New England Equine Rescues
Equine Crisis Intervention...
Does this look like a steak to you?
(Pure Thoughts... www.saveafoal.com)
All you need to know about slaughter: http://www.marynash
ALL SLAUGHTER INFO: http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/
PRO slaughter people... http://www.unitedorgsofthehorse.org/index_files/banopposition.htm
- Do you REALLY think that Crowley's and Hemphill's don't ship to slaughter??
Check this out... DEAD
(2006, 2007, and May 14, 2008... signed by Brenda Hemphill Wright and both
Dennis and John Crowley.)
2008 and 2009 pending.
Updated KNOWN kill buyer list:
|
Ryon Simon-MN |
of horses he transports is well documented on youtube. Angels USA has a report on the sale barn in Mize MS that documents the infamous ...Rowan family's treatment of horses a feed lot in Bastrop LA & were recently represented at a sale in Mize MS. I observed their employees the day before the sale when horses were being accepted & was horrified by what was going on with the consent of the sale barn owner!!! under false pretenses and sells them to slaughter, DO NOT TRUST HER. buyer but a relentless animal abuser. The trial was unrelated to animal abuse. But there is a nationwide warrant on his head now. He is somewhere in Texas. He is bound to show up at the horse auctions there." Eylers- mt.Airy- Moorefield- Smith Grove) WA that ships to Florence Packing Feedlot in WA that ships to Bouvry Canada. (Auctioneer at many auctions including Sunnyvale on Lawson Rd, every Thursday, Canton every first Monday, Cleburne every Wednesday) Calvin Kuepfer (kill buyer and which is very interesting, in that the Albrecht name is known in Pincher Creek - where a large slaughter bound horse feed lot exists in Alberta. Caprice also says: "M&M Meats is
CANADA:
|
Blog- Horses stolen and slaughtered in the US and Canada
We know that horses are being stolen and butchered in Florida. Please read the commentary above about the butchering of the horses in Florida. Is Florida the only state in which this is happening or are there others? We would like your comments and locations of other such cases in the United States and Canada.This is not about the horse slaughter act in the US and which side of the issue in which you believe. We are interested in horses that have been taken from their home and found with the meat removed. I know this is a terrible act and we would like to find out where else in the world it may be happening. Please pass this to your friends, list groups and associations so we can learn more about this crime. We appreciate your help in finding other cases as we research other incidents of this terrible act against our horses.
Debi Metcalfe
Stolen Horse International, Inc.
PO Box 1341
Shelby, NC 28151
704-484-2165 www.netposse.com
Dear Montana Agriculture Committee Members:
You will soon be asked to vote on the subject legislation regarding the commercial slaughter of American horses of which you probably have very little first hand knowledge. No doubt you have heard from
lobbyists and organizations who want you to support the practice, but before you do, you should ask yourself why the residents of Texas and Illinois worked so hard to rid their states of their horse slaughter plants. The answer may surprise you. As a mayor who lived with this plague in her town for many years, who knows what the horse slaughter industry really is and what it does to a community please allow me to tell you what we experienced. The industry caused significant and long term hardship to my community which was home to Dallas Crown, one of the last three horse slaughter plants in the United States. All three plants were foreign-owned, and since the market for horsemeat is entirely foreign, the industry will always be dominated by these foreign interests. The corporations involved in this industry have consistently proven themselves to be the worst possible corporate citizens. The Dallas Crown horse slaughtering facility had been in operation in Kaufman since the late 70's and from the beginning had caused problems both economically and environmentally. I have listed some of the specific issues below. I will gladly provide you with detailed reports from my former City Manager, Police Chief, and Public Works Director regarding odor and wastewater effluence violations at the Dallas Crown horse slaughter plant in the City of Kaufman.. The reports reference "decaying meat [which] provides a foul odor and is an attraction for vermin and carrion," containers conveyed "uncovered and leaking liquids," there are "significant foul odors during the daily monitoring of the area,"
