By Janet Gibson
Posted 2 days ago (June 24, 2011)
Horses seized by the Saskatchewan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were among those auctioned off at the Meadow Lake Stockyards on June 17.
But a local rancher said many of them ending up being sold for slaughter.
The SPCA seized 20 quarter horses and paint horses in theNorth Battlefordarea in 2010, said manager of animal protection services Kaley Pugh. The owner was convicted of neglecting horses under the Animal Protection Act.
In the meantime, the horses were looked after by “an experienced caregiver,” Pugh said. With the court case over, the SPCA was able to sell the horses.
“Sometimes we sell them at a regular livestock auction with cattle,” she said. “We thought selling them at a pre-scheduled horse sale would be a good market for them.”
Pugh said she thought the horses would be used for ranch work or general riding.
“It’s hard to say what people would do with them,” she said.
The SPCA advertised the sale in a public service announcement on June 14.
Makwa rancher John Putz attended the auction. Putz, who has worked with horses all his life, said horses can be used for riding or farm work.
“It’s a versatile animal that can go where a quad can’t go,” he said.
He added that “a good part” of the horses sold at the auction will “go for slaughter” and the horse meat sold to Europe andJapan.
“There’s been a lot of bad publicity by people who don’t understand,” he said. “Every animal comes to an end. They’re disposed of humanely. Horses being dumped and starved to death is way more cruel.”
Farmer Edmond Vidal, who also attended the auction, said his friend inSwedeneats horse meat “all the time.”
The horses sold for slaughter will go to a kill plant inFortMcLeod, Alta., Vidal said.
http://www.meadowlakeprogress.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3187097
Photos by Janet Gibson
Thank you for bringing this to public attention. I’m sickened, but not at all surprised. The Sask. SPCA is openly pro-slaughter. They are listed as members of the inaptly named “Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada” (HWAC) on the HWAC website: http://www.horsewelfare.ca
On the same page, HWAC lists as allies:
-Bouvry (slaughter plant owners)
-United Organizations of the Horse—Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis’ US pro-slaughter group
-Animal Agriculture Alliance, the coalition of factory farmers banded against the Humane Society of the US, and working to ban animal advocates from “outing” farm animal abuse
-National Association of Equine Ranchers. These are the pee farmers (PMU) financed by Wyeth/Pfizer. PMU could not exist without slaughter.
There you have it, the unholy alliances. Go over member groups one by one, and you’ll see horse slaughter is a HUGE international conspiracy. They’re not even trying to hide it. The SSPCA sure isn’t. What chance do the poor horses have?
I hate to say this, but I almost agree with the statement “Horses being dumped and starved to death is way more cruel.”
The first bunch of his comment “There’s been a lot of bad publicity by people who don’t understand,” he said. “Every animal comes to an end. They’re disposed of humanely.” unfortunately, is idiocy.
I also think that if the SSPCA had euthanized the horses (because they couldn’t find new homes for them) people would be outraged. I hate that, as I think euthanization would be the BEST course of action in this situation. Obviously they would have had to try hard to find new homes for them first.
“I hate to say this, but I almost agree with the statement “Horses being dumped and starved to death is way more cruel.”
“Hate to say it” and “Almost”? Wow, you are sick. Starving a horse to death is completely more cruel, no question or doubt about it. You see a horse, just skin and bones, lying on the ground unable to get up, slowly dying and you think “at least it didn’t go to slaughter”? Really?
As if abuse vs. slaughter are the only options! Ludicrous.
This is the argument pro-slaughter profiteers use.
It’s based upon madeup abuse statistics and fallacious reasoning. You’ll notice how closely allied HWAC and Slaughterhouse Sue’s groups are with breeders and breed clubs. Never is there a mention of: limited breeding, neutering breeding animals, funding rescues (they just blather on senselessly about rescues being wah wah FULL), providing retirement funds for sport horses, humane euthanasia grants….
The world is full of choices, resources, and people wanting to end suffering. If you follow the abuse vs. slaughter argument to its end, all you’ll find there is greed and insanity.
As one example, my province’s race track gambling industry contributed $330 million to our economy last year. The track contributed exactly $5000 to rehab and rehome Thoroughbreds. Barely enough to even board one horse for a year in the cheapest barn. There are solutions, but they lie in compassion, taking responsibility, and putting creatures’ lives before excess profit.
Sorry, give your head a shake for this one.
“As if abuse vs. slaughter are the only options! Ludicrous.”
Happens far more than you care to realize.
Sure did happen to me.
Bute, and a lot of other drugs are used on horses that are not used on animals commonly used for food, because these drugs take a long time to leave the system. If horses are raised to be killed and eaten, they will not have these drugs in them. At this time it is very unhealthy to be eating horses.
This situation was wrong in just so many ways! The SSPCA is a million dollar a year charity. You can’t tell me that they couldn’t do better for these horses. It need not be a case of slaughter vs. starvation. After people spoke up, they have figured out how to structure a caregiver program to help address the horse issue. Why is it that they have had foster homes for cats and dogs for years but are only now doing it for horses? Only after all adoption attempts have been exhausted should auction become an option. The people of this province have huge hearts (as the sheltie adoptions prove), we need to make sure our SSPCA has their heart in the right place as well… with the animals – not their wallet.