AN OPEN LETTER TO THOSE DEFENDING DOGGERS
This is directed at those who defend “doggers”.
But first, there may be those who don’t know what a dogger is.
In Australia, a person who collects, buys or is given horses and takes them to slaughter is known as a dogger.
Probably because knackeries turn the horses into dog food.
Today, the people who buy horses for the purpose of slaughter are known as doggers whether the horse goes to an abattoir to become meat for human consumption — or to a knackery where they become greyhound food or dog food for other dogs – including possibly your personal pet.
To make matters worse there have been cases of horse meat food fraud involving personal pet dogs.
Speaking to ABC Rural, Ms. Curtin says she bought a kangaroo pet meat product for her dog in early July and was horrified to learn it may have been contaminated with toxic horse meat. [Read more here…]
THOSE WHO DEFEND DOGGERS OFTEN SUBSCRIBE TO MYTHS ABOUT DOGGERS
DOGGERS HELP STARVING HORSES = FALSE
This is perfectly ridiculous.
Doggers do not go around looking for starving horses so they can help them.
They want horses that can be turned into meat.
At Meramist abattoir, where horses are killed for export for human consumption, they want healthy, large horses.
Any horse that has a body condition score of 1 out of 5, in other words, is emaciated will be killed but the meat will not be processed.
An animal welfare incident will occur and the dogger may be investigated.
Not only will a horse be slaughtered and disposed of but the dogger will not get paid for the horse and will have to pay to have the body removed.
Anyone at the sales can see doggers bidding on ONLY healthy, young horses.
DOGGERS CLEAN UP A MESS = FALSE
Whoever coined this phrase must have been a dogger, there is nothing clean about doggers and to use a positive word in relation to what they do is quite disingenuous.
Horses know as soon as they enter a knackery or abattoir that they are in danger.
They panic and are filled with terror.
As herd animals, their immediate response is to flee however they can’t and because they have long necks the captive bolt designed for cattle is not appropriate for them.
Therefore horses lay writhing in pain and IN MANY CASES THEY HAVE NOT BEEN STUNNED BEFORE they are hoisted up, their throats are cut while they are still conscious.
Horses are killed by a gunshot in a knackery but they know they are going to die.
A knackery owner said that they can smell death the moment they arrive – even as they near the premises and horses know what is about to happen.
SLAUGHTER IS HUMANE EUTHANASIA = FALSE
One thing that almost everyone can agree with is that there is an overabundance of horse breeding happening in Australia — but the solution is not slaughter.
Make no mistake about it slaughter at a knackery or abattoir is NOT humane euthanasia.
There are many options for horses instead of taking the inhumane route of sending them to slaughter.
For example, a bullet at their familiar home and in their familiar surroundings is humane.
Being transported to sales and slaughter is cruel.
There are more and more horse rescues and sanctuaries popping up across Australia – if you must rehome your equine(s) please consider a rescue or sanctuary whenever possible.
Calling on the services of a veterinarian to euthanise is humane but again, loading a horse in with horses it doesn’t know, in overcrowded trailers and shipping them to an auction or directly to slaughter in no way shape or form is humane.
There are options for removing the body of a horse…
For example, see the information here.
It’s important to note that if your local knackery doesn’t already come to your home to shoot your horse for you, and if they don’t offer the option to remove the body – please don’t be shy about calling them and asking them to consider offering this service. If more people do, they may begin doing so. There are knackeries in Australia offering this service but not all – yet.
DOGGERS ARE A BUSINESS = TRUE
BUT are all businesses valuable and ethical? For example, it could be argued that drug dealers have a business.
Knackeries and abattoirs are businesses too and like doggers, when it comes to horses, who in Australia are not bred specifically for meat — and include pet horses, rodeo and show horses, brumbies and racehorses — doggers, knackeries, abattoirs are all are despicable opportunists making money by exploiting horses.
DOGGERS ARE NECESSARY BECAUSE OF BREEDERS WHO ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE = FALSE
Yes, there are many horse owners and breeders who are not responsible.
BUT how can this possibly justify what doggers do?
For example, all of us can agree that with the rapid spread of thoroughbred studs (breeding operations) and the popularity of racing feeds into an overabundance of horses.
Did you know that the racing industry relies on slaughter to get rid of what they call their wastage?
Yes, the racing industry refers to horses as “wastage”.
Yeah, we know — defenders of the racing industry always point out that other breeds are also being represented in the ranks at Meramist and knackeries.
Of course, this is the case — but we actually have data and eyewitness accounts telling us that the thoroughbred industry breeds a lot of foals and 45% never make it to the track.
At one stage there were 44,000 brood mares in Australia and even though that number has fallen over the last few years, there are too many horses bred to ever be rehomed after racing.
The median career of a racehorse is less than 2 years.
Having said all that is slaughter and what the doggers do ethical?
Do two wrongs make a right?
Why should horses pay with their lives and suffer, a brutal, cruel death because of unethical overbreeding and because of owners who are not responsible?
And then there are those who conclude that we think all horses should run free.
We do NOT think that.
We believe there needs to be a cap on breeding.
We believe that the argument that doggers are necessary is unethical.
As we all know there is a certain state where dogger defenders run rampant – and certain FB groups where dogger supporters proliferate showing their inability to think critically and just repeating ad nauseam what some dogger has told them.
They are disgusting opportunists hovering over the dead carcasses of our horses.
Please join us in NOT defending doggers.
#MOHM NEEDS YOUR HELP!
We’ve been threatened by those in the horse racing industry and those who benefit from horse slaughter more times than we can count.
But we are not going away.
We are going to persist until horse slaughter no longer exists for any purpose within Australia -- and until the horse racing industry makes drastic changes.
We are going to continue our hands-on work to offer lifelong sanctuary to as many horses as possible. We generally have 20 at just one of our locations - at any given time.
We have the acreage to take on more horses as financial support allows.
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