U.S. Horse Owners in Favor Of Re-Opening Slaughter Plants

Since the closure of the US Slaughter plants we are over populated with Horses.

When the plants were open there was an outlet for our cull horses , the sick, lame dangerous, unwanted.. Since the closures of the U.S. plants there is a huge problem with over population and a flooded market. Our cull horses are having to be exported to foreign countries for slaughter. They are not regulated and are far less humane (Mexico). Transportation times are greater, They are often not fed and watered and some are killed on the way due to deplorable conditions.

Due to the overwhelming over population of horses, lack of hay and depressed market sales they are starving to death. We can no longer get the amount of hay needed to feed them all. Horse owners are finding it almost impossible to afford to take care of them anymore and some cannot even find hay at all.

Horses all over the country are being let loose to fend for themselves, left at auctions when they cannot be sold and being starved due to hay shortages. Those that try to give them away for free cannot find people to take them and cannot afford to have them put down and hauled off. It costs on average 300 dollars to have a horse put down and hauled off.

Our Equine industry is on a rapid decline and is quickly becoming a thing of the past. You can no longer sell good horses and we are losing our homes and our careers not to mention our rural agricultural heritage.

This has to stop. In an effort to protect the Horse PETA / animal rights groups have done nothing but create more suffering and abuse. Over population is not the answer! they are starving to death and it will only continue to get worse. Many equine rescue organizations all over the country are full and cannot take anymore in.

We have to have our plants opened back up in order to be able to feed any horses at all, and to revive our equine industry. Horses are livestock and we have to have an outlet for the lame, dangerous, old and unuseable and get them out of our market.

We love our horses but thanks to "animal rights" groups we can no longer care for them and they are suffering because of it. Open the plants , regulate them to make sure they are as humane as possible but closing them completely is an emotionally driven mistake.