Tag: Horses

American Veterinary Medical Association Opposes Horse Slaughter Bill

The American Veterinary Medical Association announced in January its opposition to the House Bill on Transportation and Processing of Horses for Slaughter.

That bill, introduced by Rep. John Sweeney (NY), would place limits on the transportation and killing of horses that would almost certainly drastically reduce the number of horses slaughtered in the United States. Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that as many as 55,000 horses are slaughtered annually in the United States.

The AVMA says it opposes the bill on the grounds that a number of its provisions will worsen, rather than improve, the treatment of horses. In a prepared statement announcing the groupÂ’s opposition to the bill, AVMA president Jack Walther said,

The welfare of animals, and in this case horses, is the primary concern of veterinarians. The proposed legislation, as written, could actually result in less humane treatment of these horses. . . . Humane slaughter may not be the most desirable option for addressing the problem of unwanted horses. However, it may be preferable to allowing these horses to face a life of inadequate care or possible abandonment.

The major problem the AVMA appears to have with the bill is that it doesnÂ’t adequately address dealing with unwanted horses who will no longer be able to be sent to slaughter. According to the AVMA,

HR 857 does not adequately address the welfare of horses for which humane slaughter will be removed as an option. The bill does not establish standards that horse rescue facilities must meet to ensure the humane care of these horses.

. . .

The number of unwanted horses presently sent for humane slaughter will be removed as an option. The bill does not establish standards that horse facilities must meet to ensure the humane care of these horses.

HR 857 estimates that approximately 55,000 horses were slaughtered in United States facilities last year. According to the American Association of Equine Practitioners, subsistence care for these horses would cost approximately $1825/horse/year, resulting in a potential funding requirement of $100 million/year during the first year of HR 857Â’s enactment. Adding more horses ever year to the pool of those needing care means that these costs will only increase.

The full text of the proposed bill can be read here.

Source:

AVMA Opposes Bill on Transportation & Processing of Horses for Slaughter. Press Release, American Veterinary Medical Association, January 7, 2004.

Horses Go on the Auction Block After Premarin Sales Decline

Animal rights activists have for years been trying to cajole Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to stop using mares to produce hormone replacement therapy Premarin. Following a decline in sales of Premarin, Wyeth is cutting its ties with hundreds of horse breeders leading animal rights groups to change their tune and lament Wyeth’s sudden abandonment of the farms it relied on.

Following the 2002 report by the Women’s Health Initiative that found relatively modest increases in risk for some health problems among those who took Premarin, sales of the drug dropped like a stone. The WHI study found that women taking the drugs had a 41 percent increased risk of strokes, a 29 percent increased risk of heart attacks, and a 26 percent increased risk of breast cancer.

Orders for Prempro fell from 3.4 million to just 1 million and for Premarin from 6 million to 3.5 million after the study results were announced. Sales of the drugs dropped by 33 percent in the first three quarters of 2003.

As a result, Wyeth cut its business ties with about 100 horse ranchers that account for about 20,000 of the estimated 75,000 horses used in production of the drug. Animal rights groups are now complaining that most the horses will likely end up being slaughtered.

Susan Wagner, president of horse rescue group Equine Associates, told The Saratogian,

What you have in Canada is one big bloodbath. I have never seen anything like this — the cruelty of the pharmacies and the farmers — if you want to call them farmers. Thank God this industry is going down.

Wagner’s group plans to buy as many of the horses as it can and adopt them out in the United States. Wagner said,

We plan to rescue as many of these animals as possible and hope other caring organizations and individuals will do the same. I believe the PMU industry is going down fast. Tragically, as that happens, thousands of mares, foals and stallions will die.

Wyeth’s stock has been hit hard both by the Premarin problems as well as dismal sales for its FluMist influenza vaccine (projected at $140 million in sales, but actual sales end up being in the $9 million range). Regardless, Premarin is unlikely to disappear — Wyeth forecasts that while it will see further erosion in 2004, by the end of the year Premarin sales will still constitute a $1 billion/year market.

Grant Rice, previously associated with EarthSave; Sinikka Crosland of The Responsible Animal Care Society; and others created a group in September called the Women’s Health and Ethics Coalition apparently to start a campaign, “Why, Oh Why, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals . . .?”, to pressure Wyeth to, as a sample letter the group was distributing suggested,

. . . call upon Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to take full and immediate responsibility for the lives of industry horses at risk. I expect your company to purchase and remove all PMU horses from slaughter [sic] plant and other feedlots, and to place them in equine sanctuaries. Furthermore, Wyeth must show accountability by covering all of their maintenance costs until they are relocated to good homes.

Sources:

HRT decline raises meat-sale fears. Marilyn McCall, Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia), November 29, 2003.

“Why, Oh Why, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals . . . ?” Campaign is Launched. Press Release, Women’s Health and Ethics Coalition, December 28, 2003.

The Last Roundup. Michael Korb, The Saratogian, January 3, 2003.

