Soutern Florida's Dirty Little Secret

[westmar]

On the news this past week-mid August 2009.

From the ASPCA.

There have been-since January 2009, 19 horses stolen from various private owners and Butchered for their MEAT! The butchering job is done by someone who obviuosly knows prime cuts of meat and they are very proficeint in the job they do.

One mare was stolen from her stall, taken away and butchered. She had a foal at her side which was left in the stall.

I have talked about the ramifications of the lack of horse slaughter facilities causing a Black Market for their meat-but I thought it would be mainly for export to other countries.

The Black Market meat is being sold locally to immigrant? Floridians. Priced anywhere from $7.00 per pound clear up to $40.00 per pound.

Big Problem: How do you protect your horses when these guys are so brazen as to take horses from a barn? Many of these horses were slaughtered right there on the property-just yards from where they were penned or stalled.

I do not believe these horse thieves realize or even care, that this horse meat is most likely fairly toxic.

Many horses are vaccinated and de-wormed on a regular basis. These illegally butchered horses pose a very big health threat for those who may be consuming the meat-most likely will serve them right- unless they have innocent kids that are eating it as well.

All Horses that are legally sold for human consumption [outside the U.S. of course] have a mandatory drug withdrawel period before they can be butchered.

I hope they can catch the thieves-Floridians need be Vigilant and keep an eye out!

[Equinemom]

This is already a topic of discussion.....

what's going on in Florida!!??

[westmar]

Thanks, a little behind-Guess in Montana we can get our news a bit late---go figure.

[cinch]

How sick. sounds like the only way to protect them is to keep a 24 hour guard on your barn and put a bullet through their heads.

[Equinemom]

The reward is up to (or even more) than $25k. The whole community does neighborhood watch now in the horse communities. They hold town meetings and rallies. It is in full force to try and find these people.

[westmar]

Good thing!
If anyone here in Montana tried this crap----SSS---Shoot, shovel, shut-up if they are caught red handed-no pun intended! The attitude is still much of that of the old west. It is amazing to me.'The Last Best Place' and 'The final Frontier'......