Research before writing.

Tipped off to an article that Michigan Farm News published without bothering to fact-check, it would seem.

Michigan Farm News April 15, 2007

Sleepless without a saddle
By Paul W. Jackson

Healthy horses with plenty to eat and drink produce a lifetime of service and pleasure for their owners. But at the end of their lives, they should not suffer the same gruesome fate as 69 horses - 30 of them pregnant - in Jackson County. So, did Mr. Jackson use JCAC as his only information source? Responsible journalists do not pull their "facts" from other biased news sources, they go to both sides and find out the truth. Opponents of "bad legislation" that bans horse slaughter say the proposed law will lead to more suffering.

Many of the 69 horses found starving in Jackson County were in such bad shape that animal control officer Kim Luce said in her 21 years on the job, she had "never seen anything of this magnitude."

If you have to ask how people sleep at night while 69 horses - 30 of them pregnant mares - emaciate into skeletons, it means you have a conscience, according to Jim Spink. Again, giving the impression that all 69 horses were starved ... JCAC's own photographic evidence AND vet testimony proves otherwise. Continuing the misinformation about how many are pregnant to get the public all emotional, because let's face it, BABIES make people pay attention.

After the sleep lost by farmer and police officer Spink - and many others in and around Jackson County since they witnessed the gut-wrenching sight of horses starved nearly to death, it's becoming the opinion of many veterinarians and farmers that it's unconscionable to pass legislation that will almost certainly lead to more cruel and inhumane treatment of horses.

But it's exactly what will happen - and already has begun, according to Associated Press stories (See the Lansing State Journal article "Unwanted Horses" on March 15, 2007) - as more and more Congressional co-sponsors jump on the emotional - but some say misguided - bandwagon that would legislate a ban on horse slaughter or sale of horse meat for human consumption. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't care if Bob wants to eat beef, pork, or horsemeat. I care that ALL animals intended for food are treated humanely and killed quickly. I believe that telling your neighbor what animals he may eat and which he may not isn't my place.

The sight of horses suffering in Jackson County because their owners didn't care or couldn't seek options - which no longer include slaughter - was what farm groups warned about last year, when Congress first introduced legislation to ban horse slaughter in the United States.

Sparked by an emotional and romantic image of horses and the girls who love them, along with the celebrity power of 1970s-era minor movie star Bo Derek's testimony before Congress, the legislation is back. Underwritten by a U.S. District Court judge's ruling March 28 that horse slaughter in America violates federal law, horse slaughter in the United States is effectively over even without the law. Two Texas plants had already closed in response to a court ruling, and the last U.S. horse slaughter plant - in Illinois - saw its USDA inspectors and a veterinarian pulled out, leaving no inspections to OK horse meat for human consumption, a common culinary practice in some European countries.

A fate worse than death

While no one has ever admitted to glee about slaughtering horses, the Jackson County case of animal cruelty clearly shows there is a fate worse than death, said Laura Steenrod of the Leelanau County Horse Rescue in Leland, a state-wide rescue organization that is assisting Jackson County Animal Control in dealing with the situation.

"I got involved because I'm a Jackson-area farm owner," she said. "We're already committed to spending thousands of dollars on equipment and hay and grain, because it's very expensive and very labor-intensive to operate a 69-head farm. The sad thing is that these people had alternatives, one of the worst of which was slaughter, but also, they had the alternative to turn them over to animal control anonymously, which would at least have gotten the horses fed. As it is, there is a very profound and tragic ripple effect."

Ripples have reached across the state as media reports of the horror seen at the farm spread. Feed has been donated. Money has been offered. And the thing that's the most striking, said Spink, is that it is farmers who are contributing time, feed and money.

"Farmers are coming together to help," he said. "None of the activist groups stood up to do anything." This is no surprise. Political activist groups like PeTA need to save up their money to defend terrorist bombers in court, and buy gigantic walk-in freezers to store their stacks of euthanized cats and dogs. Dig deep enough and you'll find that they want pets and domesticated livestock extinct. That little tidbit won't be in the Won't You Help Us? brochure with the cute puppy on the front, where they are asking for money to fund their "work."

It is some activist groups, however, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States that are behind House Resolution 503 and Senate bill 311, which are co-sponsored at last count by several Michigan representatives, along with Senators Levin and Stabenow.

See more views on the subject at unwantedhorse coalition.org.

While the legislation certainly strikes an emotional chord with voters who view horses as romantic icons of the nation's past, it will, in fact, lead to more situations like the one in Jackson County, said Ernie Birchmeier, livestock specialist with Michigan Farm Bureau.

