International Outrage Continues to Spread
New Democrat Agriculture Critic Alex Atamanenko (BC southern Interior) has re-introduced a Private Members Bill that would effectively shut down the slaughtering of horses for human consumption in Canada.
“Since I first introduced this bill in the last Parliament, tens of thousands of Canadians have petitioned the government to legislate an end to this practice,” said Atamanenko. “I think it’s high time the government listened.”
According to the B.C. MP, the odds are enormous that certain drugs, prohibited for use during the life of any animals destined for the human food supply, are routinely being administered to horses.
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“It is irresponsible for Canada to allow the sale of meat from horses as a food item when they have never been raised in accordance with the food safety practices required for all other animals,” Atamanenko said.
He pointed to the inexpensive, easily available and widely used anti-inflammatory drug, phenylbutazone (bute) or ‘horse’s aspirin’ as it is commonly called, as just one example of what is quite likely to be prevalent in horsemeat. Bute is a known carcinogen and its use is illegal in any animal that enters the food supply.
According to Atamanenko, at least 50 per cent of the horses being slaughtered in Canada are imported from the U.S., where horse slaughter has been banned. The meat is then sold to markets in Europe. There are no regulations in the U.S. to prevent horse owners from administering banned substances because horses are not regarded or treated as food-producing animals.
“On top of that, the U.S. believes it is our task to verify the data in the EID passports as we are the ones selling the meat for human consumption,” he said.
Under pressure from the European Union (EU), Canada has introduced a new ‘equine passport’ system, the data from which is to be verified by the slaughter houses, to track the health history and medical treatments of horses arriving at slaughterhouses, including those from the States.
“The EID system is fraught with loopholes and it is quite a stretch to think that information on hundreds of thousands of horses gathered from every nook and cranny across Canada and America, will be complete or accurate,” he concluded. “The right thing for the government to do would be to adopt Bill C-322 so the issue can be debated as soon as possible.”
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
A Wise Man and he is even a politician.
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I wish the best for the Canadians, which in turn will help our equines.
RT….Horseback has a current feature on our new BLM WH$BP Chief’s latest brain child. I hope someone here will dissect this and offer an op-ed to be posted here.
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I am afraid, very afraid to trust much that comes from the desk of a BLM Manager…but a tempting offer, on your part, for sure.
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The problem I have is, as with the WH$B Advisory Board the deck is ALWAYS stacked against the wild ones; especially after the release of another with MORE roundups schedule……….seems the WEST is still awash with a bizzilllion wild equines according to ranchers and DOI/DOA. B******T!
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Faux pas on me…this idea re “volunteers” is from the BLM Director, Bob Abbey; not BLM WH$B Chief Guilfoyle (sp?), but I am assuming she will have to implement it and monitor the proposed program. Geesh!!!!
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Denise, are you thinking what I’m thinking? How many unpaid volunteers have we already had in the field? $25,000 to the BLM Field Offices….to be spent where? How? Do the volunteers get to use the BLM trucks and airplanes?
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Louie, to your first question, probably and a whole lot more comes into my mind. As to your other questions, I hope a more qualified advocate with extensive BLM knowledge base does an op-ed piece for SFTHH.
As to Canada and the MP that submitted the bill….Bravo, sir! But I suspect the foreign and local owned HCHS plants will shift to MEX/Cen & S America for export to everyone but the EU….TOO MUCH MONEY AND GARBAGE OWNERS/THIEVES INVOLVED TO STOP THEIR BEHAVIOR….LAWS OR NO LAWS.
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Well, well…so the Canadians and Europeans get it, but we haven’t yet.
How can those veterinarians, who lead what should be called “Unlucky Horse Coalition” of the AAEP and AVMA sleep at night with the medical knowledge about these drugs and the practical knowledge to know how widespread their use is?
