Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 10:44 AM
Subject: [againstslaughter] American horses
slaughtered for French Appetites
Mr. O'Reilly,
Thank you for taking a moment to
read my letter.
Did you know that last year
42,000+ american horses were brutally slaughtered in Texas, with nearly every
bit of the meat shipped to Europe -- TARIFF FREE -- as a "delicacy"
to the French and some other European countries? Last year, Ferdinand, a true
piece of American sports history, was slaughtered and eaten in Japan.
Please take the time to look
into what these foreign-owned companies are doing to America's horses -- our
friends, colleagues, pets, companions, and our history. Don't let the
pro-slaughter contingent fool you. They are not "doing us a favor"
by culling out the old, sick, ill, dying, weak, and thin. They are not
"doing the horses a favor" by rescuing abused horses from terrible
situations and putting an end to their suffering. I personally visit 2
auctions per month where paid slaughterhouse employees bid on the babies, the
fat, the healthy horses, bidding against families who want to give these
horses a good home, a good life.
I encourage you to read this
white paper commissioned by an organization that retires hundreds of former
race horses:
Please, research this issue, and
see for yourself. Make your own decision on the situation. And, even if you
decide you side with the pro-slaughter contingent, I still encourage you to
take this information to your viewers. You see, almost NO ONE in this country
-- including MOST horsemen -- have no idea that slaughter is still legal in
this country. They have no idea that selling Trigger at the local sale is
likely signing his death warrant.
America has the chance now to
tell the Belgians and French, etc. to go to Hell and "let them eat
cake" or anything else... but not our horses. HR 857 is currently in the
Agricultural committee of the House of Representatives which would bring an
end to this barbaric process, including the horrifying methods of
transportation that leave many of the horses brutally injured or dead before
they even face the terrors of the slaughterplant.
Lastly, America's horses are not
raised as food. they are not fed, medicated, or cared for as food. We as a
country feed bute to our horses like we feed ourselves Tylenol, but Bute is
considered a deadly carcinogen and not to be used in any animal for human
consumption whatsoever.
Again, thank you so much for
your time and for looking into this key issue.