There is no connection between horse slaughter and neglect, said the president of the Equine Welfare Alliance.
John Holland said he has heard the argument many times – closing U.S. horse slaughter plants has led to more cases of abuse and neglect across the United States.
He said any increase in documented and anecdotal cases of horse neglect in the U.S. is connected to the dismal state of the American economy.
“We actually did a study on the number of cases of abuse and neglect in the States versus the unemployment rate and found that they were directly linked,” said Holland of Virginia.
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“When you have high unemployment, you have more abuse and neglect. Slaughter doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
In a paper posted on the Alliance’s website, Holland dismissed the argument that horse neglect has increased because the governments of Illinois and Texas closed the remaining U.S. horse slaughter plants in 2007.
Horse slaughter declined in the U.S. in 1999, dropping to 77,000 in 2002 from 377,000 horses annually. But during that severe cutback in slaughter, there was no related increase in cases of neglect.
When he looked at data on horse neglect in Illinois and the rate of unemployment in the state, there was a clear correlation. The number of cases of neglect jumped to more than 600 by 2008 from approximately 450 in 2006. At the same time the state’s unemployment rate also spiked, going to 5.5 percent from 4.5.
Holland said that fewer horses have been slaughtered in North America in recent years but that decline is related to the state of the world economy.
Before the closure of the plants in Texas and Illinois, 10,000 to 14,000 horses were slaughtered each month in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Following the U.S. closures, the number of horses slaughtered each month in North America remained at those levels, because Canadian and Mexican plants increased capacity.
Numbers sagged in 2009, dropping to 8,000 to 10,000 per month. That decline is explained by the global economic crisis and decreased demand for meat.
Holland’s position does not satisfy Frank Niceley, a representative in the state legislature in Tennessee.
Niceley, who put forward a bill earlier this year to encourage horse slaughter in the state, said cases of neglect have jumped sharply in Tennessee due to the lack of horse slaughter in the U.S.
Niceley’s bill attracted criticism from horse lovers across the U.S., including Willie Nelson, who wrote an opinion piece inThe Tennesseancondemning horse slaughter.
Niceley believes a humane horse slaughter plant simply satisfies demand for horse meat in Japan, Europe and elsewhere.
“The whole world is wanting to buy horse meat and here we are, we desperately need exports, and we won’t sell. Horse meat is $20 per pound in Europe and we got it and we’re burying it over here.”
