Arson attack halts opening of nation’s only horse slaughterhouse
The opening of the nation’s only horse slaughterhouse is stalled after the building is set on fire.
An arson attack Saturday has halted the opening of a horse slaughterhouse in Roswell, New Mexico. The Valley Meat Company was in the process of converting from a cow slaughterhouse to a horse slaughterhouse, and was scheduled to open this week. Federal courts shut down the last three horse slaughterhouses in 2007. When opened, the Roswell plant would have been the only horse slaughterhouse in the US. That opening has now been halted.
The owner stated that on Saturday night someone apparently jumped the fence, then poured accelerant over the compressors to the slaughterhouse’s refrigeration unit.
Valley Meat Co. owner Rick De Los Santo said:
“They tried to burn the place down.”
The slaughterhouse was to begin killing horses on Monday. Without a functioning refrigeration unit, the plant is now unable to operate, and the opening has been delayed.
The arson has not (yet) been claimed by the Animal Liberation Front, or other clandestine group.
Valley Meat Company horse slaughterhouse
More information will be posted as it is available.
Just wanted to give you guys credit and tell you how amazing we “Downunder” think you are! Great work on the pheasants! Great work on the knackery! Xx
These folks (the arsonists and other animal rights zealots) ought to be required to adopt 6 lame, sick or unwanted horses and support them for the rest of their lives, vet bills included.
The people that keep and breed horses and then decide they dont want them when they are lame, sick, etc. should be required to support them for the rest of their lives, vet bills included.
amen to this post!
The sick, the lame and the old are NOT the horses slaughtered. Think about it, they want the younger, full fleshed bodies since that brings more $/pound. Most of the horses going to slaughter are NOT unwanted. Some are stolen, owners lied to by kill buyers at auction. There are many people and rescue organizations that will buy these horses from auction in order for the kill buyers to not be able to buy them. By the way, the #1 breed of horse that goes to slaughter is the quarter horse and paint horse and is around 70%. These are registered by the AQHA, American Quarter Horse Assoc. which is PRO slaughter
THANK YOU BUCHINHARD! This is the truth.
Wildnwooly, have you ever been to a kill buyer’s lot? Most of the horses are sound, well bred and trained. Maybe they are unwanted, but most are not lame or sick. Regardless, many in the AR movement also rescue and take care of animals that need homes. What do you do for animals?
The reason that there are more of the young, not lame and not injured horses available for slaughter are that the AR movement stopped the slaughter of horses. This meant the homes for the young, healthy, non inquired and non lame were being taken up by the old, sick, unmanageable and injured. Driving the cost of a horse to basically dirt cheap or free.
The result was owners who could no longer keep or care for these healthy horses were/are forced to take them to auctions, take a persons word on their intent. This opened the door for the kill buyers to get these horses for near nothing or free and make big money sending to slaughter. In turn they know they will make big profits off them selling them back to rescues and those who want to save the horses, win/win for them.
There exists massive ongoing slaughter of horses. The reason people claimed they could no longer “afford” horses and other animals is due to high HAY prices. Thanks for providing FALSE info. about the animal rights movement, “Pam”. People: Get it together. This article clearly states “The arson has not (yet) been claimed by the Animal Liberation Front, or other clandestine group.” But it certainly is good that this slaughterhouse facility decided to burn themselves out of business for insurance money and blame it on “animal rights” activists. Awesome. Good riddance to a 100% unnecessary violent animal industry.
I guess some of the ignorant comments about all of the sick, old horses that are sent to the slaughter plants really don’t know anything about it. The slaughter plants don’t want old, sick horses. They will only take the younger healthy animals that the killer buyers pick up at sales in the US. These people have contracts with the slaughter plants in Mexico and Canada to supply them with US horses that ship the meat to the EU countries that still eat it. US horse meat is not fit for human consumption as close to all horses in the US are given Vet drugs that contaminate the meat and cannot be removed. I guess you don’t know anything about the horse meat scare in the UK and numerous other countries this past year. Horse meat was found to be added to beef in frozen meals, ground meat and thousands of other foods that the supermarkets had to toss out. It is illegal to add any ingredient to prepared foods without listing it on the label. Many organizations have been trying for years to pass a bill that would stop US horses being sent to slaughter outside the US and inside the US. Where do you think these horses come from? Over breeding that’s where. I would suggest going to google and read about good horses being sent to slaughter. Educate yourself.