and "Dallas Crown continually neglects to perform within the standards required of them." Therefore, in August of 2005, our City Council decided by unanimous decision to send the Dallas Crown issue to the Board of Adjustments for termination of their non-conforming use status. In March of 2006, the Board of Adjustments voted to order Dallas Crown closed, but the plant was able to tie the enforcement up in the courts until they were finally closed under state law in February of 2007. Dallas Crown repeatedly described itself as a "good corporate citizen." I will be straightforward in asserting that they are the very antithesis of such. Dallas Crown had a very long history of violations to their industrial waste permit, 'loading' the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant. . Dallas Crown denied the City access to their property for wastewater testing beginning October 1, 2004 until July 6, 2005, despite requirement by city ordinance, city permit agreement, and court order. City staff reported that a $6 million upgrade to our wastewater treatment plant would be required even though the plant was planned and financed to last through 2015. Odor problems resulting from the outside storage of offal and hides over several days persisted not only in traditionally African- American neighborhood known as "Boggy Bottom", but at the nearby Presbyterian Hospital, the daycare center, and surrounding areas. Transport of offal and fresh hides on City and state thoroughfares is conducted in leaking containers without covers. City documents reveal an extended history of efforts to have Dallas Crown address various environmental issues. Reports include descriptive language including such as "blood flowing east and west in the ditches from your plant," "It has been over 45 days [it had been 59 days] and no apparent cleanup has occurred," "Your system has not improved and subsequently it has gotten a lot worse," "Words cannot express the seriousness" of recent violations and the "adverse effects on the wastewater treatment plant," and "Please be sure trailers are secured before leaving your premises to prevent spills," noting also "bones and blood laying in front of the facility," problems with bones and parts in neighboring yards and the attraction of "dogs and other animals." In response to 29 citations for wastewater violations, each accompanied by a potential fine of $2,000, Dallas Crown requested 29 separate jury trials, potentially causing yet another economic strain to the City's budget. We could, of course, not afford to litigate in order to extract the fines. Dallas Crown took 11 months to submit a mandatory "sludge control plan" to assist efficient operation of the wastewater treatment plant though City staff requested it orally and in writing many times. The City Manager advised me that the City would have to spend $70,000 in legal fees because of Dallas Crown problems, which was the entire legal budget for the fiscal year. During this period, Dallas Crown paid property taxes that were less than half of what the City spent on legal fees directly related to Dallas Crown violations. Generally, Dallas Crown has the economic ability to prevail, to exceed the constraints of the City's budget.
Dallas Crown had a negative effect on the development of surrounding properties, and a horse slaughter plant is a stigma to the development of our city generally. I have since learned that these problems were mirrored at the other two plants. Fort Worth's Beltex horse slaughter plant also violated Ft. Worth's wastewater regulations several times, clogged sewer lines, and both spilled and pumped blood into a nearby creek (San Antonio Current, June 19, 2003 ). Texas state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, whose district includes Beltex, and Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, fought hard against legislation that would have legalized horse slaughter in Texas in 2003. The horse slaughter plant in DeKalb, IL had a similar pattern. It was destroyed by fire in 2002, and rebuilt in 2004. It was charged
and fined by the DeKalb Sanitary District almost every month from the reopening until its closing in 2007 under a new state law for consistently exceeding wastewater discharge guidelines. I can
provide you with the documentation of those violations. Like Dallas Crown, Cavel refused to pay their fines for years. During this time, I learned that an estimated $5 million in Federal funding was being spent annually to support three foreign-owned horse slaughter plants! And when the Dallas Crown tax records were exposed in the city's legal struggle, we found that they had paid only $5 in
federal taxes on a gross income of over $12,000,000! More over, the parent company of Cavel has since moved its operations to Canada and continued to slaughter American horses. In Canada they
have apparently become even more blatant, dumping huge untreated piles of entrails onto open ground and even using a tanker truck to discharge blood and refuse into a local river. I have mentioned only the pollution issue, but this is but one negative aspect of horse slaughter. I have subsequently learned of a USDA document containing 900 pages of graphic photos that show the horrors that the horses were subject to. Behind the privacy fences of these plants, trucks arrived continuously and on those trucks was every form of inhumane violation one can imagine from mares birthing foals to horses with eyes dangling from their sockets and legs ripped from their bodies. The more I learn about horse slaughter, the more certain I am: There is no justification for horse slaughter in this country. My city was
little more than a door mat for a foreign-owned business that drained our resources, thwarted economic development and stigmatized our community. Americans don't eat horses, and we don't raise them for
human consumption. There is no justification for spending American tax dollars to support this industry at the expense of Americans and our horses.
Sincerely,
Former Mayor Paula Bacon
Kaufman, TX
"... it would make the horrors of Auschwitz look merciful..."
