What happens when you ban the sale of a certain products people enjoy? Black markets!

That shift is one of the many unintended consequences of a de facto federal ban on horse slaughter, according to a recent federalgovernment study. As the domestic market for unwanted horses shrinks, more are being neglected and abandoned, and roughly the same number — nearly 140,000 a year — are being killed after a sometimes grueling journey across the border.

“When they closed the plants, that put more of a hardship on our horses than the people who wanted to stop the slaughter can imagine,” said John Schoneberg, a Nebraska horse breeder who recently took in three horses from a nearby farmer who said that he was unable to pay for feed and would otherwise turn them loose.

Horses are still being slaughtered, and many horses are being neglected and abandoned. I’m not saying that the slaughter of horses is a good thing, but simply banning something is not without negative consequences.