Old and unwanted

TIPTON -- On a farm near Tipton, several dead horses wait their turn in a busy pet crematory, their carcasses preserved under snow. Stephen Johnson, owner of Pet Memories, is one of the few people in Iowa working to meet the increased demand for the cremation of horses -- a demand that has him turning down up to 15 calls a week from veterinarians and horse owners from as far away as Missouri and Illinois.

"God, I wish there was competition," Johnson said.

His business is one of many feeling the effects of a painful adjustment for the equine economy, which is seeing a glut of unwanted horses, both living and dead.

One factor in the increase is the end of the slaughter of horses in the United States, with the last plant closing in DeKalb, Ill., last fall. Before horse slaughter ended, about 100,000 horses were processed annually, with the majority of meat then being sold overseas in Europe and Japan, where horse meat is considered a delicacy.

While the U.S. government has no ban, per se, on horse slaughter, language in recent federal ag appropriation bills forbids the federal inspection of horse processing plants, meaning no new plants can be licensed. Legislation also is pending in Congress -- the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act -- that would ban horse slaughter and make it more difficult for horses to be exported to other countries for slaughter.

Jill Paxton, bureau chief for the Iowa Bureau of Dog and Horse Breeding, said the increased number of unwanted horses -- along with rising costs for hay and horse boarding -- have hit the Iowa equine economy hard, an economy that represents $8.3 billion in assets and 199,220 horses.

"A lot of these horses now have no market value," Paxton said, adding that the federal legislation, if passed, would make the problem worse. "Our sale barn industry has been terribly injured by what is going on."

Devin Mullet, owner of the Kalona Sales Barn, said horses that used to sell for $200 or $300 at auction are now selling for as little as $20. And because sale barns make money by taking a percentage of the sales, the drop has hurt his business.

"The bad part of this is that demand for horse meat in Europe is as high as it has ever been," Mullet said, adding that European buyers were willing to pay 80 cents to a $1 a pound for horses.

Mullet said he is more judicious about the horses he accepts for sale after having to recently shoot 28 old and crippled horses over several months.

"The horses that I shot all had problems," Mullet said. "They were horses that needed to be put down."

Keith Dane, director of equine protection for the Humane Society of the United States, said the overpopulation of horses can be attributed to other factors, such as horse owners intentionally overbreeding horses in hopes of obtaining valuable animals, such as champion racehorses. He thinks it's wrong to allow slaughter as a disposal method for unwanted horses.

"Nobody eats horses in this country, and nobody raises horses to be eaten, so to end a horse's life in this way would be inhumane," Dane said.

Proponents of horse slaughter, he said, exaggerate its effect on the horse population. Canada and Mexico still allow slaughter of horses and an increasing number of horses from the United States are being trucked to these countries for processing, he said.

In 2006, 11,080 horses were exported to Mexico. By 2007, that number rose to 45,609, a 311 percent increase, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Some horse owners see both sides of the debate.

Deb Ockenfels, 51, owns Free Rein North Barn, a horse boarding barn outside Shueyville, and three horses of her own. Seven years ago, when one of her longtime horses, was suffering from chronic knee pain, someone suggested she sell him at the Kalona Sale Barn.

Ockenfels wouldn't hear of it.

"My horses are pets. They're family. They're not just livestock," she said.

But for those who can't afford to have their horses euthanized, Ockenfels said, slaughter is a better alternative than some. "It's better than just letting them starve," she said.

Karla Sibert, president of the Cedar Rapids-based Iowa Equine Rescue & Awareness League, works with law enforcement to find homes for horses seized because of neglect.

She said the inverted horse economy is leading some horse buyers to think they can buy horses for low prices and then turn a profit. But those buyers forget to figure in the high upkeep horses bring with them.

"They think they are going to make a buck off it, and it just doesn't happen," she said.

Partially because of this, she said, while the number of neglect cases has stayed the same, the number of horses found for each complaunwanted int has risen.

"What is going to happen to all the horses in Iowa?" Sibert said. "I really don't know that answer."

- By Stephen Schmidt, The Gazette