From: ckw0@aber.ac.uk (Carl Keri Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: Slaughter
Date: 9 Oct 92 13:17:43 GMT
Organization: University of Wales, Aberystwyth

Near Bristol in the UK there is an export licenced slaughter house which 
offers a really good service to horse owners.  I have never used it myself,
but my mother in law has, and I went there once with a group of horses where 
one was to be put down and the other two (including  the one I was with) 
carried on to the nearby veterinary college.
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Nothing terribly gruesome follows, but you may not wish to read it...
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There was a queue of trailers and horseboxes waiting their turn, and each horse
was brought out by it's owner and either handed to one of the employees or 
was held throughout by it's owner, whichever the owner preferred.  The only 
horses to be be seen were ones bought in from local markets which were in large
communal pens happily stuffing themselves with hay (most of them looked like it
was the first they had seen in a long time!) but presumably these were only
dealt with after all the privately owned horses had been put down.  There was 
no smell at all to the place, and all the horses that I saw being unloaded 
seemed to think they were going to a show and were quite happy throughout.  
They were unloaded into a small yard and then led in to what looked like a large
stable.  The person holding the captive-bolt gun was already in position and 
would wait until the horse was inside and shoot it usually as the horse looked 
round to see what was going on outside, so he never had any idea what was about 
to happen.  After the horse was shot a door would open into the processing 
area behind and the carcasse would be moved.  Vets are present throughout and 
if there has been any long-standing problem which was never sorted out, they 
will do an on-the-spot post mortem eamination to try to find out what the cause
was.  The  floor area is swilled out and swept before the next horse is 
unloaded so there is no smell of blood.  

The carcasses are exported to the continent for meat, and the owner 
receives a fair meat price for the horse, or he has the option of nominating 
one of the popular horse or animal welfare charities to receive the money.

I doubt I would ever use the place myself, but it does seem to offer a much 
needed service to owners of unsound horses.  At least you know what has 
happened to the horse, and there is no chance of his suffering a lingering 
end in an unsuitable home somewhere which might happen if you sold him on.

Is there anywhere like this in the States, or anywhere else in the world?  Or 
is this just a sop to horse loving Brits?  (as opposed to the Brits who don't 
give a damn what happens to their horses, there are plenty of those sort here,
too...)

-- 
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|  would have given us jobs..."  ...                  | ckw0@uk.ac.aber.cs    |
| "Sign on you crazy diamond" - Half man half biscuit |      tardis ?         |
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