Alberta’s Horse Slaughter Industry Under Attack
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
New Democratic Party MP and former agriculture critic -Alex Atamanenko’s activism side is coming out with his mission to an end Alberta’s horse slaughter industry. He is leading a campaign against the horse meat industry and on Monday, was able to rally a few horse activists to launch off their campaign with a billboard saying “stop slaughtering us” pictured with some horses. Not only is he leading an animal activist campaign on his own time, but he has also injected his personal beliefs into politics with his private members Bill C-322 that seeks to ban imports and exports of horse meat, ending slaughter all together. While I commend Atamanenko’s passion for a cause that he believes very strongly about, I find it hard to find merit in his underlying reasons for his cause.
Atamanenko argues that horse slaughter is inhumane and that horses shouldn’t be consumed by humans because of harmful drugs such as phenylbutazone, which is used to treat for pains or fevers. Atamenko’s claims about the drug phenylbutazone is misinformed, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency doesn’t tolerate any traces of the drug in horsemeat. The agency regularly tests to see if drugs are present in all horsemeat sold and distributed in Canada and abroad.
I encourage Mr. Atamanenko to examine the consequences of ending a profitable horse slaughter industry. Ending horse slaughter could lead to horses being starved or shot because they are no longer profitable. Ending horse slaughter doesn’t seem to be an issue that would drum up nationwide support. But hey, maybe I am wrong?