Effort to Rebuild Horse Slaughterhouse Attracts Controversy in Illinois

In September, Cavel International finalized plans to rebuild a horse slaughterhouse in DeKalb, Illinois. The slaughterhouse burned down in 2002 in a fire whose cause has never been determined.

The slaughterhouse killed horses both for meat which was exported to Europe, as well as for rendering by-products.

Animal rights groups asked DeKalb to revoke the permit to rebuild the slaughterhouse, but that seemed unlikely. Both of the DeKalb area’s representatives to the Illinois state house, for example, said they would oppose proposed state legislation that would ban horse slaughter in Illinois.

Rep. Brad Burzynski (R) told The DeKalb Chronicle that, “It’s a job issue. It’s an issue of keeping a company viable in this district.” Once rebuilt, the slaughterhouse would create about 40 jobs.

Sources:

Plans finalized to rebuild Illinois slaughterhouse. BloodHorse.Com, September 15, 2003.

Horse-slaughter bill won’t affect Cavel’s decision. Chris Rickert, DeKalb Daily Chronicle, November 1, 2003.

Horse Slaughterhouse, Candelight Vigil. United Animal Nations, September 17, 2003.

Vigil in Protest of Slaughterhouse Rebuilding. Habitat for Horses, September 2003.

Man Sues ASPCA, Animal Planet Over Cruelty Allegations

Newsday reports that New Yorker Rossano Case-Irwin has filed a $46 million lawsuit against the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Planet, and the show Animal Precinct over allegations Animal Precinct broadcast accusing Case-Irwin of cruelty to animals.

Animal Precinct showed ASPCA investigator Annemarie Lucas arresting Case-Irwin on animal cruelty charges as well as featuring video documenting Lucas’ investigation leading up to the arrest.

The case involve a horse that Case-Irwin owned which had a wound on its belly. According to Case-Irwin it was a minor friction wound that a veterinarian informed Lucas was healing properly. Case-Irwin maintains Lucas ignored this to make a case for the cameras.

Case-Irwin was found not guilty of animal cruelty by a jury, but claims he lost his job as a result of the publicity over the case. Case-Irwin says the show featuring his arrest continued to air after his exoneration.

Source:

Cowboy’s arrest spurs $46M lawsuit. Rocco Parascandola, Newsday, April 23, 2003.

Rodeo Exonerated in Case Based on SHARK Videotape

The Whittier Daily reported recently that a California Court Commissioner exonerated the a rodeo that had been accused of cruelty charges based on video taken by Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK).

Shark took the video at a San Dimas Rodeo in October 2002 and turned it over to the Inland Valley Humane Society. The Humane Society then charged the Growney Brothers Rodeo C. with four counts of misusing a cattle prod.

California has a law that went into effect in 2001 that makes it a crime to use a cattle prod during a rodeo except to protect the participants or audience at a rodeo. SHARK and the Humane Society argued that the videotape showed workers at the rodeo using the cattle prods on four horses to force them out of the chute during a bucking bronco contest.

Pomono Court Commissioner Martin Goetsch ruled in favor of the rodeo, however, saying that he agreed with expert testimony provided by the defense that the use of the cattle prods was designed to protect the rider when horses failed to leave the chute on their own. The Whittier Daily News quoted Goetsch as ruling,

It appears clear to me everybody involved at the chute understands that . . . in each of these cases there was never an attempt to prod any of the horses while the gate was closed.

Goetsch’s decision cannot be appealed.

Sources:

Rodeo provider cleared by judge. Diana L. Roemer, The Whittier Daily News, April 25, 2003.

PRCA rodeo company running from cruelty citations? Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, Press Release, 2002.

Indian Researchers Working on Egg-Derived Snake Antivenin

National Geographic News reported in February that Indian scientists have found a method to use poultry eggs to produce an inexpensive snake bite antidote that could potentially save thousands of lives each year.

Snake bites are a serious problem in India, with National Geographic reporting that there are 300,000 such cases each year with as many as ten percent of victims dying because they do not receive anti-venom in time.

The current method of producing the treatment is to immunize horses against the venom of the cobra, common krait, saw-scaled viper and Russell’s viper. The horse antibodies are then used as an antidote in humans (of course, PETA will likely soon have a “Snake Antivenin is Horse’s Blood” campaign any day now). This is a very slow process.

National Geographic describes the new process that Indian researchers are attempting to perfect,

Very young chickens are immunized with small doses of the target-snake venom and as these animals grow older they develop in their blood special proteins which act as antidotes against the toxin, according to the researchers.

As the chickens become hens and start egg production, it has been found that the antivenin proteins are passed on, accumulating in the yolk. The eggs are then harvested for extraction of the proteins used to make the antidote.

The research has even garnered the endorsement of India’s most prominent animal rights activist, Maneka Gandhi,

Production of diagnostic and therapeutic products in chicken represent a refinement and reduction in animal use, and the collection of blood is replaced by extraction of antibody from egg yolk. As chickens produce larger amounts of antibodies, there is a reduction in the number of animals we need to use.

Source:

Poultry eggs may yield snake antivenin, experts say. Pallava Bagla, National Geographic News, February 11, 2003.