Black Hills Group Pushing For Return Of Horse Slaughter For Humane Reasons

By Matt Hunter

It was earlier this year when local thoroughbred breeder Dale Simanton was called to a neighbor's farm to look at a horse the owner believed to have colic, a potentially fatal disease.

"I went down to look at the horse and told him this horse isn't sick, he's starving to death," Simanton says.

Simanton says the animal was one of several on the property that were unfed and malnourished.  One had already starved to death and another bled to death because it was too weak to stand up and escape from dogs that chewed its hind-end.  Simanton later went back to the property with the Butte County Sheriff and agreed to purchase the remaining horses.

Simanton believes the owner did not have the financial wherewithal to properly care for the horses.  Three of them were purchased at auction for a combined $10.00 after failing to generate bids individually.

The story mirrors that of the farm in New Underwood where authorities found several dead and starving horses in December.

"It's not a pretty situation and it's been created by people who don't care about a horse," Simanton says.

Horse abuse and neglect is a growing problem locally and nationwide.  Three cases were reported in Pennington County in 2008, up from none the year before. 

While the issue has been made worse by the recession, many feel Congress created the problem in 2006 when it banned horse slaughter in the U.S., leading to a spike in the horse population.

"No market works without some kind of floor, some kind of bottom in the market," American Horse League CEO Chase Adams says.  "When we got rid of the horse processing option here in the United States, we lost the bottom in the market.  That in-turn rippled across the market and now we've got more abuse and neglect than ever before.  We see this as a humane alternative to basically restore our market."

Two months ago, the American Horse League was formed in Sturgis with the primary goal of legalizing horse slaughter within the United States.  It's estimated nearly 100,000 horses are shipped across the Mexican and Canadian borders to be slaughtered each year.  That's led to talk on Capitol Hill of making it illegal to transfer horses across the border.

While groups like PETA and Americans Against Horse Slaugher believe slaughter is inhumane, American Horse League members believe the current system, which leads to more starving horses, is worse.

"The fact of the matter is that we are the animal welfare folks, we are the ones that don't want to see any animal suffer, any abuse, any neglect," Adams says.  "We want to make sure that we've got the options in place both here in the state and across the country to ensure that happens."

"It's not whether or not these horses live or die but how they live and how they die," Simanton says. "Starving to death or having dogs eat you up is no way I'd want to die."

On Sunday Simanton brought one of the rescued horses to the St. Onge Livestock Auction.  A rollover auction was held, where bidders continuously bid on the horse without obtaining ownership.  The $2,500 raised will benefit the American Horse League, however, Simanton and Adams say the real goal is to raise awareness.

"If we had our slaughter houses here, at least the USDA could keep an eye on them and make sure things are done humanely," Simanton says.  "This is not an inhumane business, but it is a business."

Alternatives to slaughter are euthanasia or sending a horse to a rescue farm, however, vet and burial fees are expensive and most American rescue farms are full to capacity and struggling financially.

The effort to legalize slaughterhouses is supported by the South Dakota Legislature.  In 2008 lawmakers overwhelmingly supported a resolution supporting the legalization of slaughterhouses in America.

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