There are several ways you can
be involved with providing horses across the U.S. with a brighter future.
Volunteer with a rescue
near you, even if it is once a week to groom or muck stalls. Provide foster care for
animals in need, be an advocate for rescued animals, find prospective homes
willing to adopt, call your senators and congressmen, support your local rescues
public fund raising activities, report abuse, do site checks for adopted
animals, or contribute financially to a rescue near or far.
Below are several avenues to
get you started on your journey.
Click here to view our efforts in
Frankfort 2/12/09
Mountain View Rescue
Volunteer Program
Volunteers are an important
part of MVR. We welcome those who wish to participate in offering new lives to
the horses, ponies, foals and all other animals that have had less than happy
pasts. Experience working with horses is not a requirement.
Volunteers must be at least 12
years of age, though minors under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a parent
or guardian when at the rescue. We look forward to working with you to make MVR
a safe haven for our equine residents and to help the owners of equines keep
their horses healthy, happy and at home.
If you are interested in helping MVR, please download a
Volunteer
Questionnaire, a Liability Waiver and a copy of the
Farm Rules. After reviewing
the documents, email mountainviewrescue@yahoo.com to arrange your initial visit and tour. Please bring the
signed documents with you at that time.
MVR welcomes clubs, school and
college classes, scout troops, church groups and members of any other
organization interested in a group project or seeking a way to meet community
service requirements.

Pertaining to
Horse Slaughter:

_______________________
The
Humane Society of the United States Urges Congress to Ban the Export
of U.S. Horses to Slaughter in Light of New Canadian Undercover Investigation
Video shows horses conscious as they are shot
multiple times
(April 1, 2010)— New undercover video footage released
Tuesday by the Canadian Horse
Defence Coalition confirms the horrible abuses inherent in the slaughter of our
horses for human consumption, and illustrates the need for the U.S. Congress to
bar the export of tens of thousands of U.S. horses each year to slaughter plants
across the border. At the Bouvry Exports plant in Canada, a chestnut horse is
shot three times while a gray mare waits in the kill box. As the chestnut horse
panics and struggles—as horses are biologically wired to do—the gray mare is
shot. She remains alive and kicking even as two more .22-caliber shots are fired
at her face. She languishes. The pattern repeats itself.
The CHDC’s video footage, titled “Chamber of Carnage,”
further demonstrates what The Humane Society of the United States has documented
for years about horse slaughter: Foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses have set up
shop just over the border, and U.S. horses will continue to suffer both during
long-distance shipping and then during a gruesome butchering process—all for the
culinary whims of foreign gourmands.
To see the "Chamber of Carnage" video, click
here. Some horses in
the CHDC footage bear tags from the
United States Department of
Agriculture, indicating animals shown in the video originated in the
United States.
“Every day while Congress delays, ‘killer buyers’ are
transporting American horses to Canada and Mexico, and there the animals are
meeting an awful demise, often after a painful and harrowing journey,” said
Wayne Pacelle, The HSUS’
president and CEO. “This new investigation affirms again that there is
unmistakable cruelty in this industry and it will only end when the Congress
passes the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act.”
The footage is consistent with similar
footage obtained by The HSUS of
horses cruelly butchered in foreign-owned plants on U.S. soil as well as that of
horse slaughter in Mexico. One theme runs through every investigation – U.S.
horses are generally not raised for food and where this trade occurs, there is
inherent abuse.
Horse slaughter is not a form of humane euthanasia –
something The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition’s video clearly shows. Horses are
trusting, majestic creatures, and extreme flight animals. They fight or try to
flee, and they suffer in these
slaughter houses. Approximately 100,000 U.S. horses are purchased by
“kill buyers” at auctions across the United States, who frequently outbid good
horse owners to secure the fattest, healthiest horses, and are then transported
cross-country often with no food, water or rest to slaughter plants in Canada
and Mexico, where they are butchered. Despite Canada’s regulations and
inspection standards for plants that process horses, this investigation shows
how ineffective they are at preventing suffering.
Nicholas H. Dodman, D.V.M., one of the world's most noted and celebrated
veterinary behaviorists, a founding member of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare,
and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine professor, reviewed the
videos for The HSUS and echoed the same sentiment: “Noise, blood and suffering
is what you get at the Bouvry equine slaughter plant: Horses kicking after they
have been shot, sinking down and rising up; sometimes periods of struggling or
paddling before a second or third shot has to be administered. This atrocity
goes against all veterinary guidelines for humane euthanasia. Terror and
suffering is the rule at this equine house of horrors ... and all in the name of
the gourmet meat market.”
