Groups Make Final Push to Pass Legislation Aimed at Stopping the Slaughter of Horses for Human Consumption: How You Can Help

This could be the last chance to get this passed this year. For more on this issue and how you can help pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503) see https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2006_horses_senate4

The legislation, which would shut down three processing plants in Texas and Illinois

“The $60-million-a-year horse slaughter industry in the United States consists of Dutch-owned Beltex; Dallas Crown Inc., in Kaufman, Texas; and Cavel International Inc. in DeKalb, Ill.

The three plants slaughtered more than 90,000 horses in 2005, largely for distribution to Europe and Japan, where horse meat is often part of the human diet. It's also sold to zoos.

The video taken in a municipal slaughterhouse in Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, shows a white horse being stabbed repeatedly in the back and neck before collapsing to the floor.”

Article:

Animal rights groups press Congress to halt the slaughter of horses

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/
news/politics/16171341.htm

By Dave Montgomery

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

WASHINGTON - Animal rights groups mounted a final effort Tuesday to push through a ban on U.S. horse slaughterhouses in the closing days of Congress, displaying graphic videos and wielding a letter of support from more than a fourth of the Senate's 100 members.

The legislation, which would shut down three processing plants in Texas and Illinois, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 263-146 in mid-October after a high-profile campaign that included celebrities such as country music star Willie Nelson and actress Bo Derek.

Animal rights groups and their supporters say the horses are kept and transported in inhumane conditions as part of a "slaughter pipeline" that reaches across the U.S. border and ends with brutal deaths. Opponents of the bill argue that the U.S. plants are needed to prevent a surplus of unwanted horses and that the horses are killed instantly and humanely.

With the outgoing Republican-controlled Congress scheduled to adjourn by the weekend, supporters of the measure are frantically trying to push the bill through the Senate, acknowledging that it could be squeezed out by more pressing issues, including a giant spending measure and Robert Gates' nomination to be defense secretary.

Twenty-seven senators, including the bill's sponsors, Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., called on the Senate leadership to allow a vote on the bill and "end this slaughter once and for all."

Despite the last-minute push, the bill faces stiff opposition. Brent Gattis, a senior policy adviser at the Washington law firm of Ollson Frank & Weeda who represents the industry, said that as many as 11 senators have indicated that they'll take steps to block consideration if Senate leaders bring it up.

The bill's signers included members from both parties. Among them: Sens. Trent Lott, R-Miss., Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; Joseph Biden, D-Del.; John Kerry, D-Mass., and California's two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

The Humane Society of the United States and the Society for Animal Protective Legislation released video footage showing horses being put to death in slaughterhouses in Juarez, Mexico, and Montreal.

Another video clip, made several years ago, was of a horse being killed by a bolt gun, which is commonly used to kill beef cattle. Human Society CEO Wayne Pacelle said the video was made in the Beltex plant in Fort Worth, Texas, but Beltex officials have disputed that claim, saying they believe it was shot elsewhere.

The $60-million-a-year horse slaughter industry in the United States consists of Dutch-owned Beltex; Dallas Crown Inc., in Kaufman, Texas; and Cavel International Inc. in DeKalb, Ill.

The three plants slaughtered more than 90,000 horses in 2005, largely for distribution to Europe and Japan, where horse meat is often part of the human diet. It's also sold to zoos.

The video taken in a municipal slaughterhouse in Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, shows a white horse being stabbed repeatedly in the back and neck before collapsing to the floor. In the video from Canada, a man with a rifle shoots a horse standing in a stall.

Pacelle said the video was taken by his organization's investigators to underscore the urgency for passing the legislation, which would also halt the transportation of horses for slaughter. Animal rights groups say that thousands of American horses are exported monthly to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses.

End of article.

This could be the last chance to get this passed this year. For more on this issue and how you can help pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503) see https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2006_horses_senate4