I’ve been out of my normal NPR listening routine recently, but this morning I woke up unexpectedly early and turned on Morning Edition. I was glad that the latest war in the middle east had simmered down enough that it was no longer dominating the news, since it seemed to be the only thing I heard about in the snippets of national/international news that I’d been catching since mid-July. So, there was time to hear about what the House of Representatives did yesterday, which was to pass (263 votes to 146) H.R. 503: the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Apparently there are three slaughter houses in the US that focus on horse slaughter, and together they slaughter some 90,000 horses a year.

The Washington Post has an excellent editorial about this being a poor use of Congress’s time, even if we “stipulate […] that horses should not be slaughtered for human consumption.” I, however, want to take issue with that stipulation.

I’ve been a vegetarian for over 15 years now, if people don’t want to eat horses, I wholeheartedly support them. But, that’s not what the law is about, it’s about making sure that no one else eats horses. Apparently, no one in the US does anyway, the taboo is too strong. But the slaughterhouses ship the meat to Europe and Asia. And apparently Bo Derek led a pack of horselovers to move to ban this practice.

What drives me nuts about this is the make-believe attitude about meat, that is, that it’s just meat, and not an animal, and certainly not one that anyone might have ever thought might have been cute, smart, or helpful to humans. I’ve never worked on a farm, but I’d like to think that traditional farmers have a less make-believe attitude about this. They care for animals, name them, get to know them, and eventually slaughter them and eat them. However they get there, somehow they have a sense of peace about this. After all, that’s why they raise the animals.

Most city-folks, though, just buy their meat in packages. They know that they were once animals, but they probably prefer not to think about that. And apparently there’s a really strong sense that if they might feel something for an animal, they not only don’t want to eat it, but they don’t want anyone else to eat it either.

And so (to take just one of countless examples of arguably inhumane practices in the meat industry), it’s apparently ok that chickens continue to get their beaks burnt off by hot irons so that they can’t peck at anything while they’re being raised in cages so that we can get eggs cheaper. But the House has voted that it’s inhumane to take horses, including many who led long happy (even pampered) lives, and let them be slaughtered for meat. And this is a House controlled by the party who claims to represent freedom and free markets. Embarrassing. Everyone I’ve ever talked with who worked on a farm says that pigs are the smartest animal in the barnyard, but needless to say, no similar bill about pigs would ever get a hearing in congress, much less pass the House. And, I don’t think it should. If no one wants to eat horse meat, then no one will slaughter horses. There’s no rational reason that horses should be granted this exemption. It’s just the “cute factor.” And it’s embarrassing…

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