Horse Abuse

Hill's Pet Nutrition used to be called "Hill Packing Company" here in Topeka, Kansas (I remember it as "Hill's Packing Company"). Turned horses into dogfood. Sad, but I think that's just the way it was back then. I wrote a letter to the editor about it when I was about nine as they were still slaughtering horses here until the 1960s. This is still painful to think about. From Google: "By the 1930s, the company was known as the Hill Packing Company, processing approximately 500 horses per week to make dog food... During the 1920s and 30s, with the rapid rise of tractors on farms, old farm horses were frequently sent to slaughter to be repurposed into dog food." The company began as "'Hill Rendering Works' in 1907, founded by Burton Hill, which was contracted to dispose of dead, lame, and disabled animals in Topeka." My grandpa used to take me to horse sales and he bought horses from these sales for us to ride, but looking back, I bet people were buying them for slaughter there too. It's sad the way horses have been abused throughout history and are still being abused. What got me started on this was something I saw on Facebook about a law in New York making it illegal to slaughter horses there. I thought it was already illegal to slaughter horses anywhere in the United States and that all slaughtering mills had been shut down. Someone had said in the comments the states still decide about whether or not it is illegal to slaughter horses for pet food, it's just illegal nationally to slaughter them for human consumption. But that doesn’t stop them from being shipped to Canada or Mexico for slaughter. I don't know enough about this to be saying anything really, because all I really know for sure is what little I know about Hill's. Here's another note from Google: "Hill Packing Co. (1970s): According to historical accounts from workers, Hill Packing Company ceased horse slaughter in the early 1970s. This cessation is generally associated with the passage of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971." "The Final Illinois Closure (2007): The last remaining horse slaughterhouse in the U.S. (Cavel International in DeKalb, Illinois) was closed following Illinois state legislation passed in May 2007 (signed by Gov. Blagojevich), which banned the slaughter of horses for human consumption." This leaves open the question about the legality of selling horses for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. This is apparently still going on, and I imagine it would be very hard to enforce. I also believe there is quite a bit of this going on. On horse groups on social media and elsewhere it is quite common to hear the term "kill pens," and the pleas from horse lovers to donate to their rescue operation. The problem is there are a lot of people who are for horse slaughter because they think it's a good way to control the wild horse population. They think it's better than "leaving them to starve." The bottom line is I am not sure this is the most cut and dried issue right now. A lot of people seem to think it's a great idea to slaughter horses. I am also pretty sure that back in the 60s and 70s it was probably just the norm to dispose of horses this way after they were old, whereas today it is more likely to have them euthanized if they are very ill or feeble. And I can't imagine anything more horrible and inhumane that sentencing a horse to slaughter, and yet...slaughter is how we get our steaks and hamburgers and think nothing of it--or little of it, I guess I should say. I never owned a horse but my paternal grandfather was a real horseman and I did ride as a child. That's all I really know about it. I just have a feeling that was how Grandpa's horses ended up. I mean after they died, they probably went there, maybe not just because they were used up. I do remember "the night Smokey died," so my sense is that Grandpa tried to keep them until they died naturally but I cannot swear to it. Just another mystery of life I may one day know about. I also think I may have eaten horsemeat in Mexico when I was there because there was something about it that didn't seem quite right. In fact, I would almost say I'm sure I probably ate it in Mexico. Meanwhile, I'm now going to go watch "The Black Stallion" on TubiTV. Goodnight.