Who needs to be educated? The “scare” was not the possible drugs, but that the products did not list all ingredients and had other meats illegally added and labeled as 100% BEEF.
They take the younger healthier ones NOW because they can get them cheap. They leave the old and sick for the rescues and those wanting to take on the extra expense and allow the poor animals to continue to suffer for WHO? This takes up the spaces for the young and healthy so the meat buyers can get them cheap. Many of the old and injured suffering horses were slaughtered for pet food, but that was eliminated also.
From the experts:
“5. What is the likelihood of consumers being exposed to phenylbutazone in horsemeat?
Taking into account results of the monitoring of phenylbutazone in horsemeat over an 8-year period, including the reinforced testing plan carried out in March 2013, EFSA and EMA conclude that the likelihood of Europeans being exposed to phenylbutazone through the consumption of horsemeat (or beef products adulterated with horsemeat) is estimated to be low.”
”
In January 2013, concerns first arose about the possibility that horse meat containing traces of the veterinary drug phenylbutazone could enter the human food chain,[29][55] in spite of regulations that horses treated with it cannot legally used for human consumption.[56] The drug, commonly known as “bute,” is used as an analgesic in horses.[56] The issue was also raised by politicians such as Labour party MP Mary Creagh.[57]
In response, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) initially stated that there had been only five cases of slaughtered horses in the UK which had been treated with phenylbutazone, none of which had entered the human food chain.[57] A subsequent review of 206 horse carcasses slaughtered in the UK between 30 January and 7 February 2013 found eight were contaminated with phenylbutazone, six of which had been shipped to France.[53] The UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, said the level of contamination, 1.9 mg/kg, posed “very little risk to human health”.[53] She added that around 500-600 burgers containing 100% horse meat would need to be eaten to receive the daily human therapeutic dose.[58] Additional tests at that time indicated than none of the products from Findus contained phenylbutazone.[53] Another report found that between two and five percent of samples tested between 2007 and 2011 had phenylbutazone contamination, and that only 50 samples per year were tested. In 2012, 145 carcasses had been tested, and two out of the nine carcasses found positive for bute that year were not reported to the FSA for seven months.[59]”
I and my family are not what you call animal activist and all the other crappy names that come along with caring about animals not being torrured and abused . And as a matter of fact there are people willing to help these so called lame horses most of which can be corrected I have a mare that was so lamb she was unable to walk at all (seperated hoof wall) and with some natural remidies and trimming yup she’s walking and a mare with a slab fracture both off kill lots to ship killer made his money he’s happy thoughts mares would have been the ones being trampled in the trailer killer happy I’m happy horses are happy so yes we people that don’t like torture are willing to take on these horses …..Hats off to the person who tryed to burn it
wildnwooly you are really showing how uneducated you are. Why are there sick lame horses? Because of those who just use them up then throw them away. We call that exploitation of a living feeling beings. As far as unwanted horses. WTH do you think is trying to save all the unwanted horses? It is animal rights activists and horse advocates. While it was the worthless beings like yourself that only profit off their blood and suffering that create the problem to begin with.
You’re an idiot because not all horses sent to slaughter are lame or unwanted. This is what they intend to do with the wild horses they round up, send them to slaughter. And if someone has a sick horse they don’t want, have the decency to humanely euthanize them. Not die a slow agonizing death as they bleed out at a slaughterhouse.
That would be called a farm animal sanctuary. And there are many of them throughout the United States. The animals live there, in peace with excellent vet care and nutrition, until their natural death.
Wildnwooly, those ‘folks’ are not the ones who are over-breading then tossing those horses away. The horses in these kill pens are beefy and usually healthy.
You can thank the racing industry for over breading.. So.. Yeah!!! The people over breading the horses just to get 1 winner out of..??.. what? 20..30.. This is just disgusting!
So how big of a loaf of “Bread” or how many loves of “Bread” does it take to “Over Bread” a horse? I think those who eat horse meat don’t use “Bread” much so I can’t really see how they can be “Over Breading” them. Really need to speak to an expert on cooking and preparing horse to see if a stop can be made on “Over Breading”, sounds like a bad thing.
why did you get them in the first place if you weren t going to take care of them.
I love you ALF. You are the real underground rebels. You just saved some horses. At least for a month or two until those evil people will open their facility and kill them. Shame on them!
