I watched around 20 minutes of it but had to drive some-one around so missed some of it.
I realise it was confronting watching horses being killed........... but in most cases it was very quick and painless. Yes there where several incidences ( over weeks of secret filming ) where the horse thrashed about for a number of seconds and the worker had to re-bolt the horse, in one case 5 times. But how do we know this was not just muscle spasms that can occur for up to a minute after death ?
The method being used was the proper, approved, humane method of putting the animals down.
It was graphic, it was horses and the filming was designed to push all of the emotional buttons on people who have become alienated from the food chain, but there was very little in the footage that could be described as cruelty.
There was one point where it was obvious to any-one with any knowledge of the slaughter process, that the reporter even blatantly lied to viewers. I picked it up and I am no expert, so I wonder how many other porkies where told in the story. There was a group of three related horses shown in an outside pen which the reporter claimed where killed in front of their siblings, the clear intention being to mislead viewers into believing they saw their siblings killed. This was patently untrue as footage of the slaughter pen showed it was fitted with the large metal viewing side shields that close around the animal before it receives the bolt to the head. These shields are regarded as best practice in the industry as they prevent animals from viewing what is happening to others ahead of them in the process.
I get that the footage is very graphic and would be hard for people who are closeted in their homes, alienated from nature, life and death to watch, but death is never pretty. Unfortunately every living being is going to experience it.
We are fortunate to live in a very wealthy country where we can have the debate about the merits or otherwise of the racing industry, vegetarianism and veganism. We are affluent enough that we can bend the rules of nature to ensure everything we eat is highly processed mush in a disposable plastic bowl from a freezer in a supermarket. Many others do not have this luxury. For most of the worlds population, food ( for thier animals and themselves ) comes from wherever it can be found and that includes running around on four legs as nature intended.
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