The HSUS joins CHDC and hundreds of other horse industry
and animal welfare groups
in calling for the immediate passage of H.R. 503/S. 727 to prevent our horses
from the cruelty of horse slaughter for human consumption. This legislation,
authored by Reps. John Conyers,
D-Mich., and Dan Burton,
R-Ind., and Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and
John Ensign, R-Nev., has
181 House cosponsors and 29 Senate cosponsors.
The Humane Society of the United States is the
nation’s largest animal protection organization – backed by 11 million
Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been
fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and
hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at
humanesociety.org.
Opinion: Why the Slaughter Transport Bill Is Not Enough
(and Ten Steps Toward Healing the Ideology Split)

Horse carcasses hang in the cooler at Nature Valley Farms in Saskatchewan.
Photo from the
No
Country for Horses documentary produced by Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation.
The House Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday
favorably passed proposed legislation to ban the slaughter of American
horses for human consumption overseas, as well as the export of American
horses to other countries for slaughter. House Judiciary Committee Chairman
John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) introduced the bill,
H.R. 6598, known as the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of
2008.
This bill is still a long way from passing into law. It still must be passed
by a majority vote of the Representatives, and the Senate must do the same.
The legislation is being opposed by the AVMA, AQHA, and AAEP. These
organizations have dug in their heels on the issue of slaughter, or (more
precisely) government intervention on the slaughter of animals for meat. I
truly don't believe that anyone in those organizations wants to defend the
stuffing of dozens of horses into double-decker trailers for long, hot
journeys to Mexican slaughterhouses, but politics is forcing them into just
that.
This issue continues to split the horse world the same way that abortion is
the hot-button issue in the larger political scene. I think we should look
at that issue as a model of how derisive an issue can be and work for
solutions that prevent further splits and animosity in the horse world.
One thing I know is true: A workable solution will probably never come from
a regulation crafted by legislators and lawyers in Washington. But
Washington could force the horse industry into a new era of self-awareness
and responsibility.
To better understand horse slaughter as a hot-button issue, keep your eye on
abortion debates and on the somewhat related issue of puppy mills. Watch how
the government is handling both those issues (or not handling them).
Some solutions I support or propose:
1. If the AQHA is against slaughter, it should discourage its members from
breeding. Declare a moritorium for one year, say 2010. Close the book on new
foal registrations temporarily. Educate owners and breeders that this is for
the good of the breed and the US horse market. Supporting both slaughter as
a disposal method
and breeding as a
means to set new registration records is not in the best interest of horse
welfare.
2. If the AVMA and AAEP are against slaughter, they should begin massive
owner education programs to discourage breeding, particularly of
sub-standard mares. Vet clinics should also offer a period during their
natural slow seasons twice each year to offer discounted euthanasia and
castration services. Vets make money on breeding and foaling, so a simple
equation is that more horses owned by fewer clients are good for a clinic's
bottom line. A shift in emphasis needs to made to wellness care and
preventive medicine for existing horses rather than creating more horses.
Vets should begin to offer decision-making seminars or ethical counseling
for mare owners. If clients can't pay their bills, should they be breeding
more horses?
3. If the humane and welfare organizations are against slaughter, they
should work on massive owner education programs to discourage owning a
stallion and they should work with the AVMA and AAEP to offer discounted
castrations for cash-strapped clients the same way they offered spay/neuter
services for dogs and cats.
4. Breed organizations should follow the model used in Europe so that only
approved stallions breed mares. Saying that a stud is (for instance) a
registered Paint is no guarantee that the stud is a quality animal worthy of
passing on its genes. Likewise, the sale of stud colt weanlings and
yearlings should be discouraged. Castrate them first.
5. If the US government wants to regulate horse affairs, it can look to
taxation of breeding stock. If you want to breed your mare, perhaps a fee
needs to be paid that will support some of the many thousands of unwanted
horses. Breeding a mare should be a privilege. The government might also
look at a moratorium or higher tax on imported horses, particularly mares
and stallions, while there is a glut of unwanted horses here. At the same
time, ownership of affordable pleasure (non-breeding) horses could be a tax
credit, linked to open land preservation.
6. Find an alternative to the bottom rung auctions. The "meat buyers" should
keep a database of the horses they acquire and who owned and bred them. At
the very least, we should know breed, sex, and age. Make that information
public. If 50 percent of slaughter-bound horses are a certain breed,
wouldn't that information have be a call to action for a breed registry to
reduce new registrations and discourage breeding until over-production
stabilizes?
