Debunking Common Myths About Horse Slaughter and the Protection of America’s Wild Horses and Burros

Source:  One Green Planet

By Susan Wagner, Equine Advocates and Carol Walker, Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Since 2007, when the last horse slaughterhouse operating in this country closed its doors, attempts by special interest groups in ranching, oil and gas, mining, and the gun lobby, to return this repulsive and unpopular practice to U.S. soil have been made at every opportunity. Fortunately, they’ve failed. Horse slaughter proponents love to claim that slaughter is a form of humane euthanasia. Nothing could be further from the truth. Regardless, slaughtering horses for food goes against our very culture, which is why they are not bred for that purpose and never will be.

Equines are routinely given drugs that are banned in animals bred for human consumption, including Phenybutasone or “Bute,” the most common medication administered to equines. Bute is an anti-inflammatory drug and the subject of a 2010 landmark study (Marini-Dodman), which documented…