A Different Kind of Murder
(But Murder Nontheless)
-- by Steven Long
The victim stood trapped in a steel box as the assailant stood above repeatedly stabbing her in the back. He was aiming to sever the spinal cord but continued to miss. Finally, on the 13th thrust of the stiletto like knife she dropped to her knees and lay on the concrete floor, her spine destroyed, but her mind very much alive. A chain was wrapped around her numb legs and she was hoisted head down as she saw a sharp knife come toward her and felt the slice into her carotid artery.
Finally, mercifully, she lost consciousness as her four feet were chopped from her body.
This murder was unusual because it was documented by a news photographer from a Texas newspaper.
You see, she and a reporter had penetrated the bloody halls of a slaughterhouse in Juarez, Mexico. The story by San Antonio Express News reporter Lisa Sandburg has stunned the nation, and perhaps will finally persuade Congress to move to pass an act that will finally end this horror. The story broke simultaneously also in the Houston Chronicle.
The Mexican abattoir, and another in Canada, has been busy since equine slaughter was finally outlawed by the legislatures of Texas and Illinois, and the laws banning the killing of horses for human consumption were upheld in two federal appellate courts.
America has never had a hunger for horse meat, yet it is considered a pricey delicacy in parts of Europe and Japan.
Years ago, two foreign owned companies saw an opportunity and opened slaughterhouses in Fort Worth and Kaufman, Texas, and also in DeKalb, Illinois. For years, despite protests from local residents, the killing of horses took place in these locations to the tune of 100,000 per year until the two Texas plants were shut down late last year, and the Illinois kill was closed a couple of months back.
And make no mistake about it; the method of killing a horse in America was no less painful, cruel, and clumsy than in the foreign slaughterhouses. It was just mechanized. The U.S. plants used what is called a captive bolt gun. With this device, a rod was discharged with the idea of hitting the head sufficient enough to stun the animal who was about to meet its maker and be transformed from a living beautiful creature to red meat displayed in a foreign butcher shop.
But the captive bolt missed its mark as often as not and the horses endured unspeakable suffering until they were finally subdued by a lucky strike. As in Mexico, horses were hoisted by one leg into the air, their throat slashed, and they were dismembered - as they bled to death.
The killing of horses for their meat is big business. The industry would have you believe that only old, broken, frail, and useless horses go to slaughter. That is the big lie. Fat, healthy, horses are bought at auctions across the land not because they are useless and old, but because they are healthy and filled with meat. Most often, their owners take them to the auction hoping that the horse they have loved for years will go to another adoring home to be used for wholesome recreation.
Recently I was sent a chilling photograph. It showed the carcasses of horses inside a kill plant hoisted in the process line. Below, their hooves had just been severed. In the foreground was a hoof with a horseshoe on it.
That horse was never meant for slaughter. It had been cared for by a farrier in the past six weeks (the proscribed period for shoeing a horse). Its owner had paid the farrier at least $80 to trim and shoe the animal. The horse clearly had gone to auction, its owner hoping it would be sold into a good life as a work horse at worst, or as a pleasure horse which was more likely.
Instead, the highest bidder was the "killer buyer," a bottom feeder in the horse industry. From that point on, the horse knew nothing but misery. At auction's end, it was loaded on huge crowded trailer, taken to a feed lot likely hundreds of miles away, and then shipped on a cattle truck with ceilings built for low slung cattle. From there, the horse was again shipped hundreds of miles to the slaughter plant.
The cruelty which goes on 24/7 in this business is unspeakable.
Congress now has before it the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. It will not only outlaw slaughter from the federal level, it will also make illegal the transport of horses to slaughter, including transport to plants currently operating in Mexico and Canada.
Until that happens, horses will still be stabbed to death, be hoisted by their feet in the air, their throats slashed, and then be bled to death as their bodies are cut apart while still living. If this happened to humans it would make the horrors of Auschwitz look merciful.
USDA document and photos obtained through the Freedom of Information Act paint a disturbing image of the U.S. horse slaughter industry.
December 5, 2008
The document and photos were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted three years ago by equine cruelty investigator Julie Caramante. Animals’ Angels assisted Caramante in obtaining the documents, and they are now working with Animal Law Coalition to assess and disseminate the information.
"I've been an equine cruelty investigator for a number of years," Caramante says, "and I've witnessed many incidents of animal cruelty but nothing could prepare me for these images."
