Please post and cross-post I for one will boycott this farm.
Here is their complete address.
Branstock Farm
420 Russel Rd.
Berryville, VA 22611
540-955-0764
Have you guys ever considered that these are ANIMALS! They are not humans, they
do not think like humans, they do not act like humans and I believe that as long
as they are treated humanely, and do suffer unduly it is O.K. to slaughter them
and even for people to eat them. Banning slaughter houses for horses here in the
United States will not stop the practice, it will cause more suffering for the
horses. It will drive down the cost of horses, and the majority of horses that
go to slaughter if that out let is no longer available then they will die of
neglect! Focus on helping to enforce the existing laws and to have people
understand the true nature of the horse would be a better goal for your group.
These people who believe
that you can do everything with praise and pets doom more horses with their
unwitting but over kind attitudes. Who wants a 1000 pound animal that bites,
kicks, rears and strikes when it's playing and has NO RESPECT for you or your
personal space. My horses are happy and enjoy their work and come to me in the
field. But they are well mannered and respect the head mare, me, because she is
known to kick (or whatever it takes to get their attention). I have sent horses
to slaughter, old horses that have no use and I can no longer afford to feed and
keep them but do not want to see them suffer. I have sent young horses, spoiled
horses that are a DANGER to humans to slaughter. I have sent horses that are
lame and have no hope of recovery. I have seen horses destroyed at the slaughter
houses and I can tell you personally that they go quicker and more humanly than
when the vet does it. Please remove me from your mailing list and do not bother
to respond to me. You cannot change my mind as I am sure I
cannot change yours.
Sue Mesa
Branstock Farm
Berryville, VA
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom and Julie Durfee
To: info@branstockfarm.com
Sent: 2/1/04 9:24:56 AM
Subject: Horse Slaughter
Hi Sue and Marc,
My name is Tom of the Laughing Horse Sanctuary. My wife Julia and I own a
70-acre farm where we raise Boer meat goats. We are NOT animal rights
activist.
I would like to talk with you a few minutes about horse slaughter.
Last year 50,000 American horses were slaughtered in two foreign owned slaughter
houses in TX. Their meat is sent overseas to satisfy the gourmet palates of
wealthy Europeans and Japanese. The meat sells for $15-$25 a pound. These
horses are not all old, sick, lame, neglected, or abused horses. 90% have
nothing wrong with them. The average age of a slaughter bound horse is 11 years
old. They are killing pregnant mares, mares with foals at their side, mostly
young well fed horses or horses from the Premarin industry. CA banned horse
slaughter in their state in 1998. Since then there has been no discernable
increase in horse abuse or neglect and theft of horses has dropped over 34%, as
they were being stolen for slaughter.
Another slaughter house is trying to open in IL with the capacity to kill 100
horses a day.
Horses are given medicines that are not intended for use on animals for human
consumption.
If you feel horses should not be slaughtered for human consumption I urge you to
contact your congressional representative and senator and ask them to co-sponsor
or vote in favor of H. R. 857, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
Please pass this information on to all friends and E-mail contacts as most
people don't know this is happening. Type Horse Slaughter in your search engine
for more facts.
For more information please feel free to contact us at:
Tom and Julia Durfee
The Laughing Horse Sanctuary
8317 Grassland Drive
Sandy Level, VA 24161
Phone/Fax 434-927-5298
LaughingHorse@PMTnet.net
Subject: [againstslaughter] Another message from
Branstock Farm
Please post and cross-post with the other message
From the name of you place I gather you take in unwanted horses. That is a great
and wonderful thing, but could you handle all the horses that go to slaughter? I
have been to horse auction where there are bidders that buy horses for
slaughter. I cannot see where anyone could make a living selling horses to these
people for they only give a couple hundred dollars a horse. Not hardly worth
stealing a horse to sell for that What I would do if I were you is to promote
tagging horses with electronic tags and insist that all horses brought to
slaughter be scanned to see if they indeed have been stolen. This would deter at
least some of those thefts. I do not take anything Calif. does concerning
animals to heart as that state is the state that wants animals to have the same
rights as people. For example a law is trying to be pushed thru that would have
person stated as a caretaker instead of an owner. These people (Peta) stated
that it is high time that dogs and cats should have the same rights as people.
Does that mean that since I paid for my dog it is now a slave? I think that is
where that is going. Do you belong to Peta? Again I applaud your efforts with
your horse sanctuary, but again I ask ," Can you bring in 50,000 horses?
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom and Julie Durfee
Sent: Feb 1, 2004 9:24 AM
To: info@branstockfarm.com
Subject: Horse Slaughter