Subject: [againstslaughter] An Open Letter To our Legislators
Dear Legislator,
I just finished reading the 16-page fax sent to me by Rep. Betty Brown’s
office when I asked for information on her views, especially since,
according to her staff, I was the only avowedly anti-slaughter person who
bothered to call her office for purposes other than railing at her!
I feel the need to pour out my thoughts and feelings on the highly charged
subject of the legality and morality of horse slaughter. I have such deep
feelings for horses, though I don't ride, don't come from Texas and have
only known
horses for three years. I am totally in love with them, I identify with
them, and I would do anything legal and moral in my power to protect them
from harm, from death, from being afraid, from being abused. This issue has
taught me that we all have a different concept of the word "humane,"
that's
for sure!
I don't know if you are aware that Channel 13 in Houston, which is the
Houston ABC affiliate, aired a "special" in their 10 o'clock news
Monday
night. It was with reporter Deborah Wrigley, who visited the Houston SPCA,
and Habitat for Horses, and a horse auction, and showed clips of the two
horse slaughterhouses, along with segments of a video showing the horses
being corralled, put through chutes, stunned unconscious, and falling to the
floor. Some of them had to be stunned several times before they actually
lost consciousness. I had not had the nerve to watch the video at the
candlelight vigil, but I felt that I
needed to know what others were seeing
on the TV news. I don't know that I
will ever get over the horror of seeing
those vivid images of my innocent,
helpless friends being knocked to the
ground and killed.
Actually, I started crying the minute I saw the horses on the video rounded
up in a pen. I thought of the many beautiful horse friends I have at the
Houston Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Stables and at the SPCA and at
Habitat and at the Texas Humane Ranch. I thought of the four horses at a
prison in Beeville whom I saw last year. They were so in tune with my pure
love for them (I had never met them in my life!) that they came up to a
fence, as close to me as they could get, and stood motionless for 40 minutes
watching me read my Bible. When I got up to drive to the prison's visiting
area to pick up the friend who was visiting her son in prison, the horses
simultaneously stretched, rolled over, and went back to their grazing, which
they had been enjoying before my arrival (truly, I didn't have any food on
me, and the wind wasn't blowing from me to them anyway!). It was the holiest
experience I have ever had in my life. We were "at one" with each
other,
and with our mutual Parent.
I also thought of all the wild horses throughout the world who have been
tamed by and befriended by humans, who have learned to put their trust in
humans, who have worked for and frolicked with humans for centuries. We are
betraying their trust when we turn around and say, "Oh, you were useful for
a while, but now it's time to throw you away." There is NOTHING worse than
such base betrayal. Not even animals do that to one another.
We humans have such a unique relationship with horses. It is based on
respect. Now we are violating that code of respect, saying in essence that
"we aren't for real: we don't respect you at all. We want money for your
meat."
Our relationships with cows, sheep, pigs and chickens is entirely different
than with horses, though we perhaps ignorantly lump horses with them under
the same heading: livestock. Horses are raised to be our helpmates, pets,
companions, partners -- even members of our family. Do you kill off your old
mother or sell your young child if they become a burden and you need some
extra cash? Of course not!
Since horses are flight animals, they are intensely afraid when they are
treated roughly and heartlessly, as they most certainly are when they are
thrown into a sardine-can of a trailer, mixed together without regard for
their different ages, injuries, genders, temperaments. They're literally
fighting for their lives, and are clearly terrorized beyond belief. They are
hauled for hours on end with no food or water, with no rest or comfort. It
is more likely that these facts are true than they
are not true. Why do I say that? Because any person with common sense knows
that the profit-driven companies in this line of work have zero interest in
the horses' hearts and souls, only in getting them as fast as possible to
the slaughterhouse.... And any person with common sense knows that law
enforcers are lax when it comes to such "petty" offenses as code
violations
affecting a trailer-load of horses being trucked down the road to their
death.....
I don't mean to sound biting or harsh or emotional -- I'm just a sensible
and sensitive individual who has been in this world long enough not to be
fooled by what people SAY they do -- or intend to do. All too many times,
their words are just for show. Their actions don't match their words. Not
nearly. They are not to be trusted. After all, horses have no reason to
trust them, so why should I?
Contrary to what Betty Brown claims, they are not all "unwanted."
They are
very much wanted and adored!!!!! And even those that she calls
"unwanted"
are in fact wanted by someone else -- by the rescue groups and, in turn, by
new adoptive parents. The horses aren't given to the rescue groups for free,
because, as Rep. Brown says, if you're a horse owner, why not make a little
profit off them? Oh, what a lovely thought! That comment, spoken with a
little smile, made your her look VERY inhumane and cold-hearted, I am so
sorry to say. (Rep.
Brown's remarks were included in the Channel 13 news feature I mentioned
above.)
The other thing Rep. Brown said to the reporter was that we shouldn't be
stopping the French from eating what they want to eat. Does this mean if
they want to eat our dog meat, we should oblige them?
This is a personal plea from me to you. I feel you have a heart. Please do
not let it be torn out of you just because you work with the legislator who
sponsored this legislation. Please go into a corner (mentally, that is), get
very still (in your thoughts), and ask yourself honestly if you really,
truly, believe it is humane and moral and right and just to murder horses.
Ask yourself if you would like to have this done to your horse, to a stolen
horse, to a healthy horse, or even to an
ill horse in need of love and care. Or would you like to have it done to
yourself? (Why is a human's life of more value than a horse's? Don't we each
have a special purpose and destiny to fulfill? And I don't mean as meat on
someone's table!!!!)
We all have to learn that greed (a lust for lucre) and an unhealthy desire
for approbation and attention, for popularity and power, for fame and
flattery are traits that bring to their possessors great sorrow down the
road. I fear Betty Brown has fallen into the trap of trying to please
everyone -- lobbyists, constituents, businessmen, workers. As a result, she
seems to have totally lost her moral compass. I found her attitude not only
ingenuous, but downright offensive. I told you I would tell you how I feel.
I have, haven't I? In spades. Please don't take this personally. It is not
meant personally. I am just taking
a stand for principle. Not for cultural phenomenon. Not for accepted social
norms. Not for convenience. Not for profit. But for PRINCIPLE!!!!!
There are no two ways to cut it: It is highly unprincipled to tell children
that they should be kind to animals (last week was "Be Kind to
Animals"
week, I believe) and then turn around and kill horses that would be given
good homes if given the chance. After watching Habitat for Horses and other
fellow rescue groups find homes for hundreds of horses, after rescuing and
rehabilitating them, it proved to me that there are many, many Americans out
there whose hearts are big enough to take in and embrace and feed one extra
horse -- a horse in need of love, responsible care and respect, a horse who
has an important mission to fulfill here on earth.
With kindest regards to you,
Susan Clay
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