According to the press release, “The photographs document significant injuries to horses at the slaughter house. Injuries included conscious dismemberment, open fractures, blinding, and battered faces. It appears some horses were left to bleed out. Other injuries indicated long-term abuse and neglect.”
“The pain and terror these horses had endured is criminal," Caramante says.
The documents and photographs released by the USDA can be found at http://www.kaufmanz
WARNING: THE IMAGES ARE EXTREMELY DISTURBING.
The press release goes on to state that there is some veterinary community support behind the anti-slaughter movement. “Dr. Nicholas Dodman of the Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee describing horse slaughter as, ‘a brutal and predatory business that promotes cruelty and neglect,’ concluding that as a veterinarian a ‘rapid end to this wholly brutal and un-American trade’ is warranted.” Indeed, Dr. Dodman has vehemently spoken out against horse slaughter. A Q&A with him about his views can be found at: http://vetsforequin
Horse slaughter in the U.S. ended in 2007 after the three remaining plants in Texas and Illinois were closed by state lawmakers and the courts. There is a federal bill pending in Congress that would prevent horse slaughter from resuming in states without laws prohibiting it. The bill would also prevent U.S. horses from being shipping across international borders for slaughter. Currently, thousands of U.S. horses are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter.
http://www.horsecha
Help end horse slaughter by making phone calls to Washington for the slaughter ban.
Contact state coordinators:
CONNECTICUT: mllebutterfly@sbcglobal.net
MAINE: maine4horses@gmail.com
MASSACHUSETTS: MA4horses@gmail.com
NEW HAMPSHIRE: jmdillon@metlifehomeloans.com
NEW YORK: cristinapbrown@hotmail.com
|
| ||||||
|
Contact your U.S. Representative in support of H.R. 6598 today!
http://capwiz.com/compassionindex/home/
With more than 100,000 American horses brutally slaughtered last year there is an urgent need to pass federal legislation to shut down this trade. Thankfully, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) and many of their colleagues have taken up the reins and introduced H.R. 6598, the Conyers-Burton "Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act". The legislation recognizes horse slaughter for what it truly is - animal cruelty - and will end the practice for good. Please take a moment to contact your U.S. Representative and ask for his/her support of this sound legislation.
This is the final push for this Congressional Session to finally end horse slaughter!! If this bill fails, we will have to start all over in January 2009! H.R. 6598 , the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, passed the House Judiciary Committee today (by a voice vote) and we have very little time to help move this bill through the legislative process. We URGENTLY need to build up the co-sponsorship list of H.R. 6598, which currently has 100 co-sponsors. Time is RUNNING OUT for Members to co-sponsor this bill ! Please click here to see if your U.S. Representative is a co-sponsor of H.R. 6598. Please contact the Capitol Switchboard [202-224-3121] and ask to be transferred to your Representative. Unsure of who your Representative is? Please visit ( www.hsus.org/leglookup )
Waiting for (S311) COsponsorship from these New England legislators PLEASE:
| New Hampshire | |||
  |
Judd Gregg (R) | --- |  |
|
John Sununu (R) | --- | |
Waiting for (HR 6598) COsponsorship from these New England legislators PLEASE:
| Connecticut | |||
|
John Larson (D 1st) | --- | |
|
Joseph Courtney (D 2nd) | --- | |
|
Rosa DeLauro (D 3rd) | --- | |
|
Christopher Murphy (D 5th) | --- | |
| Maine | |||
|
Michael Michaud (D 2nd) | --- | |
| Massachusetts | |||
|
John Olver (D 1st) | --- | |
|
Richard Neal (D 2nd) | --- | |
|
Barney Frank (D 4th) | --- | |
|
John Tierney (D 6th) | --- | |
|
Edward Markey (D 7th) | --- | |
|
Michael Capuano (D 8th) | --- | |
|
Stephen Lynch (D 9th) | --- | |
| New Hampshire | |||
|
Carol Shea-Porter (D 1st) | --- | |
|
Paul Hodes (D 2nd) | --- | |
| Rhode Island | |||
|
Patrick Kennedy (D 1st) | --- | |
|
James Langevin (D 2nd) | --- | |
| Vermont | |||
|
Peter Welch (D At-Large) | --- | |
S311: A bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes.
HR6598: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain conduct relating to the use of horses for human consumption.
