Illegal Horse butchering

[Catherine]

Just when you thought you had heard it all, something weird and horrible comes along.
Horse meat is expensive in Florida so they are stealing horses and butchering them. That is bad enough, but they are actually cutting the meat from horses while they are still alive.
http://www.newsofthehorse.com/2015/3-yea...red-in-fl/

These beautiful horses don't deserve this treatment. No animal does. I just hope they can find the people who do this and stop them.

How do they know where to find the right horses?

I think I would want a big guard dog if I had a horse.

[Tobi]

Oh how horrific! It's unbelievable that anyone would do this to a creature while it was still alive. That poor horse.

[Catherine]

I can't imagine what person would do this. I would be horrified to find that it was a neighbour or worse a friend. Someone must know these people.
Who buys meat like that.

I hope they can catch them.

[Tobi]

Where they sell the meat, there may be no questions asked. I know there is a lot of deer-poaching goes on in a beautiful and very large woodland near where I live. The poachers come at night apparently. It is hard to catch them, and I have never seen them. I am sure they sell the meat all packaged up, perhaps even to friends and neighbours, so people won't even ask questions. Or maybe it is sold to a local butcher...?
Unfortunately, money still rules some people more than wanting to avoid any animal cruelty....

[Catherine]

Lots of people and some types of stores will buy meat or other goods without asking too many questions. As long as there is a market the poachers will want to do it. They need to stop the sale of horse meat.

Some of the meat wouldn't be safe. Racehorses are often given medications that are not safe for human consumption. Those meds would be in the meat.

I would definitely want to lock the gate, get a dog and set traps to catch poachers. Maybe they could shift animals around an have a bull in the area that would get to the poachers first.

[Catherine]

Quote:I'm not understanding why they need to do this. I thought horse meat was legal in the US?
Just a case of them being cruel to profit black market?

I think horse meat is legal in the USA. It is a matter of poaching and illegal butchering. They steal a horse and then they commit acts of animal cruelty.

These are people who don't want to pay for the meat and who would never be given a licence to kill a horse legally.