If you look in the medicine closets of ANY barn you will see all the medicines clearly state... NOT TO BE USED ON ANIMALS INTENDED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.  If a horse EVER gets ONE does of Bute it is supposed to be BANNED FROM SLAUGHTER FOR LIFE and yet horses in the USA are STILL HEADED TO SLAUGHTER WITH THIS AND OTHER CONTROLLED AND BANNED SUBSTANCES IN THEM.  Bute is as common as asprin is to people in the horseworld.  It is NOT just racehorses... NOT THAT THAT SEEMS TO MATTER since it is the fit and healthly racehorses that are FILLING the slaughter houses.  That is what they want... the fit and healthy animals for slaughter.  THEY DONT TAKE SKINNY HORSES... what do the slaughter people do with them??? THEY TURN THEM LOOSE IN THE DESERT AND BLAME IT ON PEOPLE  LIKE US THAT WANT SLAUGHTER STOPPED.  this is what is happening right now.  The horses that were saved from the overturned tractor trailer in Tenn?  THEY ARE HEADED TO SLAUGHTER NOW if they are even still alive.  By now they are probally dead...  this must stop.   this is wrong...  this is heartless... this is dangerous to those who eat it.... and how can anyone deny that?

The Doctors need to blow the lid off this dirty secret that our government has turned a knowing blind eye over. While we ship drug filled horses to be slaughtered. We are poisoning innocent people around this globe.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.equinewelfarealliance.org%2Fuploads%2FFood_and_Chemical_Toxicology_FINAL.pdf&h=rAQGZBHaLAQHsLMXNiiCz-L4j28SompyafRnHLNnLtB_KGA     Please read for yourself about how toxic horse meat is.  Why risk lives?  Why put horses through a process that they can not be sucessfully stunned unconscious in?  Why is this allowed at all?   $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I really hope that your show will be able to bring to light the toxins that are in our horse meat here in America. These horses are going to a very brutal death. Horse slaughter is in no way humane. Please educate your audience on this very important subject.

Why are people eating horse meat?   Slaughter more animals??  Don't we do that enough??  Well I'm a small majority that will contribute to this.  I only eat seafood and chicken.  I hope they don't pass the law.  I think PETA should get involved.

Are you kidding me? As doctors, you must be aware that one of the number one causes of food borne illness outbreaks is purchasing from unsafe sources. What can be more unsafe than using our food chain as a dumping ground for animals that have not been raised to be food. Again, you must be aware that the FDA classifies horses as companion animals. Because of this classification, no drug withdrawl studies have been done. You cannot extrapolate the numbers from other species either. If you look at the average tackroom, over 95% of all supplements, fly sprays, medicines, wormers etc are labled "not for use in horses intended for human consumption". In other words, any animals recieving these items should not be eaten by humans because they are not being raised as food animals. If they are not being raised to be food, they should not be in the food chain.. What part of this is a mystery? With chemically contaminated foods, no amount of cooking , washing or preparation will remove the hazard. You are what you eat.  Many other commenters have discussed "bute". That is one drug we do know what it does to humans- and it was pulled from the shelves as unsafe after causing deaths in some users. Even 50 years ago they recognized that bute was not good for humans and had the sense to pull it. The European Union recognizes it and has designated horses as either athletes or food. Horses designated as food must have every drug, supplement etc they are given tracked. No banned or questionable drugs may be given to horses with the food designation.  I hope you reconsider your position encouraging people to go out and eat horsemeat. Horses in the US are not raised to be food. They should not be in our food supply.

AngelaB- Sadly, PETA has said too much. They made a comment that they would rather see horses slaughtered here in America vs Canada or Mexico. However, just because having slaughter plants in the US won't eliminate horses going to Canada or Mexico or even Japan (live foals are shipped there for slaughter).  PETA has caused more problems with this rather then solutions, but HSUS is involved and has done some radio talks, but we need people to call their state senators (bill S.1176) and house reps (HR2966) and ask them to cosponsor and support them.

A viewpoint from a horse enthusiast and an agriculturist:

Right now horses heading to slaughter in the United States must be shipped elsewhere where the regulations prior to and during the slaughter process are not as strict as ours were here in the U.S. This also adds extra, unnecessary time in the trailer for these horses.

There is an abundance of unwanted horses for multiple reasons. Some reasons are due to financial reasons. Horses are expensive to just maintain their basic needs alone. Sick/injured/lame horses are more reasons as well as horses unable to sell, usually due to a health problem(s) or those animals for whatever reason are a danger to themselves, other animals, or humans. It could be a combination of these reason.

