As the founder of the Equine Rescue Network, I receive daily emails from owners of aging horses asking for our help to find their horse a new home. Its hard to receive so many similar requests from owners who have owned horses for 22 years and don’t feel it is their responsibility to provide retirement care. “Lawn Ornament” homes are rare. Aged and unsound horses are likely to fall into the slaughter pipeline. I advocate for humane euthanasia for aged and unwanted horses. Owners complain, it is expensive to euthanize a horse and remove the body. As a rescuer, I have found my self researching and discussing the removal of bodies FAR too often. One solution that I believe deserves further discussion is Rendering Plants.
Rendering Plants
All states regulate the disposal of animal carcasses. There are many options including burial, composting, incineration, rendering and bio-digestion. The cost of these methods varies between $75 and $2000. According to the Unwanted Horse Coalition (2009), the cost of euthanasia and carcass disposal is $385 per horse. Rendering is one of the less expensive options, ranging between $75 and $250 per horse (North, Bailey, & Ward, 2005).
The United States has an estimated 300 rendering plants located that process over 54 million pounds of animals materials (bones, blood, hides, offal, feathers, road kill, spoiled grocery meat, restaurant grease, and euthanized dogs, cats, horses) annually. The process produces a variety of products including tallow, lard, animal feed, protein meal, cosmetics, and mechanical lubricants. Rendering is environmentally friendly and available in 50 states in the U.S. (Meeker & Hamilton, 2006).
Rendering facilities throughout the U.S. offer varied services including pick-up services for animal carcasses and onsite euthanasia. Yet, not all rendering plants accept horses because of the additional cost and restrictions of processing large animals. Many plants also do not accept horses treated with Sodium Phenobarbital as it limits their use for animal feeds.
It is estimated that passing legislation that eliminates horse slaughter increased the rendering of horses by less than 10%. Rendering facilities have the potential to manage the increased volume of animals in a cost effective, environmentally friendly and humane way (Meeker, 2008).
Meeker and Hamilton (2006) explain that “renderers are innovative and competitive and will adapt to changes in both regulations and the market. Regulatory agencies will determine whether certain raw materials can be used for animal feed. Customer expectations, consumer demand, and economic considerations will dictate product specifications and prices.” In a free market, if there is a financial opportunity for renderers to accept and process horses, they will make the necessary capital investments in order to process larger animals.
….Just a thought.