“We have an oversupply of horses”
August 23rd, 2008 by admin
Those were the words of Lyn Rainbow, the co-owner of a breeding farm in Ocala, following this week’s horse auction at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company. Sales were down from a year ago.
It’s likely that most of the people who didn’t get the price they wanted will hold on to their horses until the economy, and the horse market, improves. But it is significant that breeders are recognizing that there is a horse overpopulation problem in America.
The last of America’s horse slaughterhouses closed in 2007 but this year thousands of horses will be cruelly exported to Mexico and Canada to be killed for meat.
You Can Help
There is legislation currently pending in the U.S. House of Representatives that would prohibit the export of American horses to other countries for slaughter.Please call, write or e-mail your U.S. Representative today, urging him or her to support H.R. 6598, the “Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act.” (If your Representative is Debbie Wasserman Schultz or Ron Klein, thank them for signing-on as cosponsors of the bill!) Click here to find your Representative (requires 9-digit zip code).
The hope is that once the slaughter option is off the table, economics will discourage people from breeding so many horses. “Owning” a horse should be a life-long commitment. But for those people who can no longer keep their horse and who can not find a permanent home for the animal, a humane, veterinarian-administered death should be the only option.