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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Our-Horses-Still-Suffer-by-Suzana-Megles-Advertising_BLM_Cruelty_Death-141213-699.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
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December 13, 2014
Our Horses Still Suffer
By Suzana Megles
Even though I can only love horses from afar, they are still often in my mind as I have recalled the many ways we as a nation mistreat them. They are such beautiful vegetarian creatures who have used their strength in so many ways in by gone days to help a young nation get on its feet. But how do we treat them today for their gifts to us so long ago?
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PREMARIN MARES
A couple months ago I was shocked when I saw an ad for Premarin Vaginal Cream in the Ladies Home Journal magazine. Pfizer just won't give up and they continue to keep poor pregnant mares tethered in stalls for the
length of their pregnancy. Imagine too that they are given little water during this time so that the urine will be concentrated. They also have an attached cup under their vulvas to catch the urine. This whole situation must be cruelty personified for them.
A few years back I read with incredulity that doctors were prescribing Premarin for menopausal symptoms and that millions of women were dutifully taking these horse urine capsules. They proved very lucrative for Pfizer and very painful and stressful for the poor mares.
Thankfully, there were some doctors like Dr. Christine Northrup who said women should NOT be taking horse urine. Time would prove her right, and finally studies proved that Premarin was not a healthy drug to take to address menopausal symptoms. So many of us who worried about the Premarin mares breathe a sigh of relief -believing that these cruel Premarin farms would be a thing of the past and no mare would again have to suffer
this way any more.
So you can imagine how sick I felt when a few months ago I saw an ad in the Ladies Home Journal advertising Premarin Vaginal Cream. It didn't take me long to contact LHJ and ask them to cancel my subscription because of this offensive ad. I asked them if they did not care about the mares who
suffer for this product? Obviously, they didn't because they did not respond.
Well, two more magazines I subscribed to had a Premarin ad. Woman's Day and Good Housekeeping are also no longer welcome in my home. Even the evening news programs are featuring an ad for Premarin. I hope that women will think twice before buying any product which causes so much mare suffering.
SAFE ACT
I was saddened by the loss of Senator Mary Landrieu's seat in Louisiana in a recent run off between her and Rep. Cassidy. She has been a huge proponent of the SAFE Act which would stop the sending of our horses to horrible slaughter in Mexico and Canada. I hope that before she leaves office -House Speaker Boehner will finally introduce this much needed act for the horses so that it can be debated and hopefully passed. It would bring her and so many of us who care about horse suffering, a great deal of relief for them. The one good thing re this is that I read that the European Union has notified Mexico they don't want any more slaughtered horse meat. I hope this is so because I have read that Mexico's slaughtering practices are particularly cruel.
HORSE FIGHTING IN THE PHILIPPINES
Years ago I had sadly read that horse fighting was a regular occurrence in this supposed Catholic country. If so, I sadly wondered where were the bishops and priests to allow this to happen. Or having tried, did they find out that the people obstinately refused to heed their counsel? At any rate, today Brian Davies of the Network for Animals e-mailed us that this cruel practice still exists today.
He wrote that despite the Philippine Government having passed legislation which banned the brutal blood sport of horse fighting in 1998, it still continues in some provinces because the punishments are so low, and the organisers are so powerful that corrupt officials turn a blind eye. Also- high stakes gambling continues to draw crowds. He also mentioned that they thought they had wiped out horse fighting in the province of Bukidnon in 2012. Their undercover team discovered otherwise. Now Brian and his
team realize that they must refocus their efforts there and then work on each province until this horror stops.
BLM ROUND-UPS
No discussion of horse suffering can omit the cruelty of the helicopter round-ups of our wild horses of the West by the Bureau of Land
Management. These beautiful free-roaming and majestic creatures are almost run to death by the helicopters, and invariably some do die as a result. And then many of them will be sold at auction and snapped up by the "meat" men who sell them for slaughter to Mexico and Canada.
Why is this happening? Probably because the government wants our public lands to be used by the cattle barons. That is wrong because public lands belong to all of us and should not be used for commercial interests. They might not also want to get involved with a contraceptive program to keep the population of the horses in check. It all boils down to selfish interests and not what is best for these beautiful wild horses of the West.
Mohatma Gandhi got it right -- you can always judge a country by the way it treats its animals. In my opinion, we have nothing to be proud of.
Authors Bio:
I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 responded. I feel that the very least they can do is to instruct that the priests give one sermon a year on compassion to animals. I am still waiting for that sermon. I also belong to Catholic Concern for Animals - founded in England in 1929. (They are on the internet) I recently sent a sample copy of their bi-monthly publication called the ARK to the 8 Catholic bishops of Ohio. Only ONE kindly responded. Somehow we have to reach the Christian teaching magisterium. There is next to nothing re animal concerns and compassion for them. They basically believe that animals are the lesser of God's creation and that gives us the right to do anything we want to them. Way wrong. We need to change their mindsets. The animals are God's first and He expects us to treat them compassionately.