Disclosure: This blog has been put together for a school project.
Have you ever thought about how a prey animal sees the world? They are hypersensitive to minute details around them, many of which humans are completely oblivious to. In order to survive in the wild, these animals had to be sensitive to details and changes in their environment. It remains pure instinct for them to be afraid.
The first minute of the video below shows and explains the main elements of how a prey animal's mind works. Although this woman (Grandin) uses a herd of cows to perform her demonstration, horses are flight animals as well, and think and act very much the same as cows do in similar instances.
Dr. Temple Grandin is well known for her connection with prey animals, particularly with cows. She believes her connection comes from her ability to see their point of view, due to her severe case of autism that she was diagnosed with when she was a small child. Her condition causes her to have "sensory sensitivities," which enables her to relate to how a flight animal thinks and processes the world. She describes prey animals as "curiously afraid," an accurate description of how the cattle react to her.
Grandin explains in this video that even small things, such as a mispositioned light or flagging tape on a rail, can create panic in an animal. In her developments of cattle chutes and livestock loading systems, she expresses how important proper curves and non-slip flooring is to a good system. More information on her designs can be found at her website, http://www.grandin.com.
After absorbing all of this information, it leaves me thinking - unless regulations are put on horse breeding facilities, overpopulation of horses will always exist in North America. That raises my first point: could regulations be put on breeding operations to avoid the issue? Breeding operations exist where foals are mass produced, only to be sold for "a dime a dozen" (Quarter Horses in particular). If this overbreeding stopped happening, would horse slaughter be eliminated, or at least minimized, in North America? In turn, would that eliminate the need for horse rescue?
If horse slaughter is a necessary evil, however, what if Dr. Grandin's systems and management theories were implemented in horse slaughterhouses? I disagree with horse slaughter simply because they are not raised for those intentions, and North Americans do not even make up the primary market for horsemeat (most of it is exported overseas). But the treatment of these animals is the real kicker. If proper care was taken to ensure these animals are not frightened during the process, would it make it better?
Have you ever thought about how a prey animal sees the world? They are hypersensitive to minute details around them, many of which humans are completely oblivious to. In order to survive in the wild, these animals had to be sensitive to details and changes in their environment. It remains pure instinct for them to be afraid.
The first minute of the video below shows and explains the main elements of how a prey animal's mind works. Although this woman (Grandin) uses a herd of cows to perform her demonstration, horses are flight animals as well, and think and act very much the same as cows do in similar instances.
Dr. Temple Grandin is well known for her connection with prey animals, particularly with cows. She believes her connection comes from her ability to see their point of view, due to her severe case of autism that she was diagnosed with when she was a small child. Her condition causes her to have "sensory sensitivities," which enables her to relate to how a flight animal thinks and processes the world. She describes prey animals as "curiously afraid," an accurate description of how the cattle react to her.
Grandin explains in this video that even small things, such as a mispositioned light or flagging tape on a rail, can create panic in an animal. In her developments of cattle chutes and livestock loading systems, she expresses how important proper curves and non-slip flooring is to a good system. More information on her designs can be found at her website, http://www.grandin.com.
After absorbing all of this information, it leaves me thinking - unless regulations are put on horse breeding facilities, overpopulation of horses will always exist in North America. That raises my first point: could regulations be put on breeding operations to avoid the issue? Breeding operations exist where foals are mass produced, only to be sold for "a dime a dozen" (Quarter Horses in particular). If this overbreeding stopped happening, would horse slaughter be eliminated, or at least minimized, in North America? In turn, would that eliminate the need for horse rescue?
If horse slaughter is a necessary evil, however, what if Dr. Grandin's systems and management theories were implemented in horse slaughterhouses? I disagree with horse slaughter simply because they are not raised for those intentions, and North Americans do not even make up the primary market for horsemeat (most of it is exported overseas). But the treatment of these animals is the real kicker. If proper care was taken to ensure these animals are not frightened during the process, would it make it better?