Americans don’t want horse slaughterhouses!
You are correct. Watch this to find out the truth: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSxUPNgzgn4
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I champion the efforts of the ones, whom ever they may be, that stopped the despicable slaughter house from opening. Thank you from the deepest recesses of my mind and heart ! <3
It’s sad what’s happened to these horses. It’s sad that their owners cannot afford to take care of them. I don’t like the idea of processing horses either, but I like the idea of them starving to death, weakening, and then being eaten alive by other wildlife. What do we do about that? What is the better alternative? At least the animals have a use and don’t suffer a long and hard death only to rot and pollute Tribal land. I don’t like that city pounds exist and that lots of wonderful animals are doomed to die, but I understand and respect the purpose and need for the pound. How is this different?
To NoLoaf/NoBrain: If you understand and respect the “purpose and need” for the dog and cat slaughterhouse and you “like the idea of horses starving to death, weakening, and then being eaten alive by other wildlife,” you would have gotten along great with both Ingrid Newkirk and Jeffrey Dahmer. Step up to the euthanasia table, will you, Noloaf? You’re next!
Love you all 100% support from me. xx
Stop opening up these cruel places so you can slaughter the most greatest animals ever !!!
Stop this inhumane place ever opening up!! Horses are great animals and don’t deserve to die in this way !
MY HEROS!!!!!
Horses arent food.. They have been around centuries and deserve much more respect then reopening these horrible slaughterhouses.. I had no idea back in the 90s they were opened and then they closed them back again which i am glad it happend.. Yes Majority of Americans do not want these places reopened.. New Mexico Missouri and OK are few of the states that passed a law where they could be reopened.. So it wasnt just NM… We need to keep fighting this from happening.. Horses are our friends among other things.. They are Beautiful and Majestic and have been around for Centuries.. Just because Europe and other countries eat horse doesnt mean we should follow their footsteps.. Whts next Cats and Dogs?? We need to keep putting pressure on the government to end this once and for all.. Should not even be an issue. Yes the horses are still alive when they brutually kill them .. Maybe the ones who are uneducated need to google horse slaughterhouses and see wht goes on behind closed doors!! They are not food
But because you think horses are not food then the Americans, those in Europe and other countries MUST meet your demands that they follow YOUR way of thinking and diet?
The majority may not want to include horses (dog’s, cat’s, rat’s, snakes, monkey) in their diet, but what right does one group have to tell others they can’t. What happens when one group comes along and demands nobody eats plants and can’t drink water?
With almost 90% of Americans who have already spoken out against horse slaughter,,, allowing this might have opened a can of worms that the government will not be able to seal again. The person or persons who saved our horses could be anybody within the 90% of Americans. Whoever they are,, GODBLESS THEM. We have taken all the legal avenues and been IGNORED by corrupt politicians. For the people by the people,,, horse slaughter should have been banned eons ago.
Make this go viral, people. Thank you: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSxUPNgzgn4
CLOSE THEM ALL DOWN.
I’m a life long horse owner and pro horse slaughter. It irritates me that people want to bitch and moan and burn things down that belong to other people when something bothers them, but what they don’t do is come up with a better solution. I might not like what someone else is doing with their private property, but that doesn’t give me the right to break in and set it on fire. It’s just ridiculous and totally immature. No one takes you seriously when you break the law to prove your point. You just look like bigger douche bags than the people whose building you set on fire. And news flash, all the pretty ponies that currently go to auction here in the US that can’t get re-homed to responsible owners or be purchased by US slaughter houses, have a chance to be purchased by brokers who sell them to slaughter plants outside of the country. When you have seen the methods used to take the lives of those animals with your own eyes, when there are no government rules or mandates to adhere to, and you can still say you would rather watch them die there than here…you’re a bigger douchebag than the freaks who like to burn peoples property down. How would you care to solve the problem of equine over population? Watch domestic horses starve to death? Be dumped in someone else’s pasture for them to care for and become their problem and expense? Euthanizing is always an alternative except if an individual doesn’t have the money to feed the animal how likely is it that they have the money to have a vet come out and put it down and haul it away? I guess the owner could just shoot the horse – the cost of a bullet comes in way underneath a shot of pentobarbital but that is the same fate they would meet at the slaughter house. At least then the meat can still be used, not wasting the animal. Telling pro-slaugheter supporters to get educated is ironic. How about you get educated, come up with a better solution, and change things through the legal system with your brain instead of acting like a bunch of punks.
