Urge Your Legislators to Support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act!
Send a letter to your senators and representative now and urge them to support the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act!
Last year, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Unfortunately, Congress recessed for the year before the Senate had a chance to vote on the measure. As a result, the bill died and had to be reintroduced in both houses of Congress this year. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), H.R. 503/S. 311, has now been reintroduced by the 110th Congress! The bill would prohibit the transport, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of any horse to be slaughtered for human consumption.
Learn more about this bill and send a letter to your senators and representatives.
Last year, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Unfortunately, Congress recessed for the year before the Senate had a chance to vote on the measure. As a result, the bill died and had to be reintroduced in both houses of Congress this year. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), H.R. 503/S. 311, has now been reintroduced by the 110th Congress! The bill would prohibit the transport, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of any horse to be slaughtered for human consumption.
Learn more about this bill and send a letter to your senators and representatives.
Labels: ASPCA, Horses, Humane Legislation
posted by ASPCA at 11:29 AM PERMALINK
7 Comments:
Can this get any dumber?? The further we get from nature the sillier we get. Mr. Ed really didn't talk, Black Beauty is a work of fiction, and Silver wasn't as smart as you think. Horses are prey animals not much different than cows. They are eaten by a significant number of carnivores who, as far as can be determined, suffer no pangs of guilt. Indians have eaten horses for ages - is this one more defeat of the Noble Savage by pure hearted cowboys?
What we really need is to be saved from Granola eating tree huggers who think communing with nature is a hike in the woods and chatting with the bears.
I am against horse slaughter here in America. We do not eat horses in this country. The people that are for slaughter can not seem to see past thier noses on this one. If we allow slaughter to continue, then what happens when the demand for horse meat rises? The world human population is not going down folks! The wild horses will become extinct, there will be more cases of stolen horses around the US. This is a disaster! I vote for horses to be on our “companion animal” list because here in America, that’s what they are!
There ARE State and Federal laws recently passed !!!! against slaughter of horses.
There are also appeals, and loopholes that were not meant to be used - found by slip-shod, crooked attorneys with people putting money in his pocket.
Texas and Ohio had recent jolts of bouts with the Federal law.
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I would like to point out that it is NOT just the emotional attachment, the history, and the beauty of a horse that are the reasons for NOT slaughtering.
Many of these horses were 'using' horses and therefore fed supplements and food not intended for human feed ---- I would not feed these horses to my pets, either !!!
Horses have been given worm medications with WARNING labels right on the box or tube. A horse owner probably worms his horses 3 to 4 times a year with these - at least.
Horses are sprayed, rubbed down, have their legs wrapped in poultices, given antibiotics, fungal treatments, had vaccinations, may have Lyme disease that does not show up, could have rabies, West Nile, tetnus, and a list of others.....
Would anyone care to feed their pet one of these horses ? I won't even sell my own healthy mare because I know what she has had in the name of health, injury repair, fly repellant, and worm medications.
The other ugly side is horse theft.
Horses are STOLEN just to put through the slaughter houses !!!! Right out of the barn or pasture.
In several counties where I live there were horse thieves taking horses to a slaugherhouse in another state.
An inspector caught tatooed horses, horses with microchips, and even found some branded as mustangs or donkey. One micro-chipped horse was traced back to his owner 3 states away...... turns out this was a World Champion Quarter Horse insured for over $150,000. THe owner was missing 5 others..... all fat, healthy, bred mares !
SO the inspector thought this might have something to do with the theft. No. The owner was distraught, and immediately was on the phone to an attorney and judge to get the horse back. He personally went to claim this stallion and the 5 mares. Along with his horses, 17 others were found to have been stolen from the same region !!!!
You see, horses and other animals are sold by weight or pounds. So a large, fat horse brings more. The 'seller' claimed himself a broker for injured, sick, old horses and produced counterfiet paperwork and Coggins.
The criminals got fined, imprisoned for 6 months.....and released !!! They were caught again dealing in Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois. Yep, big slaughter houses in Illinois and Ohio !!!
For Phil Harris....
Both my husband and I are Native Americans and thus are our children. We frequent Indian Pow Wows and sometimes carry a few horses for 'pony rides' for the kids.
I do not care to be called a "noble savage.' I do not considered myself noble. I do consider myself a human being in the terms of humane being and the Earth is my mother.
