they not open any slaughter houses, even slaughterhouses that were running for years had body parts, blood runoff and many different uncontrolled issues and she said the horses ARE aware of what is happening when they are cut apart. This professional actually stated that slaughter houses for horses was not a viable option and they were very angry with the truth. But the truth is the truth, they act as though not going the distance to MExico will help but documents released by the USDA and able to be viewed on Animal Angels website show pictures and have documents proving horses in the cheval plant in Illinois even going short distances were overcrowded and were trampled to severe injury or killed in the trailer, many other other horrific things happened in the trailers even in a short distance so their stories of how much better US slaughter would be are unfounded. They cannot control the ways the killer buyers bring and unload the animals and will not attempt to do so. So instead of opening up this can of worms please contact anyone who will listen. I will bang on every door, bend any ear, and plant the seed of doubt in any proslaughter persons mind i can=they need to see the severity of the act of the slaughter process. As for starving horses running everywhere, havent seen any in my US travels in the past few years, and most of the documented abuse cases in the last 6 years have been due to the fact killer buyers were stuck with horses they bought and wouldnt care for them. AS well keep in mind the cheif reason people are backing US slaughter is so that they are closer in distance-so they save money shipping the horses instead of mexico and canada which require gas and expense monies up front and cut into the profits = poor killer buyer is what they want us to think. So our work ferreting out and exposing their lies is never done! FIGHT FOR THE HORSES! STOP SLAUGHTER!
Cynthia, there is a rally on April 27 in Melville to support the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) act S541/HR1094. This gathering is intended to ask for Senator Schumer’s support of the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (S. 541/H.R. 1094) to ensure that horse slaughter remains banned, and to raise awareness that our Wild Horse population is being decimated by the Bureau of Land Management. I’m planning to have News12 there for some much needed publicity for this cause. If you care, be there! And please be sure to wear something/anything orange! Please note that this is a Nationwide Rally… All anti-horse slaughter advocates are doing this same rally in their own home states. I’m not sure how I became the organizer of this one in the great state of New York, but suffice it to say that we are joined by almost every other state in America to ask our local government for support of the SAFE act and to raise awareness of the plight of America’s wild horses.
It passed in Oklahoma today, my sadness is immense. Thanks for speaking up and trying.
Hi There, I wanted to share infor about a rally Saturday April 27th in support of the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) act (S541/HR1094), which supports the horse slaughter ban. This gathering is intended to ask for Senator Schumer’s support of the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (S. 541/H.R. 1094) to ensure that horse slaughter remains banned, and to raise awareness that our Wild Horse population is being decimated by the Bureau of Land Management. I’m planning to have News12 there for some much needed publicity for this cause. If you care, be there! And please be sure to wear something/anything orange!
Please note that this is a Nationwide Rally… All anti-horse slaughter advocates are doing this same rally in their own home states. I’m not sure how I became the organizer of this one in the great state of New York, but suffice it to say that we are joined by almost every other state in America to ask our local government for support of the SAFE act and to raise awareness of the plight of America’s wild horses.