I got this in my in-box today from a friend who forwards me all of her junk e-mail. It’s a sad story about the sorry state of affairs in Europe’s slaughteryards. And what exactly am I supposed to do with it? Jump up and declare, “This message has inspired me! Let’s go to Poland and rescue the horsies!”?? Yeah, it’s an awful story, but if you care so damn much join an animal aid society, don’t just forward this around again and again. That’s not going to help anyone, let alone horses in Europe.
The person who sent it to me, nice, well-meaning lady that she is, probably isn’t doing a damn thing about horse abuse in this country, let alone Europe. What is the logic of forwarding this message? “I can’t (or won’t) do anything, but maybe the some schumck in my address book will.” And the next schumck who gets this probably will think and do the same thing. Will the horse e-mail do any good? Call me cynical, but I doubt it. Will this message do any good? Very unlikely, I’m just venting.
The thing that really gets my goat has nothing to do with horses in Poland anyway. It’s just that age-old gripe about people who forward and forward and forward junk without bothering to verify it or without even considering whether the person they’re sending it to will even care. Yeah, I forward jokes or stories that I think are funny or unusual (and that haven’t been forwarded to me 20 times already) to certain people that I think might enjoy them. But a lot of people (this–again well meaning–lady in particular) seem to forward every single thing they get to every single person they know, whether or not it’s true, whether or not it’s actually funny, whether or not the person will even care. Hell, I’ll even send something out only to get it forwarded back the next day. They don’t look to see who a message came from, they just forward it to everyone they know. I’ve even composed some e-mail just to have it sent back to me with a heading like, “I just got this the other day and wanted to share.” :rolleyes:
So why don’t I tell the person off? I dunno… she means well, and I don’t want her to think I’m mean (only you and my husband must know that secret). I don’t want to be the bad guy. But then she’ll send me sad e-mail wondering why no one ever answers any of her messages. Gee, could it be because you send them so much junk that they automatically delete anything with your name on it like I’m oh-so tempted to do but won’t because I’m too damn nice? < Sigh 
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Anyway, below is the horsie message in it’s entirety (kinda–I deleted all the forwardy caret things >>>> that preceded every line and the extra returns–THAT’S ANOTHER THING! People forward these damn messages so many times that they’re so full of carets and line breaks and miscellaneous returns that they’re barely comprehensible! When I forward something it’s usually because I think it’s worth sharing and want to make sure it’s readable so I clean them up! It’s that the polite thing to do??)
Ok, here ya go. Read, enjoy, copy and forward if you must (I especially like the part where the slaughterhouse is compared to Auschwitz), but why??:
I apologize for the off topic message. And I apologize if you get multiply copies of it.
Note: If you think you’re too sensitive don’t read on. This is about horses and how they are treated before, while and after they’re transported to the slaughterhouse. I have seen a horror. I have just seen a program about transporting horses to the slaughterhouses in Italy. And I’m still shaking after what I had seen. I just had to write about it. They showed everything.
It starts from selling the horses, here, on horse-markets in Poland. The horses which are weaker are going to go to the slaughterhouses. The buyers come from Italy and it is where they are transporting the animals. First, they take them to the big vans. The horses are now supposed to spend here a few days (it’s about 24 hrs to get to Italy from Poland for a tourist, by bus. The commodity cars take longer because they have to wait at the borders and be checked and all). The animals are not fed nor watered. They are not let out at all. Those who are weaker, die there, in the vans. Those whose fear is too big, die for heart attacks. Those who are weaker and cant stand on their legs anymore, fall down, and there are trampled by their companions. The horses get panicked and they kick each other wounding each other really badly. They showed one, who had a broken leg. And the Italian buyer who got it put the scotch tape around it’s leg!!! No dressing!!! The horse was wounded and he put the scotch tape around it’s broken leg!!! They showed a kicked one. He (or she) had a huge bump, right next to his (her) eye. Another one had a wound on top of his head… Each one of them was wounded. The buyers often beat the horses. The more miserable the horse looks, the lower the duty. They showed the horses, weak, wounded, bleeding… When they get them to Italy, they let out those that can walk, so they could take them to the slaughterhouse, and those that fell down and are unable to get up, they are either trying to force to get up, beating them and pulling, or they tie the laying horse’s legs to another one’s tail, and that horse pulls it’s companion. Don’t have to mention the pain each animal > experiences. And they pull them out only so those bastards could kill them just right after. Like they couldn’t kill them inside the car!! Like they couldn’t kill them here, and transport only the meat…like they couldn’t > just not kill them in the first place!!! Those horse’s eyes…Still in Poland (before the transport), the journalist asked one of the Polish owners -“don’t you feel sorry for the horse?” and what he said? -“no, I get money”.
Then he was asked -“does the horse know it’s going to die?” and the owner replied, WITH A SMILE!! -“yeah, it does, you can see it in it’s eyes…it became sad” AND HE WAS SMILING!!! ALL THE TIME!!! They showed the vans…one horse laying, another one kicking it’s back… Another horse laying…a man beating him to get up… They showed the horse pulling the other one tied to it’s tail…
They showed all this cruelty…And they showed those animals eyes…and their eyes expressed everything much better than any words ever could…pain, fear, sadness…those horses were scared…they knew they would die…and they didn’t know why…
People say Auschwitz was cruel… What I saw today, I call nothing else BUT Auschwitz2. The transports of people were no worse than the transports of horses. The death of people was no worse than the death of the horses. The treating of people was no worse than the treating of horses.
How can people let something like this happen? And it is happening all the time. There are thousands of horses being transported. If they chose to kill them, can’t they at least do it with a bit of respect? The horses can not defend themselves. They can not speak and demand their rights. What do they get for years of serving people? They get pain, fear, sadness and death in the worst possible conditions. And all about money…
There is a shelter for the horses. Those who are too wounded and they don’t let them pass the border, are sometimes taken to the shelter. There, they can do anything they please. I had tears in my eyes after having seen the program, but when they showed the shelter, I did smile. They showed the horses running freely on the fields and the man who was being interviewed was talking so nicely about them. He said that the horses could do whatever they please there. They don’t have to work. They don’t have to serve. They can just live their lives until they die. But those who get there, are not only physically but also psychically wounded. They fear of people. They may even try to bite or kick them. They do not trust people anymore. They have gone through too much. And only one out of thousand horses g