Beast Blog

4th January 2011

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Horses say: ‘Pleeze don’t eat me.’

A troubling turn of events for our equine friends: ranchers and horse owners at this week’s Summit of the Horse say we should sell and eat horse meat, reports the AP.

“The Chinese are chomping at the bit to buy our horses,” said former U.S. Rep Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas) at the conference in Vegas. “The Russians are chomping at the bit to buy our horses. Why can’t we sell it to them?”

The U.S. banned the slaughter of horses in 2007, after activists protested the way the animals were treated. But, horse connossieurs point out, horse meat is safely consumed in dozens of countries.

Further, Horse processing proponents say the animals are a drain on the system, as it costs some $37 million annually to feed and house horses rounded up and confined in corrals. But others say it is over-breeding, not the slaughter ban, that has caused horse overpopulation.

Tags horses politics mealtime

22nd April 2009

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This Capybara waits for no one

I close today’s baby animal bonanza with this guy, the boldest of a brood of capybaras born at England’s Marwell Zoo. Capybaras are the world’s largest rodent - found in the forests of South America - and this one isn’t about to let mom’s constitutional pause his lunch. The photo comes via Zooborns, which has group photos too.

Tags capybaras baby animals mealtime