Widespread horse abuse making headlines
By Drovers news source (Wednesday, January 16, 2008)
An undeniable tsunami of horse abuse cases has swept across the USA since the de facto ban on horse processing — pushed by vegan driven animal rights groups — went into effect in early 2007. In the past few months alone, major media outlets including the Chicago Tribune, Coeur D’Alene Press, Portland Oregonian, Austin American Statesman, Seattle Times, UPI, Washington Post, Rockford Register Star, Associated Press, and The Wall Street Journal chronicled cases of horse abuse and neglect from all across the nation including Illinois, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Colorado, Virginia, Alabama and Florida.
Animal rights activist groups are responsible for the legal actions that forced three horse processing facilities, two in Texas and one Illinois, to close. As a result, the price of horses has declined markedly. Rather than sell the horses some owners are setting them free, others are letting them starve and, worse yet, refusing to call the veterinarian for perfectly treatable conditions, causing an unspeakably horrible animal welfare crisis.
”This sad state of affairs is the direct result of the anti-horse slaughter movement, piloted by the vegan-led Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal rights organizations, ” said Kay Johnson-Smith, Executive Vice President of the Animal Agriculture Alliance. ”These groups claim to care about animal welfare, but when faced with an animal welfare disaster caused by their efforts, callously insist that the market will sort itself out or, worse yet, coldheartedly dispute that this crisis exists, despite the undeniable documented surge in animal abuse cases. All the while, they leave seriously underfunded local animal rescue operations to save animals.”
”It is time for the federal government to intervene and stop these animals, considered by many to be American icons, from being used by vegan groups as political pawns in their quest to impose their vegetarian agenda on our nation,” added Johnson-Smith. ”Additionally, it is time for all governments — federal, state and local — to recognize these groups for what they are, extremists attempting to use animal welfare as a tool to advance their radical vegan agenda.”
Source: Animal Agriculture Alliance news release
What's on your mind?