"ONLY A SOCIOPATH COULD MANAGE TO KILL A HORSE IN A SLAUGHTERHOUSE " (BY COLOREDNEWS reporter JaneCelia)
“And it is not true that this facility-- or any like it-- will end the suffering of starving horse. Horse slaughter facilities are not interested in thin or starving horses because there is no profit if there is no meat. They only want well-fed, fat horses to kill,” she added.
“ I love horses. I don't like eating them. It's inhumane but it's also unhealthy. They are shot up with antibiotics, steroids, worming medicines, vaccines and Bute. They are not edible,” Shea said.
The headline is a quote from horse slaughter opponent Jessica Guttman of
Santa Fe. Guttman stood as a lone protester for ten days outside The New Mexico State Capitol (Roundhouse) offices (in Santa Fe) in an attempt to rally an audience with Governor Susana Martinez who Guttman believes has the power to stop the opening of a
proposed horse slaughter facility in Roswell, New Mexico.
According to
Guttman, Martinez never met with her or returned phone calls or emails, but Chief of Staff Keith Gardner spoke briefly outside of the Roundhouse
and then invited her into his office. He told her their "hands are tied” in the matter of the Roswell facility. Guttman feels
Martinez is allied with “big money” including cattle ranchers and this is the primary reason she will not step forward with her authority to stop this unpopular factory from opening in
Roswell.
“She goes with the money, not morality,” Guttman said.
I interviewed
Guttman and several other protesters this month in front of the
Roundhouse in Santa Fe (she was joined by twelve other supporters at the end of her ten day solitary protest).
Guttman has
many concerns in regards to horse slaughter she wanted to share with Martinez.
“Horses do not
die in the same way as cattle. First, they shoot them in the head
with a gun to stun them. They can't kill them that way because the
brain is too far back in the skull. Then they gauge out their eyes
so they cannot protest and they become disoriented. Then they are
hung alive from hooks from the ceiling. They are hacked at with
knives until they bleed to death,” she explained.
“And it is not
true that this facility-- or any one like it-- will end the
suffering of starving horse. Horse slaughter facilities are not
interested in thin or starving horses because there is no profit if
there is no meat. They only want well-fed, fat horses to kill,”
she added.
“And generally
speaking, the only people they can hire to kill horses in a slaughterhouse are criminals
or sociopaths-- who have no feelings.” she
concluded.
“No normal person
could do this. It takes a sociopath--someone cannot feel."
If the inhumanity
of the process is not enough to convince people this is an extremely bad
idea, Guttman stated that most horses throughout their lives have
been injected--often several times--with powerful drugs such as “Bute”. Bute, she
said, is clearly labeled “not for human consumption”.
“I have to
give my horse Bute. I inhaled it just once and I got sick,” she
explained.
“And there is
no way they are even trying to trace the medical history of any of
these slaughtered horses. It would be impossible.” she concluded.
Most of the
European nations have already banned horse meat because of the
dangerous levels of Bute and other chemicals often embedded in the
horse's muscle.
Marjorie Lynne,
who is a staff person with Fighting For Nevada Horses ( the group
behind a nationwide protest this month) was also present at the
protest last Saturday at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Lynne said she interacted with many Santa Fe residents and visitors during the protest
and everyone she spoke with was opposed to the slaughterhouse.
Lynne said several representatives of a "green" real estate group discussed the issue with her
during the four hour protest. They said they were opposed
to the facility. The primary reason being the value of
houses anywhere near it will drop “like rocks”. They feel it
will have a negative effect on the value of houses statewide in New
Mexico.
Lynne said her
research reveals that the environment of a
horse slaughter town is poisoned beyond repair.
“These
facilities effect the groundwater. Chemicals from the plant leach
into the soil. Plus, there is so much blood—horses are not like
cows. They have enormous amounts of blood. Two towns in Texas went
bankrupt after their slaughterhouse closed. It had destroyed the
water,” said Lynne, who works twelve to eighteen hours a day answering
calls and responding to questions posed to her by New Mexicans who
want the truth about the proposed facility.
“I have seen
charts that show crime rates go up dramatically in towns where there
are slaughter houses. It's the type of people who work at them.
They are often criminals and they attract the same,” she
concluded.
Rancher and
horse owner Terry Shea of Chama held a sign on Saturday (with the
rest of protesters) indicating his opposition to horse slaughter.
Shea and his girlfriend own 120 Moreno Mustangs which they keep on a
5000 acre ranch in Chama. Shea, the chief instructor at Chama Martial Arts, said the primary purpose for the Mustang ranch is to demonstrate to the public how wild
horses behave in their natural habitat.
“We want
people to learn to value wild horses and to respect their important
position in our world,” Shea said.
“ I love
horses. I don't like eating them. It's inhumane but it's also
unhealthy. They are purposely shot up with antibiotics, steroids,
worming medicines, vaccines and Bute. Horses are not edible,” he
added
Recent newspaper reports
indicate the Roswell slaughterhouse proponents are moving closer to an opening date despite the enormous opposition coming from both within the state and nationwide. Celebrities such as Robert Redford and Bo Derek have also become involved in the effort to stop horse slaughter in this country.
To protest the facility call
Governor Martinez at 505-276-2200.