Native Americans probably learned savagery from the Europeans who had never heard of 'counting coup.' pronounced 'counting coo'
Use the term 'savage' for some other group.
Many Native Americans were and are pure-hearted cowboys.
They also fought in several wars, being killed right along with immigrant Americans, starting with the Civil War. Some of my Native American ancestors fount at Powder Springs battle in Arkansas and were killed. They came off the Oklahoma reservation.
Native Americans continue to battle their own problems with lack of education, health care, addiction, proverty, and civil rights. This is another blog as you can tell........
Spotted Dog Woman -
I would just like to point out other extremely important aspects of this issue. It is so important that people who are so adamantly against horse slaughter seriously consider these points. One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that horses are abused on the way to the slaughter house and then inhumanely slaughtered. This is not true- in America. There was an infamous video that was taken in a MEXICAN slaughter plant that showed the horrors of horse slaughter- in Mexico. Slaughter plants of any kind in the United States are heavily monitored and regulated by the USDA and trained veterinarians. And the slaughter itself is done as humanely as possible. The transportation is also very humane- if a truck company has an employee who is even suspected of abusing the animals could have severe repercussions. If a transporter makes it to a plant and there is even one scratch on one horse- even if it was caused by another horse- the trucking company can even be sued.
It is frustrating because there are so many misconceptions that people are unwilling to consider. I love horses- I was born and raised in agriculture. My family has a ranch, we have horses, my friends have horses, my dad is a vet and we all work on the ranch...
This is still from the person who wrote about the other aspects of this issue- sorry I ran out of room Anyway, as I was saying, I have a healthy respect for horses, as do all of my friends and family. This is why we hope that our American plants will re-open,BECAUSE as a result of all three plants closing, our American horses which would have been humanely slaughtered here, are being smuggled to plants in Mexico and Canada. I honestly don't know how humanely it is done in Canada, but I do know that Mexico's slaughter plants and their transportation of the horses is FAR worse than ours was.
Horses who are no longer serviceable, useful, or desired are now being dumped on public lands abandoned, neglected, left to starve to death- which is a lot worse than being humanely slaughtered, and owners that cannot afford to do anything else with their horse(euthanasia can be anywhere from $300-$1000).
There are also rescue facilities and shelters that cannot keep up with the rising number of neglected horses- some have even gotten in trouble for neglecting the neglected horses because their just isn't enough room for them all. And people don't adopt horses nearly as much as they used to.
Also, these plants were the only source of equine pericardium sacs, which are used in human heart surgeries.
What I really want to point out is that when you come down to it, would you want your favorite animal to die more humanely than they would in any other country here in the U.S., if you can help it, or to have them be starving to death by the thousands or sent to suffer much more in places like Mexico.
I hope you can really think about this aspect of the issue. Thanks!
To the ASPCA, I have emailed and tried to get your specific standpoints on horse slaughter and have had no help other than to look at your equine page. I am part of a group that is putting on a skit about horse slaughter. There are seven people, one is neutral, three represent the viewpoints of interest groups such as yours, and three represent those that are against the ban.
I am one that represents the viewpoints of interest groups like yours and we have all done extensive research on the topic and the different opinions. It is important that it is fair and balanced. This skit will be given at the state level and possibly at the national level.
I just have to say that it is really frustrating that when I have tried to get the specific viewpoints of the groups I represent, I haven't gotten any answers after I presented to them important facts and other aspects of the case.
I have considered both sides of the issue to form a solid opinion on horse slaughter. I think you have to do that in order to really know where you stand and what you're talking about when it comes to something like this. This is a subject that goes into such detail, but people aren't willing to listen to each other. I wrote a couple blogs earlier where I explained very important points that people either choose to overlook or just don't know. It didn't get posted and that's really disappointing. If people would be willing to listen to the other side of the story, I would tell them that the people who are against the ban love horses just as much as you do- because they know that closing down all the American horse slaughter plants has not and will not prevent horses from cruelty. Right now, because of the ban, more and more horses are being abandoned, neglected, and left to starve to death.
Some people seem to think ranchers, veterinarians, horse practitioners, etc are close-minded, and don't care about animals. I wish you would realize that that is not true. It's just plain sad that you won't consider other arguments, because if you took the time to honestly try to understand everything about the issue, you would think differently.
If you really want to help horses, then do the research- and not just from people or sources you want to hear or read. Be open-minded and that will make the difference.
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