There is a problem with not allowing them to be used for food though...
Having a horse market for food puts a floor on the price of a horse. Meaning that if you cannot afford to care for a horse, feed the horse and the horse is not suitable to be sold you can send it to an auction where it will typically be sold for slaughter, not necessarily for human consumption.
The cost for putting down a horse in my area is about 400 dollars plus a travel fee. Around $750 for me in total. People that can't afford, or just plain suck, will stick the horse out to pasture and not provide food or care, or release it to the wild. I'm a horse lover so I do not like the end of life of a horse sent to a kill plant, but I would argue that the alternative is often far far worse.
No-Neighborhood2152 t1_jdeokx9 wrote
Reply to comment by CaliBigWill in TIL the US federal government captures and sells excess wild horses to the public by MoistCoyote
There is a problem with not allowing them to be used for food though...
Having a horse market for food puts a floor on the price of a horse. Meaning that if you cannot afford to care for a horse, feed the horse and the horse is not suitable to be sold you can send it to an auction where it will typically be sold for slaughter, not necessarily for human consumption.
The cost for putting down a horse in my area is about 400 dollars plus a travel fee. Around $750 for me in total. People that can't afford, or just plain suck, will stick the horse out to pasture and not provide food or care, or release it to the wild. I'm a horse lover so I do not like the end of life of a horse sent to a kill plant, but I would argue that the alternative is often far far worse.