It depends on what you define as "better." If we refer to better as being how we morally feel about the practice, then you must ask who. Is it about how we, who are outside the business and practice, feel about it? Or about how the people running the slaughter facilities feel about it? Either way, feeling better about it doesn't translate into profit. The facility owners will fight tooth and nail because of that.
ReplyDeleteBut, is "better" more about the effect fear has on the rest of the group and on the quality of the meat itself? This would be interesting resesrch that could result in fulfilling moral improvement and profit improvement. The research remains to be compiled to find out...
Hi, forgot to sign off on that last post.
ReplyDeleteKen
I agree that people "feeling better" about it doesn't translate into profit, and that facility owners would fight having their profits reduced or eliminated. However, stressed cattle running in and out of chutes are unable to put on weight as fast as those who don't burn off the extra calories. Panicked prey animals have a tendency to run, and also have a tendency to be hard to handle and control. (Dr. Grandin talks about that in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWqN1T5b-b4&feature=related, around 3:00.)
ReplyDeleteThat leads to another point: a relatively obvious perk of humane handling (that a surprising number of people don't think of) is bruising. The quality of meat can't possibly be as good if the livestock are being bashed to and fro against gates, panels, trucks, and the works. If these animals are under stress, the rate of bruising would undoubtedly go up from livestock running into things. On top of this, stressed animals that don't gain weight don't have as much fat to protect them when they do hit a pole.
I personally have had enough experience loading horses into trailers to know how a scared animal reacts when they feel "squeezed" from all four sides, and at times it is not pretty. When you back up and take a minute to calm down and look through the horse's eyes, things tend to go a lot smoother.
Really, I believe that humane handling is beneficial more than just to the animals. It also makes us moral folks "feel better," and slaughter profits have been shown to increase.
More research on the humane handling / meat quality topic is compiled here: http://grandin.com/meat/hand.stun.relate.quality.html.
So if I understand correctly, the main concerns raised are that a) proper regulations have not been put in place to curtail excessive breeding leading to an over abundance of horses, and b) that the horses do not receive proper and humane care when taken to the slaughterhouses.
ReplyDeleteAs to the first issue, I would adamantly agree that if unnecessary slaughter is taking place, breeding regulations should be put in place at once.
As for the second issue, though I do not doubt for an instance that proper care is not always taken, specific examples of this treatment would help support the argument in that the uninformed majority doesn't simly have to take your word for it so to speak. From the video we see that cows are 'curiously afraid', but we do not see how horses are actually treated in slaughter houses.
As the previous reader inquired, I am also curious what you meant with 'would it make it better'? I assume you are pointing out that even if we did take better care with horses at the slaughter houses, they are still being killed, humanely or not, and that this is a moral issue on its own.
Interesting read, was not aware the extent of over breeding in north america among horses.
Good points. As a horse person, I've known about the processes that happen within the slaughterhouses, and sometimes forget that those outside the horse-world might not know about it.
ReplyDeleteThis CBC investigation ( http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2010/05/17/f-horse-slaughter.html ) illustrates the processes quite well, using hidden cameras inside the plants. Interestingly enough, Dr. Temple Grandin is the featured expert in the video (I didn't know that when I looked for it).
With my "would it make it better" comment, I was really just opening up the opportunity for others to think about the morality of it all. I really don't know how horse slaughter can be made "better," simply because I could never imagine eating it. Horses in North America aren't raised for the purpose of human consumption, and it is just the "excess," unwanted population of horses that go for meat. Sending your unaffordable or no-longer-wanted pets through an auction to be picked up by "kill buyers" is, to me, even more immoral than simply shooting them. Most of the meat is shipped overseas, anyway, which makes it look like horse slaughter is a mere economical process. Perhaps that is why inhumane practices are used so frequently?
