STAFFORDSVILLE, Ky. (March 15) - The bidding for the
black pony started at $500, then took a nosedive.


Downside of Slaughter Ban?

There were no takers at $300, $200, even $100. With a
high bid of just $75, the auctioneer gave the seller
the choice of taking the animal off the auction block.
But the seller said no.

"I can't feed a horse," the man said. "I can't even
feed myself."

Kentucky, the horse capital of the world, famous for
its sleek thoroughbreds, is being overrun with
thousands of horses no one wants - some of them
perfectly healthy, but many of them starving,
broken-down nags. Other parts of the country are
overwhelmed, too.

The reason: growing opposition in the U.S. to the
slaughter of horses for human consumption overseas.

With new laws making it difficult to send horses off
to the slaughterhouse when they are no longer suitable
for racing or work, auction houses are glutted with
horses they can barely sell, and rescue organizations
have run out of room.

Some owners who cannot get rid of their horses are
letting them starve; others are turning them loose in
the countryside.

Some people who live near the strip mines in the
mountains of impoverished eastern Kentucky say that
while horses have long been left to roam free there,
the number now may be in the thousands, and they are
seeing herds three times bigger than they did just
five years ago.

"There's horses over there that's lame, that's blind,"
said Doug Kidd, who owns 30 horses in Lackey, Ky.
"They're taking them over there for a graveyard
because they have nowhere to move them."

It is legal in all states for owners to shoot their
unwanted horses, and some Web sites offer instructions
on doing it with little pain. But some horse owners do
not have the stomach for that.

At the same time, it can cost as much as $150 for a
veterinarian to put a horse down. And disposing of the
carcass can be costly, too. Some counties in Kentucky,
relying on a mix of private and public funding, will
pick up and dispose of a dead horse for a nominal fee.


The cost is much higher other places, and many places
ban the burying of horses altogether because of
pollution fears.

Sending horses off to the glue factory is not an
option anymore. Adhesives are mostly synthetic
formulations nowadays, according to Lawrence Sloan,
president of the Adhesive and Sealant Council. And
because of public opposition, horse meat is no longer
turned into dog food either, said Chris Heyde of the
Society for Animal Protective Legislation.

Eventually, anti-slaughter groups insist, the market
will sort itself out, and owners will breed their
horses less often, meaning fewer unwanted horses.

Nelson Francis, who raises gaited horses, a rare,
brawny breed found in the Appalachian mountains, said
the prices they command are getting so low, he might
have to turn some loose. He houses about 57 of them,
double his typical number.

"I can't absorb the price," Francis said. "You try to
hang on until the price changes, but it looks like
it's not going to change. ... What do I do? I've got
good quality horses I can't market because of the
has-been horse."

"Kill buyers" used to pay pennies a pound for unwanted
horses, then pack them into crowded trucks bound for
slaughterhouses that would ship the horse meat to
Europe and Asia.





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