Horse Slaughter

Horse Slaughter

From Life to Death: Poem

Lauren Street

English II

Ms. McKoy

15 March 2013

From Life to Death

“Come on you stupid hag, you’re only five years old.”

The girl was trying to make me jump!

“Just get on with the show, my friends are getting cold.”

I haven’t been trained, I’ve never even jumped. Not even a little hump!

 

She jumped off my back and walked away

My reins were handed to a stable boy

He gave me a brush down while I ate some hay

“You don’t deserve this boy, I’m sorry it’s this way.”

 

The next day I was put in a big metal box

“Ha, you stupid horse. I’ll get a better one!”

I didn’t know where I was going and I felt as small as a fox.

I just wanted to please someone and be told I’m the one.

 

I was standing in the pen with a dozen other horses.

I didn’t know why we were here

I heard yelling and someone said “HE’S THE MAIN COURSE!”

All these men were staring and sipping their beer

 

“Going once, going twice, SOLD!!!!”

I had just been bought by a man in yellow

I just knew his heart was cold

“Come on, take your horse. You there! Young fellow!”

 

I was shoved in another metal box

Only this time it was already crowded

This time I had as much room as a fox

We were all tied up and bounded

 

They didn’t even give us time to get to our feet

They whipped us to go in the direction they wanted

I was just standing, getting whipped and beat

I had been here only an hour, but my thoughts were already haunted

 

They pinned my down and put a nail in my head

Next they stripped me of my skin

“Come on” I thought, I already wish I were dead

I even wish I were back in that pen

 

After I thought it was over, they hurt me more

No one deserves this, not even the worst

I was trembling all the way down to the core

I guess no one loves me; I should have known that at first

 

I was hung up by my hooves

This is it I guess, but I had no goodbyes to give

My journey is not going to improve

It just is not my time to live

 

I closed my eyes and started to drift

This is it

Why me? What did I do wrong?

All I ever wanted to do was give someone lucky all my love

Exploratory Essay

Lauren Street

English II- 2^nd Block

Ms. McKoy

24 September 2013

Are Rules for Horse Slaughter Taken Seriously?

                Growing up, horses were the first thing on my mind when I woke up and the last thing on my mind when I went to sleep. I started riding horses at the age of seven and I have been riding ever since. My mom signed my sister and I up for a magazine called Human Society; I was the happiest little girl when a magazine subscription came in that contained information about horses. However, three or four years ago I received a letter from the Humane Society about horse slaughter. As I started to read the letter, my eyes starting brimming with tears due to the gruesome facts I had read. The letter contained information about how violent and horrific horse slaughter really was. I was informed of not only the actuality of how bad horse slaughter is but I was also informed of the absence of action taken by the government. Horse slaughter either needs stricter laws or the government needs to enforce the rules already put into place. After I learned about horse slaughter, I decided to do some online research about horse slaughter and the results of my research made me sick to my stomach. I watched a video called “Horse Slaughter Rules Violated, Video Shows” and had to stop watching the video before it got half way through. I am appalled how people can get away with basically murdering a horse to death, more or less even slaughter a perfectly good horse. There should be rules about the health of a horse going to slaughter. Horses that are healthy, spirited and sound should not be slaughtered, especially cruelly. In my opinion, horses that are dying, dead, or just not going to live should be used for whatever the companies need them for. Even in that situation, they should not have their life end in such a violent way. These poor horses are already facing their death right in front of them, why not do it the humane way instead of making them suffer even more?

                In my research, I discovered an article called “Horse Slaughter Rules Violated, Video Shows”, which uncovered the realities of horse slaughter. In the article, Wendy Mosley and a crew snuck into horse slaughtering companies and placed hidden cameras to record the rule violation. In the videos the first company, Richelieu, shoots a horse three times before declaring the horse unconscious. One worker hits a horse with an electric prod seventeen times, even in the face, before continuing to kill him. Workers at another company, do not even check that the horse is unconscious before being strung up be his/hers back feet to have their throats slit. Once a horse has entered the kill box, they should wait no longer than fifteen seconds before they become unconscious. One horse had to wait nine minutes. Horses are being loaded off of the truck into tiny, cramped pens they share with countless other horses and wait for death to take them out of this misery. Then they are whipped, hit with electric prods and slip on the pavement which is against the law. It is mandatory that the plant has non-slip floor but most companies ignore that. The main reason and biggest factor why horses are killed is for their use of meat in Europe and Japan. The latest statistics show that the numbers of horses being slaughtered have doubled every two years since 2005, making it even more important, animal welfare experts say, that if more horses have to die in slaughterhouses, they're granted a death that's at least humane (CBC Television).

                I want to research and explore how I can help inform those around about the rule violation and/or what some rules should be as much as I can. Just because some people might not share the same love for horses but hate for horse slaughter as I do that does not mean they cannot help make the rules stricter or help actually enforce the laws already placed. As I said before, it is not fair to perfectly good horses that people who assume are no good anymore due to their inabilities to own a horse, does not mean they should be slaughter violently and more or less even slaughtered. In my project, I would like to get people to be open-minded and understand the unfairness to horses of how their lives are being ended. I hope to get people to be shocked and speechless that the slaughter of horses is so inhumane that they will want to help me help them. It is not right nor is it fair for the horses, especially when they are the ones that are dying. 

