Congress Puts Horse Slaughtering Back On The Table
Along with passage of resolution to fund federal government until Dec. 16
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a resolution to fund the federal government until Dec. 16, but the bill also lifted restrictions to fund the inspection of horse meat.
The Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science & Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill, or H.R. 2112, drew criticism from U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8).
“This year, Tea Party inspired intransigence threatened to shut down the Federal Government, cause a default on our debt, and resulted in a downgrade of our credit rating for the first time in 100 years," said Moran. “While I ultimately supported this appropriations bill, I have serious objections with the conference committee’s decision to remove House-approved language preventing horse slaughter, language that had been in the bill for the past five years and I authored this year."
Since 2005, Federal funds have not been available to aid in the inspection of horse meat, which dealt the horse slaughter industry a serious blow.
"Approximately 70% of Americans are opposed to the practice of slaughtering horses for meat. There is no viable market for horse meat in the United States, but when the slaughter industry existed prior to 2006, the meat was exported to parts of Asia and Europe where it is considered a delicacy," according to Horsechannel.com.
Moran said that Congress will have to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. “I am committed to doing everything in my power to prevent the resumption of horse slaughter and will force Congress to debate this important policy in an open, democratic manner at every opportunity," Moran said.
Sally Spangler
1:13 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
The original idea of horse slaughter became known when cattlemen and sheep herders felt that wild horses ate the grasses that could best be feed for cattle and sheep. So - what is important - cattle/sheep feed or wild animal feed, to include buffalo, horses, and other grazing wild animals? Is a shrug of our collective shoulders the answer of don't care?
Marie Haughey
2:14 pm on Saturday, December 3, 2011
The only reason for allowing horse slaughter, according to supporters, is that there are too many unwanted horses and horse slaughter is the only solution to the problem.
In states like California, where slaughter was banned, neglect and theft actually decreased after the ban. The rate of horse theft dropped by 34% in 1998 alone when California horse slaughter. In Illinois, horse neglect and abuse decreased when the state’s horse slaughter plant closed down.
The vast majority of horse owners, 99%, use humane euthanasia for their old or ill horses. About 900,000 horses die annually, and they’re safely disposed of by means other than slaughter.
USDA documents state that more than 92% of horses who go to slaughter are in good condition. Slaughter houses want fat, healthy horses, not thin starving ones. The surplus, unwanted horses are thin and starving; opening slaughter houses is not addressing or solving this. Slaughter houses are creating a market for healthy, wanted horses.
Many domestic horses are stolen every year for the horsemeat trade. Ohio newspapers reported the theft of two prized former racehorses who were sold for $250 each to an auctioneer, who then sold them to a killer buyer. Their owner had planned on retiring them at a sanctuary. Sky Dutcher came to Washington, D.C. to tell the story of how her horse, Cimmarron, was stolen from his corral on her twelfth birthday and sent to slaughter within two days.
Marie Haughey
2:15 pm on Saturday, December 3, 2011
Footage from inside the horse slaughter facilities in the United States showed abuse and cruelty. Many horses were conscious when they were shackled and hoisted by a rear leg to have their throats cut. Horses were whipped in the face while others gave birth on the killing floors. The USDA recently released photos of horses with broken bones protruding from their bodies, eyeballs hanging by a thread of skin, and open wounds – all taken at former U.S. horse slaughterhouses. No animal, food animal or not, should be subjected to this tremendous cruelty inside – or outside – of our borders. This is not humane, but a brutal and terrifying end for horses.
PLEASE call, email, mail, fax, not only the President, but your representatives, and ask them to co-sponser the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, H.R. 2966 / S. 1176. Send postcards to the White House, they don't go through the weeks-long inspection regular mail goes through.