Rhode Island is the 6th state to ban the use of
double deckers... Thank you Governor Carcieri!
http://www.thehorse
Rhode Island General Assembly Passes Equine Transport Measure
by: Edited Press Release
June 24 2008, Article # 12128
The Rhode Island General Assembly has passed legislation to ban the use
of double-decker trucks to transport horses in the state. Sen. Dominick
Ruggerio, D-Providence, and Rep. Amy Rice, D-Portsmouth, introduced the
legislation in response to an accident that occurred last year in
Illinois. That accident resulted in the death of 18 young Belgian draft
horses after a double-decker cattle truck overturned.
"The Humane Society of the United States is grateful to Senator Ruggerio
and Representative Rice for spearheading this important legislation to
protect horses," said Keith Dane, director of equine protection for the
HSUS. "We have seen grisly and tragic accidents in other states, and the
best way to protect horses from such horrors is to enact common-sense
policies to protect them during transport."
Federal legislation is currently pending to ban the use of double-decker
trailers for transporting horses (H.R. 6278), and to end horse slaughter
for human consumption and prohibit the export of horses for slaughter in
other countries (S. 311/H.R. 503).
The AQHA and Paint Associations support slaughter, the others do not.
The AQHA lists generating growth as a goal of the Association.
retirement farms and adoption programs.
What’s for Dinner... hope it isn’t me!
By Jennifer Swanson and Cheryl Hanna
Good evening everyone. Before you go out to dinner tonight, I would like to tell you about myself. You see.. I am a racehorse, or rather I was a racehorse. Now I am retired because I couldn’t make the grade or rather the purse..I am only five years old; my references are impeccable, and might I add that my grandfather was the last triple crown winner. Unfortunately a few months ago, during my last race I was hurt, and no one wanted to wait until I was healed…. So my time was over I was going to be sent to slaughter, and just before I was loaded onto a truck to be hauled off to the slaughter house, a horse rescue organization stepped up and saved me… yes .. in the very nick of time.
"Affirmed Fever" after his bath; Swat, Alu-Shield, Furazone and wormer all part of his daily regimen.. all not to be used on animals for human consumption
Please excuse my appearance; I have just finished my bath and my caretakers are tending all of my equine needs. The white stuff around my mouth is the wormer. It tastes really bad , but it kills all the worms and parasites in my body. I get this every six weeks, and it stays in my body for 6 months. Don’t tell anyone, but on the box I read where it states, “ Not to be used for animals intended for human consumption.”The pink stuff under my eyes is not eye make-up silly. It is called SWAT, and that keeps the bugs away from my face. It absorbs into my skin and my bloodstream. Oops.. same warning on that jar, “ Not to be used for animals intended for human consumption.”Now that yellow gook on my legs is for the scratches I always get from playing or just running around in the pasture. The caretakers call that Furazone, and they use gloves when they apply that to my open sores. It has carcinogens in it. The silver stuff called AluShield works as a band aide, but I don’t think it is edible. Whenever I get a stomach ache or my muscles start to hurt, I get bute and banamine. The faster it gets into my bloodstream, the faster my aches and pains stop, but I think I remember the same warnings on those medications too.“ Not to be used for animals intended for human consumption.”
I would think in this day and age, humans would be very concerned with chemicals and especially carcinogens that may be mixed in our bodies. No one in the US tells you that horse owners do not have to report what drugs they give their horses, and the horse slaughter houses brag how fast our bodies go from living to dying, (“From Stable to Table in 4 days”) which means the drugs stay in our system. You may think you are eating an American legacy, but in reality you are dining on the poisons and carcinogens pumped into our equine bodies to keep us looking and feeling good.
Bon Appetit Mon Ami..... I hope you're not eating me.
The Unwanted Horse Coalition
&
The American Horse Council.
There seems to be some confusion regarding these two, one and the same, organizations and their stand on horse slaughter. To clarify:
"The Unwanted Horse Coalition, a broad alliance of equine organizations that have joined together under the American Horse Council," or see "Unwanted Horse Coalition folded into AHC".
The American Horse Council's official stand on slaughter is:
"AHC Position
The AHC is neutral on the legislation because it has organizations and individual members both supporting and opposing a federal legislative ban."
Although previously statements declared that they were in favor of slaughter, the current membership of AHC contains organizations which are both pro and con on the slaughter issue. Nevertheless, if some feel that they need to affiliate with them due to the mistaken impression that AHC /UHC are anti-slaughter, please refer to the AHC list of members.
