ASPCA Hails Passage Of Horse Slaughter Prevention Act
The ASPCA today hailed the passage of H. R. 503, the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, as a significant move towards permanently banning the slaughter of horses in the United States for human consumption abroad. The U. S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill by a vote of 263 to 146.
“Americans have long had a love affair with horses, both domesticated and wild,” said ASPCA President Ed Sayres. “The recent public and media interest in the recovery of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is a clear indication of the fascination, awe, and empathy we feel for these magnificent animals. The history of our nation is indelibly linked to these great creatures and, with the passage of this bill, we are one step closer to treating horses as we should—as valued members of our humane community.”
Read the rest of the Press Release...
“Americans have long had a love affair with horses, both domesticated and wild,” said ASPCA President Ed Sayres. “The recent public and media interest in the recovery of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is a clear indication of the fascination, awe, and empathy we feel for these magnificent animals. The history of our nation is indelibly linked to these great creatures and, with the passage of this bill, we are one step closer to treating horses as we should—as valued members of our humane community.”
Read the rest of the Press Release...
Labels: Animal cruelty, ASPCA, Horses, Press Release
posted by ASPCA at 6:02 PM PERMALINK
11 Comments:
W00t another step forward for the horses!
Thank the good Lord! Our voices have finally been heard! Hurray for our side!
Thanks for keeping us informed! Keep up the good work!!
This is NOT a Done deal yet. We have to keep track of our state representatives and IF or WHEN they vote to destroy the "Butchery/Slaughter" escapades. Just watch and see what your representatives do, and if they vote to CONTINUE the process of Horrendous MURDER, then that is the time to VOTE them out at the next BALLOT.. I have always felt that a dog, cat, or horse etc, is not going to be my MAIN COARSE! Horses for DECADES have been the American Signature right along side of the "American Bald Eagle". Make sure your representatives HEAR what you are telling them if they want your VOTE!!!!!* * * * *
I am happy to see horse slaughter ended, and unhappy that such one-step thinking went into it. The last time I had to euthanize a horse, I had the $150 for the backhoe, the acreage for the backhoe to dig a 16' (min) hole, the $150 for the vet, and a municipality that allowed burial of horses. Most do not. Most dumnps will not take horse carcases. Most places do not allow shooting. And, since not all people are what we would hope, the ones who are callous now do what - let the creatures stand in the pen until they starve to death? We must create a venue for the crippled, unwanted, or just uneconomically unfeasible animals, so we don't have the problem of rotting horse carcases, and the poor, unwanted animals don't have to suffer even worse deaths than the slaughterhouse could provide.
I am very worried about what will happen to horses that can no longer be cared for by their owners. In some cases the financial situation of the owner will change unexpectedly and force a tough decision. The Humane Society offers a soluation for dog and cat owners, where is a Humane Society for horses? I can see many horses experiencing a life much worse than slaughter.
I am really glad that the slaughter of horses has stopped.
im so happy that the bill has passed such a noble creature deserves to live
Just want to Say I am glad this has Stopped. Now we need to get the Names of the Animals that had the companys and employees and have each of them PUT IN JAIL...Also all profits be donated to ASPCA so that anyone that wants to try this will think about it before they act.
Sonny Balusek
Efforts to save horses fall short of woman's hopes
By Harold Campbell and Joelyn Hansen/Daily Sun staff writers
Thursday, March 22, 2007 9:50 AM CDT
A woman working to save about 250 horses from slaughter could only watch from a feedlot near Filley on Wednesday afternoon as most of them were packed onto double-decker trucks and taken away.
Beaune, director of Epona Horse Rescue in Kearney, traveled twice to the feedlot, owned by Gilbert Wolken, on Tuesday and Wednesday in an effort to save as many of the horses as possible after learning about the sale Monday.
“I'm down here to save as many as possible,” Beaune said as she tallied up the donations and the prices of the horses they were attempting to save. “We're still operating on faith.”
By Wednesday afternoon, donations of about $3,250 had come into Epona Horse Rescue fund, just short $1,075 of their $4,325 bill for about nine horses, she said.
That amount was enough for Beaune and other horse rescue group workers to save nine horses - including six pregnant mares, a Thoroughbred and a 7-month-old filly - by buying them from the owner at 71 cents a pound.
Beaune said it costs between $300 and $1,300 to buy one of the horses, depending on its weight.
Beaune traveled to Wolken's farm Tuesday to plead with him to delay the sale to allow more time to raise funds to purchase more horses.
“We begged him, begged Gilbert to hold off until Saturday,” Beaune said.
Their only other option Wednesday was to hope that they would find that the animals were being illegally transported in double-decker trucks.
But the law didn't apply, because the horses were being taken to a sale barn to be processed before being sent to slaughter, she said.
“There's not a ... thing I can do about it,” Beaune said. “They're not breaking any laws.”
The Gage County Sheriff's Office was called out to the feedlot around noon Wednesday afternoon, Beaune said. She didn't know who actually made the call, but had heard it was a representative from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Whether it was PETA that called could not be confirmed.
County Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy Wach, the second to respond to the area, said they received a call from some people claiming horses were being inhumanely loaded into trucks.
When deputies arrived at the scene, Wach said they talked with Wolken and observed the activities that were going on. The deputies then determined no laws were being broken and the animals were not being treated inhumanely.
Wach said that the double-decker trucks were being used, but the horses were being transported from the feedlot to the Beatrice 77 Livestock Sales, which he said was not illegal.
Transport of some of the horses originally planned to be shipped directly to slaughter from the feedlot on Wednesday was delayed because the single-deck truck developed mechanical problems, Wach said.
Wolken had kept the horses on his feedlot about four miles north and three miles west of Filley for nearly six months but was apparently unable to sell them.
He said in a telephone interview with the Daily Sun Wednesday night he had bought the horses at auctions and from individuals during the winter with the intent of reselling them.
He later agreed to sell the horses to a kill buyer for between 41 and 50 cents a pound. With Gage County sheriff's deputies looking on, the horses were taken on Wednesday from his feedlot to Beatrice 77 Livestock Sales, where they were sorted for shipment.
The buyer was then to transport them to a ranch in Texas and eventually Mexico.
Wolken said he could not release the name of the buyer and other financial details. He also could not say how many of the horses were to be slaughtered.
To Wolken, how Wednesday's horse shipments became a controversy was a mystery. He said he received a telephone call from an Omaha television station about his horses late Tuesday night.
“The deputies came out and checked it out and said everything was legal,” he said. “I wasn't doing anything wrong.”
He also said he did not know who contacted animal-rights' activists about the horses.
“I guess there was talk behind my back,” he said. “I was never personally bothered by anyone.”
I am a major horse & animal lover. I am not a vegetarian. We have 2 resuce horses. I am not pro-slaughter house... BUT I feel that the closing of the slaughter houses & laws that outlaw slaughter for human consumption do not solve the problem & may even compound the problem. Now horses are shipped live to face an even more frightful painful death. As much as I hate seeing a horse die (I lost 2 through the years), a humane painless death with the meat beigh used in the 'circle of life' somehow seems a much better solution.
Is there a movement out there for 'humane slaughter'... for all livestock? If it is part of a culture to eat horse meat, I don't think that we can change that. We can change the way animals give their lives for us & do it with respect.
thanks
Candy
ps Locally I heard that if an old horse does need to be put down, the wild animal park & or our local 'rehabilitative' zoo will take the carcass ... this seems to make sense to me & yes burying large animals is a big issue.
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