Horse Slaughter

Horse Slaughter Research Memo

Lauren Street

1 March 2013

English II

Ms. McKoy

Horse Slaughter Research Memo

Hypothesis:

When people think about horse slaughter, they do not realize there is a whole other side to it. People think that horse slaughter is just a short and simple process.  I, for example, have heard about and researched the true side to horse slaughter. With this survey, I hope to get people to not only give me information on how important they think horse slaughter is or their understanding of it. I am hoping that a majority of my surveyors agree with my topic. On the other hand, I also want to lead them to think of how gruesome horse slaughter is and how unnecessary it is. I want to get honest answers to questions like “On a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the harshest), how harsh do you feel horse slaughter is?” or “Should horse slaughter be stopped?”. Hopefully I will get enough information to answer my topic “Should horse slaughter be stopped or at least have very strict rules?”

Context:

When I was handing out my survey, I tried to target two different groups. I targeted a group that loved horses and cared about them and a group that barely knew anything about horses. I chose those two groups because I wanted to see if horse lovers would have the same opinion as me and if the non-horse lovers could possibly feel the same way as I did. After I received my results, I decided that the results were very positive to the answer I wanted. I gave many multiple choice questions where the answer could be negative or positive. I do not think I gave any questions that made my participants feel obligated to answer in a certain way. All of my questions gave the surveyors an opportunity to answer with a negative result. I felt like the participants gave me the results that I was looking for. The results gave me the opinions I was opting for and gave the surveyors an opportunity to answer either negative or positive.

Results/ Data Analysis

Demographic (age, race, gender, etc)	Trends (What element is in common with this demographic group?)	Implications (How does this trend help or hurt my hypothesis? What does this mean?)
22 Females took my survey.	4 answered that they did not know what horse slaughter was.	These results conclude that horse slaughter is not even known about.
22 Females took my survey.	18 knew what horse slaughter was.	These results show that a lot of girls do know what horse slaughter is.
9 Males took my survey.	3 said that they do not know what horse slaughter is.	These results show that people have not heard about horse slaughter.
9 Males took my survey.	6 said that they do know what horse slaughter is.	These results show that most males that took my survey do know what horse slaughter is.
13 Females (age 10-20) answered that they are horse lovers.	All of them selected that horse slaughter was gruesome, violent, and should be stopped.	These results show that all the female surveyors that are horse lovers think that horse slaughter is gruesome, violent, and should be stopped.
5 Males (age 10-20) answered that they are horse lovers.	4 of the males selected that horse slaughter was gruesome, violent, and should be stopped.	These results show that 80% of the male surveyors who are horse lovers think that horse slaughter is gruesome, violent, and should be stopped.
9 Females (10-20) answered that they are not horse lovers.	All of them selected either that horse slaughter was gruesome, violent, should be stopped or all.	These results show that even females who are not horse lovers think that horse slaughter is gruesome, violent, and should be stopped.
4 Males (10-20. 20-30) answered that they are not horse lovers.	3 of them answered that horse slaughter is violent and gruesome.	These results show that 75% of males who are not horse lovers think that horse slaughter is gruesome and violent.
22 Females answered #2.	2 of them answered that this was their first time hearing about horse slaughter.	These results show that horse slaughter is not totally known about.
22 Females answered #2.	20 of them answered that this was not the first time that they heard about horse slaughter.	These results show that the word about horse slaughter is getting out.
9 Males answered #2.	4 of them said it was the first time that they heard about horse slaughter	These results show that not as many males know about horse slaughter than females.
9 Males answered #2.	5 of them said it was not the first time they heard about horse slaughter.	These results show that most of the male surveyors do know about horse slaughter.
13 Females said they are horse lovers.	Almost all of them answered that horses were slaughtered for their meat.	These results show that a lot of female horse lovers know why horses are slaughtered.
5 Males said they are horse lovers.	Only 1 answered that it was for their meat.	These results show that not as many male horse lovers as females know why horses are slaughtered.
9 Females said they are not horse lovers.	5 answered that it was for meat or glue.	These results show that most females that are not horse lovers know why horses are slaughtered.
4 Males said they are not horse lovers.	1 answered that it is for food.	These results show that males that are not horse lovers do not know why horses are slaughtered.
9 Males took my survey and answered #5 and #6.	2 out of 9 said horse slaughter is not violent and should not be stopped.	These results show that a small amount of males think that horse slaughter is not violent should not be stopped.
22 Females took my survey and answered #5 and #6.	1 female said that horse slaughter is not violent.	These results show that a very minimum amount of the females think that horse slaughter is not violent.
22 Females took my survey and answered number #7.	19 of the females answered with a 5 or above on the harshness of horse slaughter scale.	These results show that almost all of the female surveyors agree that horse slaughter is violent.
9 Males took my survey and answered #7.	8 of 9 males answered with a 5 or above on the harshness of horse slaughter scale.	These results show that about 90% of the male surveyors agree that horse slaughter is violent.
9 Males answered #8.	4 males selected that they are not willing to help stop slaughter.	These results show that the males could possibly not want to get into trouble for helping stop horse slaughter.
22 Females answered #8.	1 female selected that they are not willing to help stop slaughter.	These results show that the females might be scared of the outcome dealing with stopping slaughter.
22 Females answered an open-ended question.	16 Females suggested protesting, making a worldwide movement, getting more government involvement, and make more laws.	These results show that those females participants are giving well thought out answers to help the horses.
9 males answered an open-ended question.	5 males suggested protesting, more cops involved, and better options for horse owners.	These results show that the male participants gave positive answers and are thinking about how to help horse slaughter be stopped.
9 Males answered #10.	3 Males said it is not our responsibility to stop horse slaughter.	These results show that some of the people taking my survey or just in general think horse slaughter is a problem, but will not do anything about it.
22 Females answered #10	1 female said it is not our responsibility to stop horse slaughter.	These results show that all but one female thought that horse slaughter was our responsibility to stop it.

Data Analysis:

When I reviewed my data, I noticed quite a bit of trends. I separated my results into male and female categories. Everyone who took my survey selected that they were in the 10-20 age range except for 3 males who said they were in the 20-30 age range. I noticed that almost all of the females and over half of the males knew what horse slaughter is. That is exactly what I was expecting from the participants that took my survey.

Question two was just about the same as question one. 20 out of 22 of the females that took my survey said that it was not their first time hearing about horse slaughter. 5 out of 9 males that took my survey said that it was not their first time hearing about horse slaughter either. That pleased me while also surprising me. I was pleased that people actually knew about horse slaughter but, I was surprise that they have not tried to tell other people about it.

Question three was an open-ended question about what the surveyors thought horse slaughter was used for. All of the females that took my survey said that horse slaughter was used for either glue or meat. Only two out of all of the males answered that horse slaughter was used for food. That kind of surprised me since a majority of the males answered that it was not their first time hearing about horse slaughter on number two.

Question four really made me happy because I got the results I was hoping for. All of the female participants that took my survey answered that horse slaughter was either gruesome, violent, or should be stopped. Seven out of nine of the male participants answered that horse slaughter was either gruesome or violent. Some of those males answered that horse slaughter should be stopped. Those were the answers I was looking for.

Question five and six were not that surprising to me. Two out of nine males said that horse slaughter is not violent and should not be stopped. One female out of all 22 selected that horse slaughter is not violent. Before I handed out the survey, I assumed everyone would say that horse slaughter was violent and should be stopped. The reason I did this survey though, was to get as many opinions as possible that could either help my topic or hurt my topic. As you can see, I had only thoughts of helpful opinions and did not think about there being hurtful opinions.

Question seven really made me happy because of how much the results helped my topic. Nineteen out of the twenty-two females who took my survey answered with a 5 or higher on the harshness of horse slaughter scale. Eight out of the nine males who took my survey answered with a 5 or higher on the harshness of horse slaughter scale. It made me really happy to receive those results because they are helping my topic a lot.

Question eight and nine were helpful answers for my topic. 4 males answered no to question eight. That hurt my topic but, I expected a few of the participants to answer no to helping stop horse slaughter. Only one female out of the 22 answered no to helping the horses. Number nine was really helpful for me. Almost all of the participants that answered question nine suggested preventing horse slaughter by protesting, making harsher laws, more government influence, and getting cops to patrol the plants every day. Those were the exact answers I was looking for.

Lastly, is question ten. Question ten gave me helpful opinions regarding my topic. Only one female selected that it is not our responsibility to stop horse slaughter. 3 out of the 9 males also selected that it is not our responsibility to stop horse slaughter. A total of 27 participants for my survey selected that it is our responsibility to stop horse slaughter and horse slaughter is actually a problem. The majority of the surveyors agree with my topic.

Conclusion:

The results from my survey have opened my mind more than I thought it would have. I realized that I was hoping for the participants to agree on everything and I had expected all helpful answers regarding my topic. After I reviewed my survey I realized that my thoughts of the survey were one sided. My hypothesis was not wrong but, then again it was not correct. I received a lot of helpful opinions for my topic. I also received opinions that opened my mind. I know now that not everyone will feel the same way I do towards horse slaughter.

Follow-Up:

From here I want to further investigate how to prevent horse slaughter from getting so gruesome and violent. I still want to possibly figure out a way to help stop horse slaughter. From the survey, I have found that there are many ways to possibly prevent horse slaughter. I also found that not everyone is going to agree that horse slaughter should be stopped and think that horse slaughter is not violent. With this survey, I know that not everyone will agree on my opinion. That may be why horse slaughter is not yet stopped. In the future I will research what ways people can help stop horse slaughter or at least create stricter laws. Regarding my original questions, I will be looking more into how to prevent horse slaughter and how I could possibly open more peoples’ minds up to the violence and gruesomeness horse slaughter comes with. I hope to answers those questions along with my topic question “Should horse slaughter be stopped or given really strict rules?”