I was appalled to read the editorial by Peter Borchers regarding the recent passing of Proposition 6 and the consumption of horse-meat.

Mr. Borchers was uninformed and ignorant of the issues addressed by Prop. 6 and the reasons for the banning of the sale of horses for meat in California.

I myself am a resident of California and have seen firsthand the treatment of horses that are to be slaughtered for horse-meat and have also researched the subject in order to have an INTELLIGENT opinion.

A horse that is about to be killed will understand the purpose of a bolt gun being held to its head and will struggle to get away. The horse can sense the purpose of the person doing this, much as a dog can sense fear in a human.

A steer is completely oblivious to the fact that it is about to die, and will react no different whether a gun or a candy cane is held to its head.

Why would a horse owner sell a perfectly good horse for slaughter at a price that is usually less than what the owner paid for the horse?

The horses that are sold for consumption are almost always unfit for use and are either debilitated by age, injury, illness or mistreatment.

Those few that are healthy are many times injured while being transported to a slaughter house.

The mistreatment of horses that are to be sold for meat is inexcusable. A horse that is unable to walk under its own power will be dragged into a trailer that is filled beyond designed capacity and may die en-route due to exposure, stress or simply the other horses standing on it.

Mr. Borchers, you claim that aesthetics are the reason that the horse has been singled out for exemption from slaughter. You may in part be correct, but the main purpose of Proposition 6 was to help prevent the mistreatment of horses at the auction ring and the slaughterhouse, not to provide “petting horses.”

When horses reach a slaughterhouse, they are grouped together regardless of sex, age or size.

The larger studs and geldings in the group may attack the smaller, older and weaker horses out of fear and anger.

This leads to many more painful injuries to an already frightened horse.

Have you ever seen a horse killed, Mr. Borchers?

The horse will have a “bolt gun” placed against its head, which will shoot a 2″- 4″ bolt into the skull of the horse, sending bone fragments into the brain and supposedly killing the horse instantly, but that is not how it always goes.

After the horse is killed, it is hung by a single leg and bled as all other meats are.

If the horses are not completely killed by the bolt guns, they will thrash and scream until they have their throats cut.

The methods of rendering horses for consumption are extremely inhumane and unnecessary. A horse that has spent a lifetime serving a person and working hard to suit their every demand should not suffer the disgrace of being simply discarded and slaughtered.

Mr. Borchers, I believe that you are wrong in your statement, and that this is due to your benightedness and inability to research a topic that you are writing on.

Maybe after you consider the facts you will change this and possibly be more informed in the future before you blatantly make an ass out of yourself in the paper.

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Alex Rodeck

Sophomore

Animal science