It is easy to understand those who want safe and reasonable care for animals. That only makes sense and farmers generally understand that healthy animals are more likely to generate the best returns.
So proper animal welfare is something which has logic to it.
But, somewhere along the way society is moving away from common sense in regard for animal welfare, and are pushing for animals to hold a completely different place in terms of our view of them.
That switch is being brought to the forefront on the United States of late by the massive shift in the legislation regarding horses.
There are about nine million horses in the United States, and there is no longer a slaughter facility for horses anywhere in the country. In most cases state laws have closed the last of the plants over the past few years.
The situation brings into question what happens to aging horses which have out-lived their usefulness?
For the owner of a horse who looks at the animal as a hobby, a pet, a distraction for everyday life, the idea of simply turning the animal out to pasture to munch grass until it dies of old age may fit nicely.
But consider for a moment those where horses are a business. Race horses, chuckwagon drivers, working cattle ranches, riding academies and a list of others. There is no business case for feeding old horses. They must go somewhere.
While in North America we may generally not look to throw a horse steak on the barbeque, that should not prevent us understanding many cultures which accept it, just as other cultures are quite satisfied eating eggs where the chicks are partially developed, or munching on a variety of insects we would tend to turn our noses up at.
When there isn't an outlet for old horses, then the chance for poor welfare would seem likely to increase.
As it stands horses stateside are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. A truckload of horses recently hit the border headed north with horses which had died on the truck, and others injured. The long trip north did not help the situation of animals at the end of their days trying to be salvaged by slaughter.
In the wisdom of legislators who apparently have forgotten a horse is basically a cow with better PR, are likely to pass the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, which would make it illegal to transport a horse to slaughter, closing down the access to facilities in Mexico and Canada.
The idea of the legislation escapes me. Why is the horse different than a cow, a goat, or a pig? All have had their roles in agriculture for centuries.
It really does come back to the idea of public relations. People view the horse differently, and from the days of reading Black Beauty, they hold them as more than a mere farm animal. Today they are using the rose-coloured view of horses to close down abattoirs, and enact legislation which plays on people's emotions regarding horses, and not on common sense, or the basic business of raising livestock.
It is too bad society has crossed the line of common sense, because it makes one wonder what will come next. The pretty lambs of nursery rhymes perhaps? Or the three little pigs? Only time will tell.
April 28, 2010 ... Calvin Daniels is Assistant Editor with Yorkton This Week.