THE DELVAL BOOK COMMUNITY 2012-13

1. THE DELVAL BOOK COMMUNITY2012-13

2. Purpose The principal aim of the DelVal Book Community is to involve all of the College’s students, faculty, and staff in a common academic dialogue, and to promote literacy, life-long learning, communication, and collaboration across multiple disciplines, and throughout the community.

3. Participants Sara Crawford, Assistant Professor, Large Animal Science Breann DePietro, Instructor, Equine Teaches: Equine Practicum I, Training and Conditioning, and Intermediate Dressage Cory Kieschnick, Instructor, Equine Studies Teaches: Introduction to Equine Instruction, Special Training Project, Senior Seminar in Equine Business, Riding Skills Courses (specifically Principles of Jumping, Balanced Equitation) Also: Head Coach of the Intercollegiate Equestrian Team Michael Stamps, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, English Teaches: Composition and literature courses Angelo Telatin, Assistant Professor, Equine Science Teaches: Equine skill classes, equine behavior; Equine behavior and training Also: Fellow of the British Horse Society Susan White, Assistant Professor , Equine Studies Program, Large Animal Science Dept. Teaches: horse riding and training, Equine Training, Equine Exercise Physiology, and previously taught Introduction to Equine Science. Areas of specialization include: Equitation, basic horse training, and Equine Nutrition

4. Question 1 CONTEXT: Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals confronts readers’ complicated and sometimes contradictory relationships with animals. A few achieve affectionate “pet” status, while the rest are indifferently relegated to “food” or “pest” status. QUESTION: Where do horses fit in? What is it about our relationship to this animal (in the U.S.) that has contributed to its privileged and protected status?

5. Question 2 CONTEXT: Animal welfare and animal rights groups such as the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) advocate on behalf of animals, especially when they are the voiceless victims of human cruelty and unethical treatment. QUESTION: When it comes to horses, what constitutes “cruelty” or “unethical” treatment? What have been some of the more common forms of mistreatment horses have endured as a result of their relationship with humans?

6. Question 3 CONTEXT: It is notoriously difficult to measure “suffering” or to police “cruelty” when it comes to how humans treat animals. Nor are philosophers, scientists, activists, lawyers, and politicians likely to agree upon common definitions or standards any time soon. In an ideal world, we want to believe that all animals are equal; yet in the real world of limited time, energy, resources, and compassion, it often seems (as it is in the credo from Orwell’s Animal Farm) that “some animals are more equal than others.” QUESTION: What is it about our historical, cultural, and personal relationships with horses that makes their suffering and death seem more horrible than that endured by cows, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, or fish? Are we inconsistent in our emotions or hypocritical in our beliefs?

7. Question 4 CONTEXT: In 2007, the last horse slaughtering house in the U.S. closed after Congress voted to defund the USDA inspection of these facilities, thereby rendering their activities and products illegal and unsellable. Prior to these legislative measures, 140,000 horses were slaughtered in the U.S. in each year since the introduction of this legislation, approximately 138,000 U.S. horses have been slaughtered for their meat—but only after being transported to slaughterhouses in Canada or Mexico. QUESTION: Have the good intentions of this bill and its supporters solved the problems of “cruelty” or “unethical” treatment inflicted upon horses in the U.S., or made matters worse for unwanted horses? What have been some of the unintended consequences related to this measure, and what steps could or should be made to remedy them?

8. Question 5 CONTEXT: Since the closure of U.S. horse slaughtering houses in 2007, which coincided with the economic downturn of the Great Recession and rising grain prices, incidents of horse neglect and abandonment continue to rise. In 2009, for instance, the state Bureau of Animal Protection (BAP) of Colorado investigated 1,588 cases of animal neglect involving horses. QUESTION: Where do most unwanted horses come from and what are the legal consequences for neglecting or abandoning them? FOLLOW-UP: How many unwanted or debilitated animals come from the U.S. horse racing industry? What does it cost per annum to keep and care for a rescue horse? What does it cost to euthanize and dispose of a horse?

10. Question 6 CONTEXT: Horses that are raised for racing and other recreational activities absorb a lot of chemicals over their lifespans. Opponents to the slaughtering and exporting of U.S. horse meat often cite the potential dangers associated with “bute,” the anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone. (Due to its possible carcinogenic effects, the drug was banned from being used for treating arthritis or gout in humans; as of 2003, it was prohibited from use in female dairy cattle older than 20 months.) QUESTION: Setting aside the questions of whether or not horse meat is delicious or nutritious, is it safe for human consumption?

11. Question 7 CONTEXT: As of 2011, the appropriations bills that defunded the inspection of horse slaughtering facilities in the U.S. have been repealed, making it perfectly legal to slaughter American horses and package their meat for sale and consumption. The planned slaughter houses have been targeted by animal activist groups who continue to delay their opening. In the meantime, the same 130,000+ horses who might be slaughtered and sold in the U.S. are being transported north and south of the border. QUESTION: Was the previous legislation simply misguided or just incomplete? What do you believe it will take to alter people’s perception of the economic and ethical realities of the worldwide market for horsemeat?

12. Question 8 CONTEXT: There is an ongoing argument in the U.S. surrounding the role the government ought to play in regulating and subsidizing American businesses. The U.S. horse meat industry used to earn $65 million and employ a good number of hard-working Americans; now it is being held hostage by animal welfare organizations. QUESTION: Should the horsemeat industry receive the same degree of government assistance afforded to the beef, poultry, egg, milk, and pork industries? If not, what would be the legal basis for such inconsistent and unequal treatment under the law?

13. Question 9 CONTEXT: The Wild Horse Program that funds the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and protects the approximately 38,000 horses and burros that roam the western U.S. (and another 40,000 maintained in corrals) costs taxpayers $85 million in 2012. This funding also goes toward protecting their habitat, which increases in value as more and more of it is leased to oil and gas developers. QUESTION: Is this a sustainable program? What are some of the environmental, economic, and ethical challenges associated with this program? FOLLOW-UP: Is rounding-up horses a viable solution for the horses, the land, and for taxpayers? What are some of the options for controlling and conserving this renewable natural resource?

14. Question 10 CONTEXT: There are an estimated 9 million horses in the U.S. The percentage of the total population that is transported north and south of the border and processed into food for human consumption is about 1.4%. Livestock animals don’t have it so easy. Each day 90,000 cows and calves meet their end—that’s 3,750 cows per hour. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 billion animals are slaughtered in the U.S. each year. This total includes 151 million cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, and bison, and 8.9 billion chickens, turkeys, and ducks requiring the skilled labor of 527,000 workers in 5,700 slaughterhouses and processing plants across the U.S. QUESTION: What have we (or can we) learn about the current climate of animal welfare and animal rights in the U.S.? Is the amount of moral outrage expended on behalf of 130,000 horses justified when we consider the far greater quantity and severity of suffering experienced by animals raised for food?

15. Jane Smiley “We must recognize that there is a market for horse meat (not only for human consumption, but also for zoo and circus-animal consumption) and that in a starving world, a source of protein should not go to waste for sentimental reasons. It is sentimentality that has resulted in profounder cruelty to our horses — because we don’t accept that they are animals and have a utilitarian purpose, we hide from what happens to them, and so what happens to them happens in secret.”