Judge tosses out lawsuit brought by HSUS

[Faster horses]

A Judge in Albuquerque threw out a lawsuit that would block slaughterhouses from killing horses for human consumption.


District Judge Christina Armijo tossed the horsemeat lawsuit which was put forward by The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups.

They allege that the Department of Agriculture neglected to carry out full environmental studies when it gave permits to the Valley Meat Co. to slaughter horses for humans to eat.

The landmark decision by Judge Armijo ends a two-year battle to open the horsemeat slaughterhouse. Rick De Los Santos, who owns the plant in question said he was surprised by the Judge's ruling.

Blair Dunn, the attorney for the Valley Meat Co. said: "If I were a betting man, I probably would have lost a lot of money on this. I thought the court was headed in a different direction on this since she had issued the TRO…. I am very, very happy to be wrong."

De Los Santos said that during his fight to be allowed to slaughter horses, he and his wife have received numerous death threats. There was also a suspicious fire at the meat plant last summer.

"We will have some angry people I bet. But we are doing what we are supposed to and that's it," he said.

The president and CEO of The Humane Society, Wayne Pacelle, called for congress to impose a ban on all horse slaughter in America:

"With today's court ruling and the very real prospect of plants resuming barbaric killing of horses for their meat in the states, we expect the American public to recognize the urgency of the situation and to demand that Congress take action," he said.

It remains to be seen whether or not further horsemeat lawsuits will be brought to try and block the slaughtering of horses for human consumption.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1017093/horsemeat-lawsuit-thrown-out-by-judge-now-fit-for-human-consumption/

 

[Ho55]

With hay prices being so high I know of a lot of instances people have turned their horses out on rangeland because they can't afford to keep their horses and no where to sell them. These horses end up starving to death. There needs to be a market for these kind of things.

 

[katrina]

Once we went down that slippery slope of horses being pets instead of livestock we were toast.. Took me a week and boat load of beer to get that through my head.

 

[PureCountry]

More misguided activism. It's just like hipsters with a starbucks latte in one hand and a smartphone in the other protesting the energy industries. If you really want to reduce the use of oil and gas, stop using oil and gas products.

If you really want to stop horse meat sales, try promoting common sense horse management so the population of them doesn't balloon to the point where people start finding creative ways to dispose of them. These people are so short-sighted. And to talk about this as if it's a national emergency - what a moron.

 

[katrina]

There was an article on facebook of course about so you want a horse. And it was written by a rescue outfit about how people dispose of their unwanted horses... Was really an eye opener and made me sad for days... I went back to find it but couldn't......shoot!!


Edited to add: the last step tells of euthenizing a horse because it was so lonesome for it's family...

 

[Faster horses]

There was an article on facebook of course about so you want a horse. And it was written by a rescue outfit about how people dispose of their unwanted horses... Was really an eye opener and made me sad for days... I went back to find it but couldn't......shoot!!


Edited to add: the last step tells of euthenizing a horse because it was so lonesome for it's family...

I'm glad I never read that...I love horses as much as anyone. I also
love it when they don't starve or thirst to death. We need these plants in order to dispose of horses humanely.
We also need rules and regulations in place so that the trucking to get them there is also humane. I know that there are some regulations. Are those enough? Let's get everything covered so that the HSUS doesn't keep
finding some or any reason to sue.

 

[3 M L & C]

I don't have a horse, and wouldn't consider myself a horse lover. So maybe I shouldn't weigh in here but I guess I'm going to anyway. What I don't understand is how a horse is considered that it shouldn't be slaughtered or eaten as meat like they are above that. Who is anyone to tell someone what kind of meat they should eat? I read an article a while back about some certain people who liked the meat. I can't remember who. Anyway is it because they are pets? My wife has a couple pet sheep and I know a lot of people eat them. They are t my favorite but who am I to tell them they can't eat it. Also most horses around here are just pasture art. I can catch my cows in a portable corral in the middle of the pasture easier than they can catch their horses. So what kind of pets are these horses?

 

[leanin' H]

Folks, the HSUS and other radical groups like them PREY on emotion. I love horses more than i do people. But to try and legislate and ban horse processing is simply one more step towards the ultimate goal of banning all raising and eating of all livestock!!!! Potbellied pigs are pets and shouldnt be eaten! Neither should dogs and cats. (Unless you are starving and need protein like Asian countrys and even some native Americans early in this countrys history). Now they have used emotion to get enough under-informed people and useless congress members to get horse meat and horse processing plants banned. And more ignorant people then deicde they cannot afford to feed a horse or ten and turn them lose. It adds up to a perfect storm of sillyness. I will put my horses down here after they are retired. I will probably never sell a horse for meat, human consumed or otherwise. But who the hell am I to take away that option for others? I would be aiding and abeting HSUS in their diabolical plan to simply follow my emotions and go along with horse slaughter bans! After they get horses, they will come after cattle and sheep and hogs and poultry. This is a fight to the finish and to believe otherwise is foolish. :?

 

[Soapweed]

I don't have a horse, and wouldn't consider myself a horse lover. So maybe I shouldn't weigh in here but I guess I'm going to anyway. What I don't understand is how a horse is considered that it shouldn't be slaughtered or eaten as meat like they are above that. Who is anyone to tell someone what kind of meat they should eat? I read an article a while back about some certain people who liked the meat. I can't remember who. Anyway is it because they are pets? My wife has a couple pet sheep and I know a lot of people eat them. They are t my favorite but who am I to tell them they can't eat it. Also most horses around here are just pasture art. I can catch my cows in a portable corral in the middle of the pasture easier than they can catch their horses. So what kind of pets are these horses?

That is a pertinent point, 3 M L & C, and it kind of puts things in perspective. In fact, the more I think about it, there is even humor involved. Thanks for you good honest evaluation.

 

[pups and bucks]

Wellll...I don't reckon everybody should start rounding up their cull horses yet.I would almost take bets that peta or some other outfit will find a way to get things balled up in court once again. :x

 

[tenbach79]

I seen a lot of sad situations with horses when we sold horse hay to people along the front range of Denver. Most these people would have 40 acres and 5 horses. Most these people worked in Denver and would travel 60-70 miles one way to work. And would never ride or do anything with their horses. Then would pay top dollar for hay plus the gas they burn to get to work. The last few years of selling hay to these people it was pretty clear they had no reason to own a horse and they where exactly yard art for them. I have a whole a lot of stories I could tell about some of these people. Dad always told me I should write a book about some of the things I heard and seen at some of these places.

 

[Faster horses]

All animals are VICTIMS of their owners. What happens to them, is totally
out of their control.

It's so pleasing to be a good, sane animal owner. Animals are here for our USE, not our ABUSE. Sending horses to kill plants in the USA or Canada is not abuse, (because of restrictive laws in effect) but sending those poor horses to Mexico, is abuse of the highest degree. IMO.

 

[lonewolvie]

These animal rights groups could care less about any animals, all they care about is the easy money they get from donations.