Here's the dilemma offered to us by Debra MacKenzie over at the New Scientist: since so many horses are being abandoned now should we slaughter horses for meat as a more humane way of dealing with the issue, or should we just let people deal with their own unwanted horses?

The problem is that horses are expensive, and grain prices are at an all time high at the same time that people's real wages are way down. A lot of horse owners are getting rid of the animals, some by dropping them off (the horses don't know how to live in the wild and will die, possibly by walking across a busy road) and others by just shooting the animals and dumping them illegally. As of now, it's difficult to get horses slaughtered in the US, and the Humane Society wants to make it illegal to transport them to Canada or Mexico for that purpose.

So what do you think? Apparently, the rest of the world doesn't have a problem eating horse meat. Should Americans be more open to the possibility of eating horse if it really were the most humane thing to do?

Though the US is going through the process of banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption, Japan has said that despite the pending outcome, it will keep serving horsemeat that it imports from Canada and South America. Hidetoshi Akinaga, an official from the Agriculture Ministry said that "Japanese imports of horse meat are unaffected by the US vote because first of all Japan does not import that much from the United States."

Though I have never seen it in any Japanese restaurants here in Los Angeles, horse sashimi is a delicacy in Japan. It's a tough, emotional subject because in the US, horses are seen by many as companion animals, not food. At the same time, what elevates a horse over a cow?

A bill that bans the sale of horses for human consumption passed in the House yesterday and is an important step in protecting an animal that is an icon of American culture. Though they are classified as livestock, most regard horses are companion animals due to the unique working relationships that they form with people, through work as cart and police horses and their performance in sports and recreational activities. There are three slaughterhouses in the US, all foreign-owned, that process horse meat for human consumption in places like Japan and parts of Europe. About 90,000 horses from the US are killed each year, either at those plants or after being shipped across borders to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.

The bill still has to pass through the Senate before it becomes law, but this is generally regarded as a huge victory for those in the horse industry - except for those who profit from the horse slaughter industry, of course - across the country.

Jessica Vassar, age 11, had the same dream as many little girls: she wanted a horse. Her parents were both experienced horse-people who gave up their horses when they had their children. They had a 2-stall barn on their property and told Jessica that if she could raise enough money for a horse, they would let her get one.

So, Jessica started baking.

With wheat that she ground herself, she baked and sold bread priced at $3.50 per loaf and cinnamon rolls at $10 a dozen. In just under two years, she raised $1,000 and picked up a horse named Pete from the local Alaska Equine Rescue. Pete only cost $500 and the rest was used to buy a trailer to transport him. Pete may not be the horse that dreams are made out of, with 15 years of life as a pack horse in a national park in his past, but with the help of Jessica's mother, he is turning out to be the horse of Jessica's dreams.

She is still baking away, not only to keep her loyal customers happy, but to finance what she hopes will be a successful season on the local show circuit.

We've seen strangely shaped watermelons and monster watermelons, but we have yet to see watermelon carving of the magnitude found in this online gallery. The horse and cyclist, shown above, are two of my favorites, though the skiier and Taj Mahal are very impressive. Watermelons are natural canvases for food art due to their large size and thick but easily carved rind. The fact that they are colorful is an added bonus. With a sharp knife and a steady hand, it does not seem like it would be that difficult to carve a basic pattern into a watermelon - after all, thousands of children carve into pumpkins every year, and watermelon carving does not require you to gut the fruit before starting.

Last fall, Congress passed legislation  that ceased federal, tax-generated funding for the inspections of facilities used to slaughter horses for human consumption. Because all facilities must be inspected to operate, this effectively shut them down. They could not pay the inspection fees themselves. While not illegal in the US to eat horse meat, it is a disgusting idea to many diners, so the horse meat produced was typically exported to Japan or European countries, like France, Belgium and Italy.

This week, in response to aggressive lobbying efforts from pro-slaughter groups and the owners of the slaughtering plants, the Department of Agriculture amended its policy, which has essentially reversed the federal spending ban on equine slaughterhouse inspections by allowing the slaughterhouse inspection fees to be paid by the slaughterhouse or a third party. This means that they will once again be open for business. On of the congressional bill's sponsor's, said that the Department of Agriculture was "intent on going against what was very clearly the purpose of passing the amendment ... to end horse slaughter."

While there has been a great deal of controversy in the past over the treatment of horses destined for slaughter, the primary sticking point is whether horses should be considered to be companion animals, like cats and dogs, or livestock, like cows. The majority of people lean towards the former viewpoint, especially because almost all horses in the US are kept for pleasure and recreational purposes. This move on the part of the Department of Agriculture shows the pull of the slaughtering industry's money over both animal activists and popular opinion.

California is the only state to have a law completely banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption.