I didn't know that the House of Representatives had passed a bill by a vote of 263 to 146 in September to ban people from eating horses.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.01915:
Why? What legal or moral distinction is there between eating a horse or a cow? Apparently they're special - in the bill it says they “deserve compassion and protection” because they “play a vital role in the collective experience of the United States.” And cows don't?
Would or have you eaten a horse? Do you think the US government should tell you what meat you can eat based on sentimentality? Or are we supposed to just
wear horses and that's fine?
Isn't it illegal to eat dog or cat in the UK? What's the difference between dog, cat or rabbit?
It was to prevent the round up, slaughter and sale overseas of the wild mustangs.
It didn't say you mustn't eat them.
Yes it did.
Title: A bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes.
Here's an interesting thing... would people eat more horse if it had another name? We don't eat cow and pig, we eat beef and pork.
In Holland I saw horsemeat in the supermarket next to the beef and pork but I never bought it. Eating one animal is no different from eating another, is it? Either you do or you don't. One can still have preferences though - I don't like lamb or cow or rabbit so I probably wouldn't like horse, cat or dog either! I like venison and pork (aka deer and pig).
BTW, on another note, it's legal for first cousins to marry in the UK but tell that to an American and they shudder and look at you as if it's legalised incest!
BTW, on another note, it's legal for first cousins to marry in the UK but tell that to an American and they shudder and look at you as if it's legalised incest!
I'm inclined to agree with them to an extent. My kids often remind me of pictures of my cousins at that age (and I didn't marry any of them). Scary.
Most of those horses are being exported to Japan and France who have less qualms about eating them.
The bill had some ammendments to permit other cultures in US (namely sovereign nations) to still be permitted to trade or eat horses if they had been doing it for many years. Native Americans (rightly in my opinion) are often exempt from the laws and taboos that we tend to comply with.
There was a story written by one of our native american correspondants (Cherokee I think) at work and when she was in Washington D.C. for Clinton's inauguration, she got shouted out by a white American for wearing an animal fur - the irony of course is that when the American Indians traditionally kill an animal, they use the entire animal and rarely killed more than they needed to sustain their tribes.
as we move up the scale of civilization we seem to forget where we come from. Back 200 years and you would be eating anything that crawled or flew.
I would bet that in the coming years someone will be finding a meat substitute and we will be passing such bills for pigs, cows and anything else lol
A lot of cultures stopped eating horses centuries ago unless they were starving and there was no other choice. If you think about it, until the last 90 years, the horse dominated the battlefield and therefore was well regarded both in wartime and peacetime.
I would think that the cultures that utilised cavalry and dominated their parts of the world were loathe to eat the beast of burden that provided them that advantage. I suppose the French still eating them provides a bit of an anomoly though.
I would think that the cultures that utilised cavalry and dominated their parts of the world were loathe to eat the beast of burden that provided them that advantage. I suppose the French still eating them provides a bit of an anomoly though.
I imagine the French tried eating white handkerchiefs but nothing would make them taste good.
The bill had some ammendments to permit other cultures in US (namely sovereign nations) to still be permitted to trade or eat horses if they had been doing it for many years. Native Americans (rightly in my opinion) are often exempt from the laws and taboos that we tend to comply with.
I think that is only if their tribe is recognized by the federal government, isn't it? their are tribes that are recognized by their state but not by federal governent and are therefore not treated as a sovereign nation.
Maybe Ben - I'm not really up on who is or isn't recognised.
The tribes around me are all lumped together in confederations - historically, they have always fought and never trusted each other but it is typical of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to create tribal problems, in order to save themselves some hassle or more likely, more bucks.
Yes I have eaten horse meat (and have owned a horse...)
The act was brought about due in part to the poor transportation of horses and not so much to do with mustangs. Due to their size, and the fact that to transport them humanely the trucks would have to be so big (height wise) the horses would arrive at slaughter with broken legs and other injuries that would contaminate the meat.
The real trouble lies with horses that get stolen here, end up on European tables. The danger with that is the so many equines today are treated with various chemicals for worming and so forth, that they shouldn't be used for human consumption.
Andrew )
To edit It's not just the French that eat horsemeat. You can buy horse meat (Cheval) in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and in most European supermarkets.
Would or have you eaten a horse?
I've eaten horsemeat before. Didn't taste like chicken. Tastes like beef, I guess. I've eaten possum, antelope, gator and cow brain tacos too.
Do you think the US government should tell you what meat you can eat based on sentimentality?
The only meat that people shouldn't eat is people.
/on edit added this clicky on horsemeat
//sorry for the mad banners but the article is kind of interesting
BTW, on another note, it's legal for first cousins to marry in the UK but tell that to an American and they shudder and look at you as if it's legalised incest!
Lotsa Murrikan states allow cousins to marry too.
Clicky for banjo lessons...
This is interesting, there is a clever scientist geezer thay my wife knows and he says they are not that far away from being able to grow meat. Using the same process that they used to grow an ear on the back of a mouse and all that bollox he said long term there will no need for beef cattle of chickens because you will bheable to grow whatever you want, the only thing stopping it will be if we except it or not...