Campaign To Stop Gordon Ramsay Eating Horses

Gordon Ramsay wants the public to eat Horse Meat - what a disgusting suggestion. Isn't it time to get this equine meal of Gordon Ramsay's off the menu?

Appalling is the only way to describe T.V. chef Gordon Ramsay's food promotion on Channel 4's the F Word. In the latest shock TV stunt he wants the British public to start eating horse meat.

Janet Street Porter visited a horse farm in France for the programme. She cooks horse meat on a barbecue and tries to persuade people to eat it only to be moved along by the police for causing trouble.

We feel absolute revulsion for this ill-conceived idea and we are sure most people will feel the same. We think Gordon Ramsay should not promote the eating of horses on his TV show the F Word.

The controversial Scottish-born chef says that he's eaten horse meat and that it is nutritious. That is hardly the point. Eating cats and dogs would probably be nutritious but we don't do it. It is a taboo and not part of our culture.

We are not short of food sources in the U.K. and the rest of Europe. There is absolutely no need for us to kill and eat our horses. Indeed, it is more healthy for us not to do this.

The abuse in the horse meat trade is already horriffic. The rest of Europe does not have the same standards of animal welfare as the U.K. and even in this country horses are horribly treated in the food chain.

These are kind, gentle animals that eat only grass. They have served mankind for hundreds of years - without the horse we wouldn't be where we are today. Is this anyway to reward these noble creatures?

The debt we owe to the horse is tremendous. Our civilisation would not have evolved without our use of the equine. When man first caught the horse and beat or coaxed him into submission, that was a bad day for the horse but a great one for humans. We have used them ever since.

The term 'breaking in' to tame them is not without reason. They do not want to be ridden or even handled. The natural horse is afraid of man. With good reason.

That is not to say that once 'broken in' they do not became friendly with us. Strong bonds between our two species are possible and even common. They initially come about because the horse is forced to depend on us for food.

Over the centuries we have used horses for transport, ridden them until they've dropped, made them pull heavy carts, used them to farm the land and provide food for us. The coal we burned on our fires and used in our factories could not have been mined without the ponies who were forced to spend their lives hauling wagons in the dark underground. We have taken horses to war where they've been killed in their millions - as we fought our petty squabbles.

Up until recent times there have been military battles whose outcome would have had unthinkable consequences without the bravery cavalry charge. The terror the horses felt as they were spurred amongst the cannons and blown to bits is too horrible to contemplate.

The horse is a creature of beauty - a noble animal. It is not the same as other farm animals. There is a distinction between the species. Horses are of higher intelligence, sensitivity and bravery. Civilised man owes an incalculable debt to his friend the horse.

We'd like to know what next Mr.Ramsay? Are we to eat cats? Dogs? Humans? Think again please Channel 4. This was a badly conceived and ill-thought out programme.

He is a talented chef but on this occasion it's time to get this idea of Gordon Ramsay's off the menu.