Educating people on the proper care of horses would potentially cut down on the number of unwanted horses sent to slaughter. Currently our Land Grant Universities have extension problems that offer a wealth of information to horse producers. Caring for horses, as with any animal, takes time and money. Also, information on when to breed and not breed your horse would help, too and much of this information is available to horse owners. However, the owner holds the ultimate decision regarding the care of their animal. 

I encourage everyone to look at both sides of the argument and get facts in order to make a sound, educated stance on the horse slaughter issue, whatever your ultimate opinion might be.

Thank you.

With all do respect, Amanda, first and foremost, do you realize that for a horse in my area to go to any of the plants previously open in the states it would be the same/close distant to the closest feedlot and then they'd be onto a slaughter house in Canada or Mexico?? Also, do you realize that even with slaughter houses here, horses will still be going to Canada and Mexico for slaughter because it's where the Kill Buyer has their contract?? Your points are invalid because they only state that if we had them open and if you lived in the West or within a 6hr drive to a slaughter house then it would be a short distant. However that is not the case for many people, especially those of us in California or the East coast. Anything over 28 hours with no food or water is what the USDA considers "against the rules," yet they are broken all the time, and also health certificates are needed, but those are overlooked too. 

The regulations in Canada are actually very similar to the ones we had here (yet neither were/are humane), aka, one shot/hit to the head w/a captive bolt or rifle and the horse MUST BE stunned/unconscious AND unable to regain consciousness. That is Canada's rule and it was ours too, however it was followed as well as in one day 60% of the horses that were killed had to be shot 2+ times before being rendered unconscious and a couple times the shooter went into the bleed out room (against regulations, horse must be unable to regain consciousness before ending up in the bleed out room) to shoot horses that regained consciousness (this was with an inspector there and he was only to be seen at the stun box twice only on the 2nd day he was there), and one horse was shot 11 times.  This facility I'm talking about is designed by Dr. Temple Grandin, (I hope you know who she is being that you are claiming to be an agriculturist.). However for those of you that do not, she is a master at livestock, livestock slaughter and making humane slaughter plant design. That facility was all her design and even she claims slaughtering horses is not humane.

The percentage of healthy and fat horses that continually go to slaughter is 92%. That's leaving 8% that might be a little thin or injured or sick. Why would this be, oh because they do not want old, sick and thin horses (does a cattle slaughter plant take old sick or thin cattle?), they do not make much money of those ones because they do not have the desired quantity of meat.

The horses that end up stolen usually end up slaughtered (not appriopriate certificates to cross statelines let alone borders, oh they are forged, they never confirm if the horse on the forged certificate is the same horse being hauled).  There are owners that want to give their horse for free to a loving home and end up unknowingly give them to kill buyers.  That's horrible, and deceptive, aka, Predatory Market.  Most killbuyers are criminals with records (Look up Leroy Baker, for one example). I will post a link with a killbuyer's confession of lies and cruelty (stabbing horses eyes out or shooting them in the eyes with a bb gun.)There are 3 parts to this confession, I have listed the first part but the other 3 should be one the side list and viewed.  The other link is that of Dr. Temple Grandin's views on horse slaughter (though she remains neutral she does point out the same issues that we point out)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfzX4Fx5xuE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://rtfitchauthor.com/2011/01/07/pro-horse-slaughter-summit-not-happy-with-dr-grandin/

Response to animaladvocate's comments:

I agree, the way the shipping regulations were/are set up have loopholes in them. SOME people do break the laws and there should be consequences for this. We need to keep the horses comfortable and give them a break for food, water, and rest on their trip to the slaughter house. For the majority of people with horses in the United States a  slaughter plant in the U.S. would be closer than sending their horses to Canada or Mexico.

animaladvocate stated that (slaughter) regulations in Canada (not Mexico) are similar to those we had in the U.S. and that these were not followed by (USDA) standards. animaladvocate also spoke of an incident where "in one day 60% of the horses that were killed had to be shot 2+ times before being rendered unconscious and a couple of times the shooter went into the bleed out room...to shoot horses that regained consciousness...and one horse was shot 11 times." IF this is true than this would be an extreme and rare occuring case. Running a slaughter house of any kind is a business. The point of a business is to provide services to those that have a need for your services and make a profit off of the services provided. In order to have success, aka a profit, you must be as efficient and effective as possible. If ONE day there was an incident that 60% of the horses killed had to be shot twice then that's a lot of wasted time and, therefore, money. Slaughter houses need to be ran with a consistent flow through it. If one area doesn't run smooth then it backs up the rest of production. A snowball effect would take place.

animaladvocate said that "The percentage of healthy and fat horses that continually go to slaughter is 92%...leaving 8% that might be a little thin or injured or sick." Like I stated before there's more than one reason for having a horse go to slaughter. Yes, some are sick or injured but some other reasons are due to financial issues that the owner may be having or the horse is of some kind of danger to themselves, other animals, or humans. People are willing to give their horses away to a good home but the truth is that so many people cannot afford the basic care for a horse. Horses are considered, in the vast majority of circumstances, as hobby animals. In financially hard times hobbies are usually the first to go. 

