If We Won’t Slaughter Horses Here, Why Do We Allow Them to Be Exported for Slaughter?

DefendAnimals.me | Opinion & Commentary

The United States no longer operates horse slaughterhouses processing horses for human consumption. Yet American horses can still be transported across our borders to countries where they may be slaughtered.

How does that make sense?

If we believe horse slaughter is unacceptable in this country, why should it become acceptable simply because it happens somewhere else?

The horses don’t know the difference. They still endure the transportation. They still face the slaughterhouse. And they still lose their lives.

All we’ve done is move the killing beyond our borders.

It’s a convenient distinction for policymakers to make: We don’t slaughter horses here.

But what does that statement really mean when we continue allowing horses to be shipped elsewhere for exactly that purpose?

We know what can happen to these animals. We know that long-distance transportation can expose them to overcrowding, injuries, exhaustion, and suffering. And we know what awaits horses shipped for slaughter.

So why are we passing the responsibility to another country?

If the goal is to protect horses from slaughter, the protection shouldn’t end at the American border.

Stopping domestic slaughter while permitting slaughter-bound exports doesn’t solve the underlying problem. It merely changes where the final act takes place.

The United States should address both sides of this issue: slaughter within our borders and the export of American horses for slaughter abroad.

Because animal protection should be about what happens to the animal—not simply where it happens.

DefendAnimals.net believes that protecting American horses means protecting them all the way to the end of the road, not abandoning them at the border.