Legislation to ban horse slaughter underway in US

Washington, July 31: Believe it or not, a legislation is pending before the US Congress seeking to permanently ban slaughter of horses throughout the United States.

It is slated to come before the House of Representatives in September. If enacted it would permanently ban killing of horses for human consumption and the transport of horse meat to overseas consumers, especially in Europe and Japan.

The issue at hand is that concerned Americans, horse organisations, veterinarians and animal-rights advocates want to know why foreign-owned plants in the United States should be producing horse meat which few Americans eat. They want to shut down three foreign-owned slaughter plants in the United States. The plants are located in Fort Worth and Kaufman, Texas, and DeKalb, Illinois, which together slaughtered more than 90,000 horses last year, according to the National Horse Protection Coalition website.

Opponents of the legislation, including the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the slaughterhouses, and the American Veterinary Medical Association, say it would have a negative economic impact and would lead to a glut of unwanted horses if the plants close. They said the bill does not specify what to do with unwanted horses which could hit the nation's taxpayers with up to 130 million dollars in annual costs of care.

Congressmen, who were disappointed that the House of Representatives did not stop the annual slaughter of some 90,000 horses when they tried the first time last year, are now back with a proposed permanent ban they believe is loophole-proof.

Last Thursday the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill, HR 503, sponsored by Rep Ed Whitfield of Kentucky and others, to bar horse slaughter for human consumption.

''This draconian legislation will have far-reaching and significant detrimental effects for horses, horse owners and the agricultural sector,'' said Rep Bob Goodlatte, (R-Virginia), chairman of the agriculture committee.

Goodlatte opposes the bill because he believes shutting down three foreign-owned slaughter plants in the United States would be uneconomical besides creating a burden on the taxpayer to set aside funds for extra care of the unwanted horses.

Vice-president Richard Koehler, of BelTex Corp, a horse slaughter plant in Fort Worth, Texas says ''Passage of this irresponsible bill would be devastating to the horse market and the 40-billion dollars horse industry. It would also be the first time the government closed a livestock business for reasons other than public health or safety.''

Koehler called claims of mistreatment of horses in slaughter plants ''ridiculous,'' saying that a horse under strain will lead to inferior meat.

But Texas oilman T Boone Pickens said horse slaughter ''is a black eye on our state and our nation that demands action. This is all about making money. The kill plants are here in the United States to make money for people in Europe.'' Congress last year approved a provision in a spending bill aimed at stopping horse slaughter for food, eliminating funding for inspectors at the horse slaughterhouses for a year. But despite congressional objections, the Department of Agriculture allowed the industry to pay for the inspectors so horse slaughter could continue.

Ed Whitfield of Kentucky and a co-sponsor, Rep John Sweeney, R-N Y, told reporters that this time they were optimistic that their bill would gain Congressional approval. The measure would prohibit "the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possession, purchasing, selling or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption." Whitfield said worries about what would happen to horses that couldn't be taken to slaughter were overblown. A dozen years ago, he said, 329,000 horses were slaughtered in a year, compared with 85,000 to 90,000 last year.

Whitfield says he did not buy the argument that going from 85,000 to zero, the whole country would be covered up with horses. In any case, he said, breeders needed to take responsibility for reducing the number of foals.

However Whitfield is not yet ready to say the bill will be adopted by the House.

''I'm always a little more cautious than most people because you never know until you have the vote,'' Whitfield said. ''But we have a lot of work to do and we're going to continue working on this issue until the vote,'' he added.

Sweeney introduced the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act in February 2003, but the bill was held up by Goodlatte for two years despite gaining 225 co-sponsors, more than the 218 needed to pass the 435-member house.

Sweeney and Representative John Spratt (D-South Carolina) amended the 2003 bill and re-introduced it as HR 503 in 2005. It won initial approval in the committee last week.

Meanwhile a number of websites have sprung up calling for action from anyone who cares about thoroughbreds or any breed of horses. It says that now is the time to respond to the call of Congressmen and horse lovers to put an end to the brutal, unnecessary slaughter of horses in the US and ban exports of horse meat for human consumption overseas Call, write, e-mail, or talk to your congressmen and tell them to vote for this legislation, it says.

UNI