The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.-Mahatma Ghandi
Horse Racing is DEAD! No one attends because the Racing audience is dying.
Yet there is pretense among politicians - even the Predatory Gambling legislation passed on Beacon Hill included taxpayer subsidies for the horse racing industry.
Gary Piontowski, small owner of Plainridge in Plainville pronounced the gazillion 1099 forms for racetrack sub-contractors.
Few noticed that those are not FULL TIME employees with benefits.
Few noticed that the track hasn't made $$$ and is subsidized, salivating for Slot Machines - taxpayer subsidies.
Horse racing should be allowed to die a peaceful death, much like the 8 track tape.
While horse slaughterhouses were banned in the U.S. in 2007, they are very much active in Canada. More than 100,000 horses, about 70% of them from the U.S., are being killed each year at Canadian slaughterhouses. Closing racetracks would push that number much higher.
Horse meat is shipped to Europe and Asia but you can find it in restaurants much closer to home.
The announcement to end the slots-at-racetracks program, which had been in place for more than a decade, came with words like “subsidy,” then “secret subsidy.” The Liberals said they were protecting health care, all-day kindergarten and care for our elderly.
It’s all a big pile of manure.
The slots program generates $1.1 billion annually for the OLG. Soon enough, there will be no money going back to the Ontario horse racing industry. It will be a bloody mess.
Years ago, on some nights the grandstand would be packed with fans watching the racing. On this night, there are maybe 100 people, clutching their racing programs, in the grandstand. They worry about things like exactors and triactors. A couple hundred more, maybe, are watching from the restaurant, digging into the $19.99 all-you-can-eat buffet.
From:
Trouble ahead for Ontario horse racing, trainer fears
As of December 2007, approximately 45,000 horses had been shipped to Mexico, compared to the 11,000 shipped in 2006. That’s a 310% increase in the number of horses shipped to Mexico to be slaughtered for human consumption.
The sad thing is that, not all of the horses are just old, sick or un-manageable horses. A lot of them are PMU horses and Nurse mare foals. Some of them are even back-yard pets, that have been stolen, strictly to make a buck or simply due to the over abundance of breeding horses.
There are basically two types of horse slaughter houses in Mexico. Municipal plants, that process for local consumption, and clandestine facilities. These are not regulated facilities. They are basically butcher shops with no regulation of how the horses are handled or euthanized.
IMPORTANT UPDATE! New statistics show that in 2010 there were over 112,000 horses slaughtered in North America. Approximately 53,000 in Mexico and 60,000 in Canada. For more information on this you should read this report from the Government Accountability Office.
I am going to be totally honest here. I have spent many a sleepless night, worrying about how I was going to write about the subject of horse slaughter. The thought of any animal suffering makes me sick.
I love my horses with all my heart, and I cannot imagine giving one of them up for slaughter. I would rather have them humanely euthanized, rather than to think that one of them might suffer, in order for someone overseas to dine on horse meat.
http://www.greenhorn-horse-facts.com/horse-slaughter.html
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