Assure humane transport of horses

You don't necessarily have to love horses to be appalled by descriptions of the suffering and chaos that greeted rescuers when they arrived at the scene of an Oct. 27 tractor-trailer crash on Route 41 in Wadsworth.

The large truck, carrying a trailer full of horses, had gone through a red light, rammed into a pickup truck and tipped over, trapping 59 draft horses.

The animals were piled on top of one another, some dead, others seriously injured, most of the survivors panicked by their inability to right themselves and escape.

Seventeen horses were euthanized; 42 are recovering on a horse farm near Wadsworth, and the owner of these horses reportedly is cooperating with plans to put many of the Belgians up for adoption.

What is shaping up as a relatively happy ending for many of these graceful and sensitive animals does not mean, however, that the conditions leading up to the crash can be overlooked.

The horses were being shipped from an auction in Indiana to Minnesota. It is not clear what was to happen to the animals once they reached their destination. There has been no confirmation of early speculation that the horses eventually were to be dispatched for slaughter in Canada, as all horse slaughterhouses in the United States have been shut down.

What's clear is that conditions in the semitrailer would have been unacceptable even if the crash had not occurred. This perspective may be difficult for any suburban resident who never has been inside or near a semitrailer truck. But here's the bottom line: For as large as these trucks may appear while barreling down an expressway, there is no way that as many as 59 horses could fit comfortably in one trailer or could be comfortable in the double-deck arrangement -- designed for smaller animals, such as hogs or cattle -- of this particular truck.

All of which has prompted state Rep. JoAnn Osborne, an Antioch Republican, to introduce a measure that would ban the hauling of horses in double-deck trailers in Illinois. Four other states -- Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont -- already have taken this step.

Osborne is correct; Illinois should follow suit. The debate over slaughterhouses continues, with some people arguing that the absence of regulated slaughter facilities in the U.S. is prompting some owners to cram horses into trailers for shipment to Canada or Mexico.

Even if that economic motive is understandable on some level, the cruelty is not. How often do these conditions show up in trucks passing through Illinois? There's no way to know, but it hardly matters. The Wadsworth crash alone is enough for legislators to ban such inhumane conditions.