It is somewhat enlightening to refer to the section for AHC Members, then cross reference it to the list of members for Common Horse Sense/aka Horse Welfare Coalition/aka slaughterhouse web site, (commonhorsense.com domain previously registered to attorney for Texas slaughterhouses, now listing contact as SciWords, the PR firm for the slaughterhouses).
If the chain of association still seems cloudy, refer to the list of Current Unwanted Horse Coalition Member Organizations. The first four on the list are very actively pro slaughter. Also, reference JAVMA, August 15, 2006 where a news release was published in the AVMA Journal as the start up of UHC was initiated. AAEP/AVMA was instrumental, and both organizations are quite openly in favor of horse slaughter.
There are no praises to be sung for UHC as related to the slaughter issue. Elsewhere, perhaps there are, but not here. If someone is considering donating dollars to them, it would be better spent in assisting horse rescue.
Equine Protection Network
www.equineprotectio
Rhode Island General Assembly Passes Horse Transport Bill- Awaiting
Signature of the Governor Donald L. Carcieri
Sen. Dominick Ruggerio, D-Providence, and Rep. Amy Rice, D-Portsmouth
introduced legislation modeled after the PA Horse Transport Law, the
strongest law of its kind in the United States and one of PA's
strongest criminal laws banning the use of double deck trailers to
transport any horse, no matter what its final destination.
The PA Horse Transport Law passed the PA Legislature unanimously and
was signed into law by Governor Tom RIdge in June 2001. Since its
passage it has been successfully enforced two times.
We are asking everyone to please contact Rhode Island Governor Donald
L. Carcieri and ask him to sign H8425 into law bringing Rhode Island
into the select league of states banning these inhumane trailers.
Governor's Office:
http://www.governor
Mail address:
Governor Donald L. Carcieri
Office of the Governor
State House, Room 115
Providence, RI 02903
Phone: (401) 222-2080
Fax: (401) 222-8096
E-Mail:
e-mail Governor Carcieri
For more information on doubles visit the EPN website:
http://www.equinepr
FACTS
Double deck trailers are not designed, safety tested, or manufactured
for horses, nor are they marketed to the horse industry; Industry
standard for the commercial transport of horses is 8 feet in similar
sized trailers.
Doubles are used by low end horse dealers, rodeo stock contractors,
and "killer buyers"
Double deck trailers have been banned outright in several leading
horse states due to injuries caused to the horses transported – PA
(2001), NY (1980), MA, and regulated in: CT (1976), VA(1987),VT
(1989), MN.(1996), MD (2006)
Note-These states are examples of either poorly drafted legislation,
legislation compromised with performance based language offered by
the opposition. Enforcement of these laws requires testimony from
experts, measurements taken by law enforcement. The result is the
regulation and legitimization of doubles. The hostile amendment
offered by the IL Farm Bureau would have legalized and legitimized
doubles for horses in IL and at the same time weakened other state
horse transport laws.
Double deck trailers banned by the USDA for horses transported to
slaughter in 2007 due to the results of studies documenting that
double deck trailers, even if modified could not be made safe and
humane for horses. AZ and CA also ban their use for transport to
slaughter.
Double deck trailers can have ceiling heights as low as 5'7".
Industry standard is 7'.
Bottom deck has 3" I Beams every 12" on center to support the top
deck
Steep and narrow ramps with metal floors cause the horses to slip and
fall, cause injuries to the horses hips.
Horses are forced to jump down into a narrow opening leading to the
bottom deck
Due to the low ceiling heights horses cannot raise and lower their
heads and necks for balance. Horses routinely throw their heads and
rear, unlike cattle, hogs, goats or sheep which theses trailers are
designed for.
Horses suffer head and back injuries due to the low ceiling height,
the 3" I beams, and overhead ramp storage.
Horses suffer injuries to their hips and sides due to the narrow
doorways.
Federal law REGULATES the use of doubles for slaughterbound horses
only. Several states laws regulate their use and do not ban. PA & NY
have the strongest and the best laws, both of which have been
successfully enforced.
AZ Transport Law
CA Transport Law
CT Transport Law
MA Transport Law
MN Transport Law
NY Transport Law
Ginger and Snaps, both saved from slaughter, Ginger was saved from the Beltex feedlot while pregnant.
|
|
 Anti horse slaughter supporters Vicki Tobin, from Illinois, and John Holland, from Virginia, make plans with volunteers before visiting the House of Representatives.
|
In all about 100 volunteers showed up in Washington on March 4 and 5 for its "lobby week". The intense two-day effort, intended to garner support for federal legislation, was the largest such effort to date.