"There's this law of unintended consequences that supporters of this legislation don't seem to understand," he said. "When laws are made based on emotion, they are never good laws. It's high time Congress started using sound science and common sense instead of allowing a small group of emotionally-driven zealots to determine public policy. It's time decisions are made for the good of the whole public, not just a few who don't really know what the unintended consequences are."

Veterinarians know, because many of them have to deal with neglected, starving horses, and that's why the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has made a stand against this type of law.

"We feel this legislation is detrimental to horses in the long run," said Dr. Miles Hildebrand, a Berville veterinarian, past president of the Michigan Equine Practitioners Association and a member of the AAEP. "We know the legislation is being promoted by well-intentioned people," he said, "but it's pie-in-the-sky if they think 90,000 horses can be placed with adoptive families every year. Of those horses, 20,000 would die regardless, leaving us with 70,000. But there are only an estimated 6,000 facilities in the United States that will take them, and it's an unregulated industry. If we could find homes for that many animals, fine, but by removing slaughter as an option, we force those rescue facilities to do the best they can whether they have the resources or not, and the horses ultimately will be neglected. I believe that backers of this legislation have let emotion overwhelm their reasoning, and most people who will vote on this don't have a clue about what's going on in the horse world." I agree with most of this. Emotion has overwhelmed fact throughout this whole case.

The emotional debate doesn't lead to a lot of agreement, even among those involved in horse rescue. Carol DeAngelis, who founded the Leelanau Horse Rescue, supports the slaughter ban, preferring instead to see legislation that would stop people who can't handle horse ownership from keeping them in the first place.

"I think one of the biggest problems is backyard breeding, which sometimes is how we get into these situations," she said. "We should come up with better ways to make horse owners step forward and make a commitment to the animals. I think a lot of the problem is ignorance, but I'm not convinced that slaughter will make the problem go away."

Certainly, Birchmeier said, slaughter is not and never has been the solution to ignorance or cruelty. But to force horse owners into a situation that limits a legitimate option based on nothing but emotion is akin to animal cruelty.

"What promoters of this bill don't seem to realize," he said, "is that there is ultimately an end to life. When the deputy legislative director the Society for Animal Protective Legislation says a slaughter ban gives horses a second chance at life, we wonder what kind of life they might have. Just because a horse can't be slaughtered and eaten by hungry people doesn't mean it won't die eventually, and it may suffer for the rest of its life. It's time we stop letting influences outside of agriculture dictate our livestock marketing options. The issue today is equine. What's next? It's time to fight back."

Unintended consequences

Unfortunately, said Dr. Don Ryker, a veterinarian in Ortonville with an equine specialty practice, the rabidly anti-slaughter crowd has plenty of money and isn't afraid of spending it to promote bad legislation.

"This situation in Jackson County is a perfect example of where the animal rights people have it wrong," he said. "If these animals could have been sent to slaughter, that's at least an option. That could have helped the owners get the money to cull their herd down to a number of animals that they could have handled. As it is, the neglect and starvation is a form of torture, and without the slaughter option, we're going to see more of this."

The latest reports from Jackson County are that the two men charged with 69 counts of animal neglect - James Henderson and Matthew Mercier - had been arrested and released on bond and had already petitioned the court to reinstate their ownership of the animals. If that does not happen, the Leelanau Horse Rescue will not sleep until it helps Jackson County Animal Control find responsible homes for them. Cough, gag. Responsible homes? According to witnesses at the first auction in Napoleon, from 3 to 6 horses went to known slaughter buyers who now must ship them to Canada rather than Chicago. Slaughter hasn't ended ... it just has a longer trip to take to that ultimate end. Sadly, almost any home, it seems, would be more responsible than JCAC and possibly think to deworm these horses, and get their hooves trimmed ... two things that JCAC allegedly did not see fit to do in the months prior to the auction. We have proof that auctioned horses had heavy infestations of at least three different types of internal parasite. Again, these are managed with a $3 tube of dewormer. Three bucks = dead parasites.

And while the debate over the horse slaughter bill will continue, Leelanau Horse Rescue needs immediate and prolonged help, as do other organizations like them.

To contribute feed or services, or to donate desperately needed money, contact Steenrod at (517) 937-0526 or mail contributions and inquiries to Leelanau Horse Rescue, P.O. Box 859, Leland, MI, 49654. Just understand that your donations won't necessarily go to the Turn 3 Ranch horses ... some have reported being told to deliver hay and goods to other locations. Many have been told to simply give money instead of feed. Yet JCAC is billing the county taxpayers outrageous sums for care that is apparently not being given. Where is the proof that Leelanau Horse Rescue and/or Jackson County Animal Control has not been neglecting these horses for the past six months? Deworming and hoof care are the most basic of essential horse care requirements. How could this have been overlooked?