Developer vows to build horse plant in Missouri

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

MOUNTAIN GROVE, Mo. (AP) — Opposition from some residents will not stop a Wyoming company from building a plant in southwest Missouri to slaughter horses and process the meat for human consumption, the company said.

Sue Wallis, a Wyoming legislator who is chief executive officer of Unified Equine, met Monday with a large crowd at the Wright County Livestock Auction to discuss plans for the plant. She said she was not swayed by opposition to the plant.

“Discussion’s over. Make all the noise you want. We’re going into business,” Wallis said.

Wallis created the company last November after Congress approved a bill allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin inspections again for horse meat plants. She said Unified Equine will complete its feasibility study in the next month and a half, and hopes to have a plant open in southwest Missouri by September, KY3-TV reported (http://bit.ly/yqvkRm ).

The company has said the plant could eventually process up to 200 horses a day in a single shift and that the meat would be distributed to ethnic and specialty markets in the U.S. and abroad.

Wallis said the company is no longer considering a vacant building near Mountain Grove as the site for the plant.

“Might be really close to Mountain Grove, might be a ways away, but it will be somewhere in southwest Missouri,” she said.

Unified Equine chose the region because of its access to good highways and access to horses, she said.

“If you draw a 400- or 500-mile circle around southwest Missouri, you encapsulate more than 30 percent of the horses that are in the U.S,” Wallis said.

An earlier meeting in Mountain Grove to discuss the plant erupted into yelling and heckling of a plant supporter. Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers were present at Monday’s meeting to ensure order. Video cameras were not allowed inside the meeting, but the auction barn overflowed with curious residents.

Opponents contend the plant would bring pollution and crime to the region, as well as a stigma for slaughtering horses. Supporters contend the plant would bring much-needed jobs and help reduce an over-population of horses.

“We always need jobs. There’s a lot of people not working around here. Plus, hopefully it’ll bring the price of horses back up,” said Jeff Walkowe of Dunn.

Protestors believe the plant would be bad for their horse companions and community.

Michelle Collins of Norwood said the horse slaughtering plant would ruin the Ozarks’ way of life.

“It’s just a love of our life, and it’s something we’ve always done together as a family, and we are definitely opposed to the horse slaughter plant,” Collins said.

But Mindy Patterson of the Missouri Equine Council said there are hundreds of thousands of unwanted horses nationwide.

“I implore them to give heed to the thought that these horses are suffering a painful death of starvation,” Patterson said.

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Information from: KYTV-TV, http://www.ky3.com

More like this story

soxfan 1 year, 2 months ago

a big shame on you ,sue wallis

don l

3DMom 1 year, 2 months ago

Why shame on Ms. Wallis? Have you ever been to Mountain Grove? I understand there is a very vocal section of the population who are opposed to this but that doesn't mean the area isn't in desperate need of jobs. I think people are fighting this plant based on emotional reactions to horse slaughter and not economics.

him 1 year, 2 months ago

I see nothing wrong with this. No where does it say horses can't be eaten. Horses were actually wild first. It just the idea that humans made them into pets and work animals that people don't think its right to eat them. They are grazing animals just like cows.

Sequoia 1 year, 2 months ago

This is a humane way to reduce the population of unwanted horses. If they are not slaughtered and processed here, they are left to starve or sent by train to another country for slaughter somewhere else, and they often starve on the way.

There are too many people who think it would be "neat" to get horses, then they don't have the resources or commitment to care for them properly.

JMO 1 year, 2 months ago

Horses are prettier than cows. So are deer and people eat those. Horses are smarter than cows. So are pigs and people eat those. Don't get me wrong, I like horses. I've ridden horses and I think they're terrific animals. But I think bison are terrific animals too, every bit as majestic as horses and people eat those too. America has this love affair with the horse, but the fact is in many countries horses are food, as are dogs and cats.

RetiredOne 1 year, 2 months ago

They taste just like chicken.

Mellony 1 year, 2 months ago

The HSUS and anti-slaughter advocates pushed for closing of the US horse processing houses with the argument that the practice of horse harvest would end. It has not and has only resulted in these animals having to endure longer trailer rides to meet their deaths in often less regulated or sometimes unregulated facilities. The closing of US horse processing plants coupled with the downed economy has led to a depression of the horse industry and to the neglect and abandonment of animals as rescues see their donations dry up. Horses are livestock and this is what happens when the salvage value of a livestock animal is removed. Approximately 130,000 horses were shipped to Canada and Mexico last year for food consumption. Before the closing of the plants in Illinois and Texas approximately 100,000 horses a year were slaughtered for human consumption, slaughter buyers paid $400-$600 for the average horse they bought (100,000 horses x $500 =$50,000,000), these same buyers are now accepting free animals and paying less than $100 for most of their horses. The number of horses going to slaughter is up 30% while the salvage value for these low end animals to horse owners is down 70% or more. This translates to more than $50,000,000 lost to American horse owners, $50,000,000 lost to the American horse industry and $50,000,000 lost to the American economy.

bebeolivia 1 year, 2 months ago

Get your AQHA/paint horse breeders, the thoroughbred industry, the PMU industry, the nurse mare/foal industry, and the unfortunately ever -present backyard breeders to quit pumping out more horses and get all the irresponsible owners to quit throwing horses away and the problem of unhomed horses could be solved. Even the US government can be blamed for this over-population: “A non-horse person might be surprised to learn that the breeding farms receive both huge breeding incentives from their perspective breeding associations, as well as huge tax advantages and write-offs from the IRS."