In any case, I do greatly respect the works of Dr. Grandin, and believe she has made a breakthrough, at least in the world of cows. Horses could potentially be a more difficult industry to break, but I do think it can and will be done eventually.
The way I see it, I don't believe we are talking about the morality issues surrounding cattle slaughtering. In North America cattle are bred to be slaughtered and eaten and that's the way its been for a very, very long time. Horses, in North America, on the other hand have never been 'farmed' for this reason and are being slaughtered for a different reason (at least to the extent of my knowledge). The question i would like to pose is why is there a difference in the issues of slaughtering one animal from the next?
ReplyDeleteI typed 'horse meat' into wikipedia's search engine and found this interesting quote:
"For the majority of mankind's early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein.[1][2] It is slightly sweet, tender, low in fat and high in protein.[3]
However, because of the role horses have played as companions and as workers, and concerns about the ethics of the horse slaughter process, it is a taboo food in some cultures. These historical associations, as well as ritual and religion, led to the development of the aversion to the consumption of horse meat. The horse is now given pet status by many in some parts of the Western world, particularly in the U.S.A. and U.K., which further solidifies the taboo on eating its meat. This avoidance and the loss of taste for it is relatively modern, although it arises out of complex historical and cultural origins."
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat
To me the moral issues people have with the killing/slaughering/mistreatment of any particular animal stem from their cultural disposition. People in India are going to have different views on cattle slaughter than those in North America because in India the cow is a sacred animal. In Laboratories across the world drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) are pushed into test tubes, literally ground into a pulp, digested in acid and spun in a high powered centrifuge. All so we can study genetics, DNA and cellular processes. You don't see a lot of tears being shed over there death, but you do here about people protesting the use of mice for laboratory experimentation. Whats the difference? My guess is it has something to do with culture and pet status.
for what its worth thats my two bits on the morality issue. I find my difficulty in discussing moral issues is that it tends to create more questions than answers.
As for the over breeding issue that is seemingly creates the controversial horse slaughter houses to begin with, Im sure stricter regulations and some sort of registration system could be implemented so that closer tabs can be kept on the horse population.
From a biochemists point of view, could breeding for the cultivation of the hormones possibly be nullified if the hormones could be produced synthetically? do we know if this is a possibility? Perhaps something to look into.
By controlling the overpopulation issue we will decrease the number of "homeless" (for lack of a better expression) horses, therefore cutting down on the number of horses available for the slaughter houses to profit from, therefore eventually running them out of business and eliminating Horse Slaughter, its controversy and the need for horse rescue as well. So yes, I do believe that one day we could do away with horse slaughter in North America.
To your question about synthetic hormones replacing those collected from these mares - the answer is YES, it CAN be done and IS done. Why these PMU farms remain in existence is beyond my knowledge (and many people's knowledge). You, as a biochemist, should read the "Why are there still PMU farms in existence?" section at www.premarin.org. You can likely make much more sense of the lingo they use there than I can.
ReplyDeleteI can see your point about cattle slaughter being "taboo" to someone in, for example, India. What I am really disagreeing with is the methods in which they kill all animals in the slaughter industry (hence why I respect Dr. Grandin's work so much). Also, North America produces the majority of its own beef for human consummation, not importing it from India. Would India even export beef to North America, knowing what their sacred animals’ fates would be? If that’s the case, why do we raise horses to ship there? Seems like purely a money making situation to me.
As for fruit fly mashing, I agree with what you mentioned about the pet status. Fruit flies aren't particularly cute and cuddly in comparison to a mouse or a horse. They do, however, have a much faster reproductive cycle than a horse (two weeks from egg to adult, as opposed to 11 months just from fertilization to birth in horses). It may not make it "better” to experiment on fruit flies morally, but is makes it much more convenient for biologists to complete studies. Also, it doesn’t take much to put a fruit fly out of its misery, rather than hanging it upside down and slitting its throat, all while the animal is still conscious.