Slaughtering horses for meat...your opinion?

If it were my horse, I can promise you that I would be sleeping in the stall with him every night. He is like family to me and anyone who threatens him will eat a bullet instead of horse meat. On the other hand, I am not against the legalization of slaughtering unwanted or dangerous horses. I personally believe that this situation in Florida is a result of the government banning the slaughter houses from processing horse meat in the USA. It is not acceptable in the mainstream American culture to eat horse meat, hence the ban being put into place. But in my thinking this is totally stupid. An average horse weighs in at around 1000 lbs. Probably around 400 to 500 lbs of dressed out meat in each animal. Why not take the unwanted or dangerous (as long as they are healthy!) animals and slaughter them for human consumption?

I think a lot of us are missing the real issue. It is not an issue of whether slaughtering horses and eating horse meat is right or wrong. I doubt that any of us can truly say that it is right to go onto someone else's property and slaughter their animal, leave the carcass and sell the meat. No matter how you feel about horses you have to admit this is truely wrong. If anything admit that this is blatant stealing. This can also be dangerous. Most horse owners know that if you read the back of some medicines that you give horses (such as a wormer) it says not to use on an animal intended for food. I am sure this is for a reason. So, I guess that the matter boils down to just plain greed. I would truly be surprised if anyone out there would say that the people that did this were in the right. How can it be right to steal, be greedy, and be uncaring of others?

Hello lynnemg. I am so sorry for those horses to be slaughtered for meat. It seems to be very cruel to them. Here I have never heard about people eating horse meat. Maybe it is because we don't see horses around as we do not live close to grassland. I only know that horses are used for riding and racing...

Slaughtering horses is not right! I heard about what is going on in Florida and I think it is very distubing! There are people who are from other countries where they eat horse meat and see nothing wrong with buying it even if it is illegal! I had owned a horse,God rest his soul, for almost 27 years! I love horses and always will! Horses helped build the USA! They pulled wagons,trollies,carts,logs,carriages and carried people all across the USA when it was being settled! They helped plant fields of food! Horses don't need to be slaughtered! If the owner wants and does use a weapon! Fine! The people who are killing theses horses for profit and are breaking the law! These horse are pets and friends to people! Owners are not going to far to proctect their horses! I also hope someday soon the law catches theses jerks who doing this and punish them! Big time!

i have not heard anybody eat horse meat yet, it is ok for the horses owner to sell the horse meat,this is a source of income about take care of the horses,it is a right for the owner,but, i don't think other people have this right to slaughtering horses for profits.no working hard no earning. good luck and have a nice day.

I was thinking of this when I added horses to my interest list. For many horse owners, they become sort of like the family pet...as a dog or cat would. They are intelligent animals and quite magestic creatures. But we as horse lovers can only see them as pets, not as a food source. For many that don't share our passion for these animals, they are just like cattle....good sources of bulk meat. I think it the is the owners right to protect what they own, no matter what they are protecting. It is their property and should not be stolen from. Even if its a horse or a dog or a sheep. It is their property. As far as eating horses goes, for people that did not grow up with horses on the dinner table, they may never understand why people would eat them. This is the same for those that do not eat cattle or eat dogs. Our cultures shape our opinions of how we view things. For me personally, I would never seek out horse me, but can understand why people see it is a valuable food source.

I believe that a person had the right to protect his/her property even if it means that someone (the rustler) gets hurt.Personally I do not think that it should be illegal to slaughter horses or any other animal that can provide useful meat to people as long as that animals were treated with respect during it's lifetime.Why should horses not be butchered and cattle go to the slaughterhouse by the thousands? Are cattle any less an animal than horses are? There are countries where the dog and cats are eaten, I am not saying that I woudl eat a dog or cat or even horse but where do the differences begin and end as to what animal can and cannot be used for meat?

You mean they are slaughtering other peoples' horses?! The horse owners are in the right!!! When people are killing pets for meat, things are worse than we're being told. I can't see killing such a magnificent, gentle creature as a domesticated horse. People must really be desperate.

yuck, i know horse is a delicaey in some countries. but i thought that was more over the middle east direction. i feel owners of any animals have the right to protect them. most animals are classed as member of the family.

I think horse owners have a right to protect their animals against rustlers in the same way as the owners of any other animals irrespective of whether they are being bred as food or not.

I love horses with all my heart and to hear that people are actually slaughtering horses and using them for meat is just totally cruel and disgusting and people that do things like that don't have a heart. I don't think that the people are horse owners are in the wrong for doing what they do to protect they're horses I would do the same thing just to protect my horses if I had any as well. For a few years I took care of horses and most of them are so gentle and to imagine that happening I could not without breaking out and crying.

Well this particular situation is certainly wrong. No one should be going to harm a horse that someone owns. But eating horses is a different matter. That's not unusual in Britain. Also, what do you think happens to race horses when they can't race anymore? They get made into dog food. I wouldn't personally want to eat horse meat, but people in different cultures eat a lot of animals that would seem strange to us. There are people who eat reindeer or monkeys, for example. So while I, like you, wouldn't want to do it myself, it seems unfair to judge others for doing that (when it's in a normal, legal way that is- not just killing horses that belong to people).

America shut down all of the facilities that could legally slaughter horses in 2007. It's illegal to consume horse meat here, so all of the butchering of horses that is happening for meat is happening for the sell of the meat on the black market. Just a few days ago there was a report of a successful race horse "Drilling for Oil" who was found butchered in Peru after moving to South America last month to start his breeding career. Some of these race horses cost several hundred thousand dollars. Do I think horse owners have the right to shoot on sight anyone who comes onto their property with the intent to steal and butcher their horse? Heck yes! Horses are not a cheap hobby, and they're dang sure not a glamorous money-making career. Top it off with the fact that these people are stealing these animals to do something illegal, maybe if a couple of them take blast of rock salt from a shotgun it'll make them and other think twice about trying to kill someones pet/livelihood.