It's Not "Problem-Solving" if You Created the Problem

It’s Not “Problem-Solving” if You Created the Problem

Last week we heard a lot about unwanted and abandoned horses, a problem that the Humane Society of the United States single-handedly created when it lobbied to force the closure of the domestic horse slaughter industry. The American Veterinary Medical Association and other organizations predicted that “saving” horses from slaughter here at home would cause far greater suffering, but HSUS didn’t listen.

The sad reality is that many owners of unwanted horses can’t afford the $500 average cost for euthanasia. When they bought their horses, in fact, they counted on income from the animals’ slaughter when the animals’ lives were near an end. HSUS put a monkey-wrench into such practical economic outlooks, and caused the very harm it wanted to prevent.

Now, of course, HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle says he has a solution to the problem of unwanted horses starving on the Great Plains: He wants to make it illegal to transport horses to Mexico or Canada for slaughter.

Isn’t that nifty? Pacelle is trying to “solve” a problem that he created. And his solution might make things worse. What’s going to happen if he gets his way? (We would argue that a quick slaughter—even one that may look bad on camera—is preferable to prolonged starvation, but that’s just the way we see it.)

Today HSUS is busy trying to “fix” another problem it created.

The subject is dogfighting. In Philadelphia.

You can probably see where this is going.



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