Not only have the AAEP and the AVMA abdicated their responsibility to care for their clients(the horses—sorry, the owner just writes the checks; I guess if this is the issue, we’ll have to train the horses to do this too) humanely throughout their lives, they have completely lost their way regarding their responsibility to public health, a big part of their job.
R. T.,thank you for providing the forum that exposed Sue Wallis for what she is. I did not want to learn about horse slaughter; I would have remained blissfully happy in my ignorance were it not for her outrageous behavior and allegations.
Sue Wallis aroused my (our) righteous indignation, so I (we) investigated and I (we) learned. And now I (we) know and with knowledge comes responsibility. So when Sue Wallis sits in some Las Vegas casino with the Director of the BLM or his designee sipping Bloody Mustangs, I hope she and Mr./Ms. Whoever get a strong taste of cayenne pepper to remind them that she awakened a sleeping army who are more determined than ever to fight for public health (who knew before Sue?) and the humane treatment of horses and burros.
If she or anyone else has any doubts about what humane is or what euthanasia is, they can visit the web site that addresses the ethical breech of practice by their licensend brethren at Veterinarians for Equine Welfare.
The US should be the engine leading the train on this, but thanks to leaders like Senators Baucus and Reid, we’re not even the caboose.
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In the article I read about the impact of W’s grazing policies (which I am not sure I understand) the author wrote that the BLM is woefully understaffed to do the kind of range monitoring that it has to do, which is one of the reasons it has been easier for them to use the original EIS to do range monitoring. W’s policies allowed them to do that.
Since this is coming from the Director post the WWP suit, perhaps it is their attempt to engage the public who have been so critical of them. I know I have questioned their failure to examine forage to determine which animals are consuming what and how much. Again the link that was provided through the Andrew Cohen article to the EIS that was commissioned to dispute the decision in Wyoming is what, in my judgment, ought to be the standard, before any removals are made of wild horses or grazing permits are issued. .
So this could be a result of the criticism they have received based on Andrew Cohen’s series. We were outraged by rancher’s statement that Sylvia Bacca had advised the ranchers to sue the BLM, so that they could remove the horses faster. But, if I understood the article about Bush’s policies, that was supposed to be part of the agency’s role—to assist ranchers and to basically ignore its multiple use mandate.
This has come out so quickly after the WWP decision, the BLM has probably been anticipating it and planning what to do if and when this occurred.
I am reading this as a kind of, “If you think my job is so easy, why don’t you come in and try it for yourself.”
On a more positive note, this is the first sign of recognition and/or concern that they realize they are falling short of the public’s expectations.
If these $25,000 dollar funds are not necessarily tied to range improvement, the wild horse and burro specialists as well as their public relations staff need to be educated about the nature of the horse, the structure of wild horse groups and families, and wild horse welfare concerns.
Have the people associated with the wild horses and burros in any way spend a day or two in the field noting wild horse social and grazing behaviors. Have a trainer who is skilled in communicating well with people as well as horses help them understand how horses think. No training, no title.
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At least all the talk and pressure is making people move and do more. I hope this goes through… this time. We will have to follow suit as there is No Going Back to Slaughter in the USA!
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As a Canadian I say this can very easily mean that horse slaughter will end in Canada..As even the EU is seeing pressure from medical issues starting to show up in children..But it will only switch the country of slaughter…Even for the Canadian horses..It will need to be very well wrote up to cover all slaughter loopholes..including export..But Lil buyers are the people who they are slimy greed mongers..Setting up a shipment of horses to a medics ranch name is will be the loophole that no law can cover..Europe is the source that has to stop all North American horse meat..Then the costs will be too high..That cuts the profits and at the greed will have to find another source of income..I had read one blog about how Japan wants live horses as the waste products from them are usable with their food systems..Blood sausage comes to my mind…No slaughter will be stopped just a new way of meat transfers..Live on the hoof will be the new way of slaughter..just gets it off our door step…but the innocent horses will still be on a plate…
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Hopefully, if they don’t use horses for food the slaughter will end.
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