You want pommes frites with that?
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I am sick to death of the pro-horse-slaughter people decrying the demise of the foreign-owned horse-slaughterhouses that provide horsemeat for human consumption in Europe and other locales (HCN, 4/30/07). The best argument that these people can rally is to point out the prohibitive cost of euthanizing an animal that is no longer useful, or keeping it until it dies a natural death. In isolated cases such as these, wouldn’t the cash-poor farmer or rancher just be better off shooting old Dobbin in the head? It sounds barbaric and cruel, but this is a quick and acceptable form of euthanasia. This method is commonly used in Britain, where veterinarians are some of the only licensed handgun possessors (specifically for euthanizing horses and cattle). A large-caliber handgun bullet costs approximately $3, so cost is no longer an issue. There is no “carcass that has been saturated with a toxic substance” left over.
And it is far more humane than subjecting a horse to the auction process, the long truck ride, and the final indignity of ending up on a Frenchman’s plate.
Serena Carlson
> Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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