Advocacy Center

Earlier this week, the ASPCA visited USDA’s U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Nebraska—the subject of a stunning front page exposé in the New York Times that revealed a culture of cruelty and indifference toward animal suffering. Animal protection organizations met with USDA staff at USMARC for a frank conversation about the imperative to direct agriculture and agricultural research toward reducing animal pain and suffering, not just increasing profits for meat producers.

We know you’ll agree that horses aren’t food. We don’t raise them so we can eat them, and horses hold a special place in our country’s heritage.  While no horse slaughterhouses currently operate in the United States, the threat of their return looms constantly and few realize that approximately 150,000 American horses are trucked across our borders every year to be brutally slaughtered for food.

By Matt Bershadker, ASPCA CEO

Protecting animals from suffering sometimes requires us to loudly champion and defend our ideas—especially to local leaders.