Commentary: Noble creatures under assault as law permits killing horses for export
By BERNARD UNTI
Posted: 6:36 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012
the release of War Horse, a paean to the human-animal bond and the nobility of the animal, coincides with the return of a ruthlessly practical use of horses: their killing on American soil for export to a global meat marketplace.
The issue got the public's attention again in November after federal lawmakers removed language barring the U.S. Department of Agriculture from financing the inspection of horse slaughter facilities. This clears the way for the reopening of horse slaughterhouses in the United States. Nearly 100 years after a conflict in which horses served and died in unparalleled numbers, our nation may again succumb to the notion that horses are a commodity, and that once we are done with them, just about anything goes.
More than 100,000 American horses already are being carted off to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico each year. The expansion of slaughter to the U.S. would mark a North American betrayal of animals that have not only served us in battle but played a crucial role in the settlement and expansion of all of these countries.
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