Horses are NOT livestock and have NEVER been considered as such in this country, hence the fact that horses are treated with many medications that makes the meat unsuitable for human consumption! Heck, dog food makers won't even put it into dog food anymore because it isn't safe for canines to eat!

Oh Mellony quit with trying to crunch numbers. You know what they say: Figures lie and liars figure! Obviously, like all pro slaughter people, this is about the money and not the humane issues! "Therefore, the American people should know where, exactly, the incongruence with this issue lies. There is a powerful link between horse slaughter, Congress and 'big agriculture' and the glue holding them together is money -- greed, power and the almighty dollar at work within The White House."

The American horse industry profits from actual "live" horses from things like sales of tack, trailers, trucks, vet fees, farrier services, horse entertainment, like horse racing, etc. Take care of your horse and you will continue to contribute to the economy.

Horse slaughter was never humane in the US when we had slaughtering facilities here, and it can never be humane for horses and the USDA cannot regulate slaughter facilities any better now (just look at all the abuses that come to light), much less add another species to slaughter and talk of closing 270 USDA offices!

muleman 1 year, 2 months ago

Horses are taxed as livestock on Cole County personal property taxes

bebeolivia 1 year, 2 months ago

FDA classifies them as companion animals and they run many tests on products used in FOOD animals. It runs NO tests on products used in cats, dogs, and HORSES because in the US they are not considered food animals.

Anyway, the "livestock" designation is merely one of semantics as there is nothing in that term that says it is automatically a food source, including USDA's definition, it can be but livestock also encompasses other things.

Oftentimes, it is just used as an outdated and catch-all phrase for convenience for local, state, and national government entities for tax purposes.

DanCollins 1 year, 2 months ago

Mindy Patterson? Please. This is the same woman who led the charge to protect puppymills -- if you do a little research, all of these people involved with the deceptively-named "United Horsemen", "Unified Equine" (or whatever current name they are using) are extremist anti-animal welfare; they jealously defend everything from the charro sport of 'horse tripping' to dog-fighting. However, to listen to Ms Wallis and Patterson wax on about how horse slaughter is "needed" to "restore the industry" and that it's a "humane alternative" to starvation and neglect, you'd think she and her friends were the reincarnation of St Francis himself. Don't be fooled; these are the folks who believe that animals deserve NO protection under the law, as they see every piece of animal welfare legislation as being part of a vast conspiracy to "end all animal agriculture." Horse slaughter has NOTHING to do with "restoring the industry" or "welfare" -- this is a move spearheaded and funded by the powerful meat industry to regain what they perceive as "lost footing" when the USDA funding was withdrawn for horsemeat inspections back in 2007. With the help from 3 politicians, all heavily backed by the meat industry, the rider prohibiting funding for these inspections was removed. Ms Wallis and her posse of foreign and domestic meat-industry interests are making a mad-dash to get a slaughterhouse up and running during this window of opportunity. Wallis' arrogant and contemptuous statement that the "discussion's over" should give everyone in Missouri (and any other state she lands in) real pause, as this is just a brief glimpse into the World of Wallis and Friends.

jmyers4597 1 year, 2 months ago

I was going to post some information to enlighten a few folks here but this forum does not allow a few things here. This is the message I got in attempting to do so.

Watch your mouth! The word "w--." and "h--p" is not allowed here.

Apparently one is not allowed to use Sue's last name or post links So I will just direct everyone to the following Facebook page:

The Community Preservation Project

They were in the thick of the battle and there is some very educational posts there.

viktorkowski 1 year, 2 months ago

you mean dubya dubya dubya and h tee pee pee. the filter is not a organic intelligent one.

online_editor 1 year, 2 months ago

Sorry for the confusion. The filter is very harsh, partly due to some very nasty spammers who like to flood the forums. If you drop the 3w's and h2tp's from any URL in your text, you still can use the rest to convey a working web address. --Rick Brown, online editor, News Tribune

ctygrl4ever 1 year, 2 months ago

so here's my problem with this.....the USDA can't inspect all the plants now......and why does the government have to inspect....because people will try to make a buck whether they put people in danger or not.....too bad the companies of the world don't care just as much about the "moral" bottom line as they do the monetary end.....it won't be long and we'll be having a big horse meat recall because there's one inspector for the entire midwest (exaggerating but probably not by much)

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