7. The USTA and Jockey Club need to keep track of ex-racehorses. Owners who
abandon their horses and do not provide for their retirement should be
embarrassed. If an owner stands in a winner's circle accepting a check while
last year's campaigner stands in an auction pen, the public should know. If
the high bidder at Keeneland sent 50 horses to slaughter last year, it
should be known. The racing/betting fan base should know MUCH more about how
owners dispose of or provide for their retired stock. Syndicates and
partnerships should have a policy about what they do with non-racing stock
that is part of their offering. Those who do (and who stick to it) should
get publicity for it.
8. Retirement farms and rescue centers should not differentiate between past
winners and "just horses". Encouraging donations or adoptions only because a
horse has an impressive show or race record is a slippery slope. A horse
that has won for its owner should never end up in a retirement or rescue
farm, unless the horse arrives with a big donation check. Prospective
adopters should not be interested in a horse only because it was a winner.
9. Horse publications should report more objectively on the issues of
slaughter and over-breeding and end their cash-cow stallion issues,
effective in 2009. Many are not serving their readers by presenting balanced
reporting; some are not reporting on this issue at all. They should also
discontinue their "bringing up baby" issues that encourage the creation of
more cute foals. People who say they are against slaughter need to pressure
publishers into more pro-active roles in educating mare and stallion owners
about responsible breeding. If a publication persists in encouraging
breeding, readers can cancel subscriptions. Cancel event, farm services and
other non-breeding ads. Write letters to the editor. Write another one.
These steps will get their attention. (Note: I know that
Horse Illustrated has already
discontinued its breeding edition for this reason; hopefully other
publications have as well.) Editors should be advocates for the reader's
information needs. A publication that is dependent on stallion ads for
revenue needs to balance that reality.
10. Throughout the industry: Create a culture of public information about
horse breeders and stallion get. We need more "where are they now"
information but also statistics on how breeders of show and race horses
dispose of their lower quality weanlings and yearlings and two-year-olds.
Report on the number of show and race horses imported into the US each year.
Create a culture of peer pressure among horse owners. Give more prizes at
shows to horses who are born and bred in the USA and who were rescued,
retrained from racing or rehabilitated. Monitor dog and cat breed/show
issues and learn from them (and their mistakes). Encourage veterinary
research programs and product development that will help injured or older
horses rather than funding more research aimed at getting more mares in foal
or increasing fertility of past-peak stallions.
And then, encourage everyone you know to get involved in horses or
financially adopt a needy horse at a rescue farm. Encourage the press to
publicize the work that is being done to help horses, on both sides of the
slaughter fence. Re-invent horse ownership as something fun and meaningful
to do in life. Become an ambassador for horses.
11. Tear down the fence and let's all go for a ride. Together.
_______________________
Join in and sign your name to a
petition, call a congressman, lobby your capital, become active in this fight for humane treatment
of animals every where. Below are several links to get involved-
_______________________
Click here
to find out how to vote for HR 503 to ban the transport of American horses
out of the country for slaughter.
_______________________
NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION!
Stop Slaughter & transport in
double decked trailers!
Click here to read about HR
305, the Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2009 that would ban
double-decker transport in ALL states.
More information. This bill
provides for penalties of $100 to $500 per horse for violations...now THAT
will do something toward keeping our horses off of double-deckers.
Transporting horses in double-deckers needs to be made illegal in
all
states. It doesn't just happen with slaughterbound horses. I've seen bucking
stock brought to rodeos in double-deckers as well.
Double-deckers are low-ceilinged
and designed for cattle, pigs and other types of livestock. They were never
designed for horses. The injuries seen at that link are not the least bit
surprising. The amount of suffering those horses went through is
unimaginable.
I'm tired of hearing that we were
wrong to stop slaughter within the U.S. borders. No, instead it was a step
in the right direction and now it's time to take that second step and ban
transport outside of our borders which will, in itself, stop most
double-decker transport. After all, nobody takes their horses to a
show this way!
_______________________
*Warning* Graphic Images
http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/foiaphotos.html
From the
site: "Thirty-six months after making a Freedom of Information Request of the
U.S.D.A. regarding violations of the “Commercial Transportation of Equines to
Slaughter Act” at the horse slaughter plant in Fort Worth, I received the
documents. Nothing could have prepared me for their content. The 906-page FOIA
includes almost 500 separate photographs of severe and alarming cruelty at the
plant during part of 2005. I am an exceptionally seasoned investigator but was
unprepared for the very extreme level of inhumane treatment of these animals on
U.S. soil."
http://www.kaufmanzoning.net
_______________________
Tell the BLM to stop killing our mustangs!
_______________________
One has to decide is the AVMA or the
AAEP for the horses or not. The very own Oath that these Organizations took to
protect the Horses Seems to have failed several times again and again.
Slaughter IS NOT the Answer..
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/mar09/090301i.asp
A
horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves - strong, powerful,
beautiful - and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane
existence. ~Pam Brown