Tyndale: Irish race horse owners are entitle to sell their nags for French food

Mar 20 2011 by George Tyndale, Sunday Mercury

IRELAND’S four-legged loss is a French meat-eater’s gain.

Stung by the collapse of their economy, race horse owners in the Irish Republic are having to cash in on the food value of their animals, selling their nags for speciality neddy fillet, sirloin and mince.

Sales of thoroughbred horses soared while the Celtic Tiger bared its teeth, the number of registered foals rising from 8,793 to 12,633 in seven years.

But the ill wind of recession has left owners struggling to meet the £15,000-a-year costs of stabling, feed and vets’ bills.

Many have been forced to pack off their beasts to the abattoir, the dense red meat finding a ready market on the other side of the Channel.

As we know, the French and their neighbours, the Belgians, will eat anything that once had a pulse and a tail. So horse casseroles and roasts are a rare delicacy

Needless to say, bunny-huggers have got in a tizzy.

The animal rights brigade has condemned the practice as cruel and heartless.

They think the unwanted horses should be lovingly tended, not packed off to the knacker’s yard.

Of course anyone with real compassion for animals will know that putting the gallopers out of their misery is the kindest cut.

A newly impoverished race horse owner is perfectly within his rights to have his animal butchered.

Farmers are notorious for shooting old and lame sheepdogs, or chucking them off cliffs. Giving a nag a painless send-off at the abattoir is the responsible thing to do.

It’s not like they have a clue what’s going on.

This is the real world, not Disneyland.