I agree with animaladvocate that cattle going to slaughter yeild a high percentage of meat. This is what they've been raised for (although slaughter houses utilize almost every bit of the animal for some purpose). Horses are not raised like cattle or other livestock. They are not created and born FOR slaughter. They are sent to slaughter because all other options for the horse have been exhausted and it's the most humane thing to do for the horse.

I will admit that slaughter is not a "pretty" thing. Is it ideal for the horse? No. But it sure beats allowing the animal to suffer in pain and/or starve to death. It would, however, be ideal that every horse owner always had the finances to care for a horse and the knowledge to know when their horse's quality of life was no longer well enough to justify keeping the horse alive and humanely euthanizing the horse and having the resources to dispose of the body afterward. The reality is that not all horses live in a green pasture with a red barn and a cool creek running through it and plenty of room to run. Some people get wrapped up in the emotional picture that slaughter paints in their minds and they can't bare the thought of these beautiful creatures ending thier lives with slaughter. So yet again people put thier emotional needs before the animals well being in thinking they're doing the horse a "favor" to let it suffer for weeks, months, even years at a time until their bodies give out. A day or two to and through the slaughter house is a lot less uncomfortable to the horse than prolonged suffering.

A piece of advice for everyone: When researching facts to develop an educated opinion check the source of your information, especially one's posted on the internet. See who posted the web comment or developed the web site. Check to see what individuals or organizations, if any, sponsor the web site(s) and then investigate those sources further.

Thank you.

Horses are not cattle. Cattle are raised and handled in groups for their entire lives. They’re processed through lanes and chutes on a regular basis to get fly tags, vaccinations, etc. In the chute their head and neck are restrained while the process is applied then they’re released. They get used to standing in the chute and waiting. The lane to the kill box is familiar to them. They’re easily restrained and easily stunned on the first attempt. Most plants have at least 97% stun on first shot with cattle. Humane standard is 95% on first shot.

Horses are trained to be lead and to trust us. They’re flight animals who scare easily, and panic when confined. We LEAD them and talk to them getting them to trust and FOLLOW us. Being pushed from behind, through the lane to the kill box is frightening to them. Electric prods are often used to get them to go forward. This reinforces their fear and many are terrified by the time they reach the kill box. Horses are head shy and with a long flexible neck, can’t be restrained like cattle, so the captive bolt often misses its mark on the first try. Then you have a horse in extreme pain due to a hole in its skull. He’s in terror as the captive bolt is brought to his head again, so he fights even harder. If he is lucky one of the next few attempts will hit its mark. If he is not so lucky he will eventually collapse in agony and the stunner will dump him out, still conscious, to be strung up and have his throat slit. The worker who slits the throat often wears chest protector and helmet because it is not uncommon for horses to come to and start thrashing wildly. Historically US horse plants struggled to reach 90% stun on the first shot. The state-of-the-art plant in Canada is getting no better results and often much worse.

Yes, we eat meat in this country, but we don’t torture animals in the process.

First of all lets clear up some very common misconeptions.  

1.  Horse slaughter is not humane,  nor is it humane euthanasia. Just take a look at the 906 page document by the USDA showing pages and pages of abuse.  
2.  The FDA classifies the horse as a companion animal
3. People think slaughter is no longer an option and that American horses are no longer being slaughtered.  Wrong!  Approx 138,000 + horses are being trucked across the border.  This option never stopped being available.  It just isn't happening on U.S. Soil. (that WAS one stop in the right direcdtion)
4. One HUGE misconception is that horse slaughter on U.S. soil will solve all the problems of abused, neglected and abandoned horses.  And that the cessastion of horse slaughter on American soil is what caused  this problem to begin with.  Well that is WRONG too. Why?
   •  as noted in number 3 horse slaughter is still an option that can be utilized 
   •  Abandonement, abuse and neglect will not stop just because horses are slaughtered on U.S. soil.  That option is still available.  Canada that has slaughter on their soil still has a huge problem with this issue.  Look at dogs and cats.  They can be taken to shelters, pounds and resuces but they are still abused, abandoned and neglected.  Anyone who is going to behave in this manner will do so whether or not slaughter is an option anywhere.
   • What is causing difficulties with horse owners is the ecomony, drought, and export of hay.  

This video was shot in July 2011...Horse slaughter is not and never will be humane.

http://www.rtfitchauthor.com/2011/12/04/pasture-to-plate-congressional-christmas-gift-to-the-u-s/