Marisa Anderson apparently you have not been in this fight. The horse advocates HAVE COME UP WITH SOLUTIONS. The number one problem is over breeding. Yet breeders refuse to cooperate in order to save these majestic animals. As far as material objects being destroyed? Animals are not your’s to murder. Which is the greater wrong and what part of Thou Shalt Not Kill Don’t You Understand? These actions have ALWAYS only come into play after all legal actions have been taken and our voices are being ignored. It is bad enough the animals have no voice but when the people also have no voice,, then yes,, some brave souls do come forward (GodBless them). That is what this country was built on.
So having what was once your “pet” be completely terrorized and end up on a dinner plate is much better, right?
I hope they all go up in flames quite frankly
Boy Marisa! You’re way of communicating with people, whose opinions and beliefs differ from your own, appears to be limited to name-calling and slinging insults. Pretty pathetic.
I, for one, don’t believe that living beings should be considered property that we(humans) have the right to torture, abuse and kill, in any we please. Just because something is legal, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right!
The solution to the problem is for human beings to stop viewing themselves as better than every other animal on this planet, and to realize that we are all part of the eco-system that supports all of us!
Mankinds’ greed has poisoned this planet, and the minds of people, like you, who think that it’s perfectly alright to exploit anyone, including other humans, as a means to an end…that end usually being their bottom line!
The Native Americans lived in a way that was respectful of the natural world, which provided everything they needed to survive. They never took more than survival dictated, and weren’t concerned with getting ‘rich’.
In my opinion, they were some of the most truly rich people who ever lived.
Just, by the way…what do you propose we do about the human over-population problem?
Marisa, your communication skills and ignorance has no limits. Animals are not ours to kill. Please educate yourself about the efforts in place by animal groups to help these beautiful creatures.
Here is another FACT. The cruel rounds up MUST STOP. The science is in. As much as those who profit off these majestic horses blood will try to IGNORE it.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/after-wild-horse-report-jewell-faces-first-moment-of-truth-at-interior/276545/
Who are the REAL criminals?
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/mustangconspiracy/part2.html
If they want to arrest criminals,, it is not the animal rights activists. One idiot says zealots,,, I say FREEDOM FIGHTERS. These horses were perfectly healthy and should have remained FREE.
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/14/17708998-the-case-of-the-missing-mustangs-what-happened-to-1700-wild-horses?lite
Haha Gutted ….. a lot less than they deserve
Know this: if slaughterhouses are forced out of existence in the US, then horses are shipped by truck all the way to Mexico. They may be lame and have no food or water. After the horrific journey they are stabbed repeatedly in the spine until they go down, then hoisted by the legs still alive to have their throats slashed. Unwanted horses mostly go to slaughter, so what would be better: to be able to regulate the slaughter or ship them to the horrors of Mexico? These so called “activists” are law breakers and should be prosecuted. They are in no way helping the horses by their actions.
Horse slaughterhouses are no better than your local animal shelter that kills unwanted dogs, cats, puppies, kittens etc.
Why have slaughterhouses? Because idiots will not quit breeding animals. Remember the old rule of “KISS” Keep It Simple Stupid. If none are being born, none will go to slaughter.
I hate the idea of slaughterhouses opening again in the U.S. Our horses are still going to slaughter – just being transported to Canada and Mexico.
Why can’t people get the concept that if none are being born, none should have to die such cruel and horrific deaths?
Am glad that someone took it upon themselves to do what he/she could to stop this horrific act by this company. All these places need to be shut down. God Bless those that cared enough to do something~~~
Gee…..that’s too bad….sniff, sniff
ALF…you ROCK!!! Keep up the GREAT work!!!
If Alf were to use legal means to shut down this horrible horse slaughterhouse it would STAY closed… now it will simply re-open. I’m all for helping stop the building and opening of this slaughterhouse. But sometimes ALF goes too far and hurt animals in their “release”. Letting go a bunch of animals from a horrible lab once the dogs, cats, etc ran right into the open land surrounding the place and eventually were eaten bu coyotes and such. I would rather Alf catches all the animals and rehome them, fix them up, and give them a better life… not death.
ROMANIA salutes you! God bless you, guys!