Jay Cronley: Choosing which animals to slaughter is a sorry task
BY JAY CRONLEY World Staff Columnist
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
2/19/13 at 4:29 AM
Animals need to get lucky.
We eat some cows with sauce and make cute commercials with others, having them say that people should dine on more chicken.
Presidents spare the lives of turkeys in November.
Some dogs look like hedges after being clipped and are given stuffy names like British noblemen and lead pampered lives in the show ring. Some dogs are dressed like children and are treated at least as well.
My dog considers himself to be almost an equal partner when it comes to leisure time.
Other dogs are born with bad reputations and are killed by the thousands.
Racehorses with the potential to make an owner a lot of money are cared for by staffs around the clock. Scratches result in visits from the veterinarian.
Broodmares and sires with rich bloodlines are cared for like royalty.
Old racehorses that have outlived their earning capabilities are sometimes simply ditched.
One person's companion animal is another's lunch or phobia.
Here's the one constant: Anybody who could be cruel to a defenseless animal is a sorry individual.
Sorry legislation: Bills have been introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature that would make legal the slaughter of horses and the exportation of their meat out of state.
Out of state in this instance would mean out of the country, as few in this land could stand the thought of eating horse meat.
Horses aren't hunted. They're not dangerous. The few that remain wild, the mustangs, are treasured.
You might think that the owner of a horse slaughterhouse could put some real money in the bank. But as far as working in a horse slaughterhouse would go, you'd assume that a machine could do the dirtiest work, the maiming and killing, and that running the drive-in window at the coffee shop would pay as much and let a person sleep easier.
Lots of states are just now catching up with their animal rights laws.
This might be one to think about.
You can't slaughter and sell as food companion pets from this list.
Dogs. Cats. Horses. Little birdies. Etc.
Of particular concern to Oklahomans should be the reasoning that one legislator gave for hustling his slaughterhouse bill: that it would actually benefit mistreated horses by putting them out of their misery.
Here's a better solution: Arrest people who are cruel to animals.
Original Print Headline: Choosing the animals to slaughter a sorry task
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