"It was an incredible example of grass-roots democracy at work," said Alex Brown, a racing professional, professor and one of the event's organizers. The all-volunteer effort attracted experts on every aspect of the issue as well as several celebrities.
The volunteers were joined by actor Paul Sorvino who attended meetings with key congressional members and staffers. In all, hundreds of separate and pre-arranged meetings were held between AAHS volunteers and congressional staffers, and packets of information were presented to each office.
"We wanted to stress that the closing of the three domestic plants has not stopped slaughter," said Julie Caramante, "Our horses are still going to Mexico and Canada and they are suffering terrible stress and brutality." Only federal legislation can stop these exports.
 Chris Heyde, left, of the Animal Welfare Institute AWI helped volunteers prepare for lobbying. |
The presentations were intended to bring the members up to date on all aspects of the battle against horse slaughter and to present the findings of investigations into horse transport by Animals' Angels, conditions at Canadian slaughter facilities by the CHDC and deceptive press accounts concerning the effect of the closing of US based plants last year. All presentations will soon be available on line.
The AHSPA, which had 193 cosponsors in the House and 38 cosponsors in the Senate, immediately gained two cosponsors with indications more would soon follow. Of particular significance, the top candidates for president, Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama, are already cosponsors of the legislation.
http://www.delaware
Brown pushes for end of horse slaughter
Fair Hill exercise rider aids grass-roots effort to boost cause
By JACK IRELAND, The News Journal
Posted Saturday, February 16, 2008
Alex Brown speaks from the heart when he talks about the slaughter of
thoroughbred racehorses and other horses in North America.
Brown, a longtime exercise rider at the Fair Hill (Md.) Training Center,
is so devoted to this cause that he has joined forces with Paula Bacon,
of Dallas, and Julie Caramante, of Houston, in a grass-roots effort to
carry their message to Washington. Bacon is the former mayor of Kaufman,
Texas, the home of the former Dallas Crown horse slaughter plant.
Brown, in fact, has taken his cause on the road in recent months.
The native of Cheshire, England, spent time last fall working at
Keeneland and Churchill Downs in Kentucky for trainer Eddie Kenneally.
This winter, he's riding at Sam Houston Race Park (Houston, Texas) in
the morning for trainer Steve Asmussen.
Brown also handled the daily online updates regarding Barbaro after the
Kentucky Derby champion was seriously injured in the 2006 Preakness. He
also co-chaired the Barbaro Celebration of Life event at Delaware Park
last spring.
"I am looking to meet people at the racetrack and outside and learn more
about how our horses are treated and what support structures are in
place in different parts of the U.S.," said Brown, who taught two
sections of an Internet marketing class at the University of Delaware
last year. "I love Fair Hill, but I needed to leave for a while and
learn more about the country's attitude to the horse."
Brown said his group, Americans Against Horse Slaughter, supports
passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act now before Congress.
"Everything about this is grass roots," Brown said. "We don't have some
big, powerful organization or business behind us. It's a groundswell
that has been building around the country."
While Texas and Illinois slaughterhouses have been shut down, many
former racehorses are being sold for shipment to Canada and Mexico for
slaughter. The meat is then shipped overseas for human consumption.
Brown said that's why it is important that Senate Bill 311 would
"prohibit the shipping, transportation, moving, delivering, receiving,
possessing, purchasing, selling or donation of horses and other equines
to be slaughtered for human consumption.
Passage of the bill would further limit the options for disposal of
unwanted horses. The bill states that an unwanted horse is one that has
reached the useful end of its economic or recreation life. There are
numerous reasons for the existence of unwanted horses, including
financial aspects such as the owner's loss of job, the price of feed or
stabling, relocation, or poor health of the horse or its owner.
"We need more horsemen [trainers and owners] to step up to the plate and
say this is wrong," Brown said. "I can name horses who had won races and
were sold at these sales. We need more people like [Hall of Fame
trainer] Nick Zito. He has been very vocal about stopping the slaughter
of horses in the U.S."
Brown said Delaware doesn't have a law against horse slaughter, but said
Sen. Tom Carper, Sen. Joe Biden and Rep. Mike Castle support the bill.
"What has happened is that in Texas and Illinois, there were laws passed
making it illegal to operate a horse-slaughter facility," Brown said.
"However, there are still many states that don't have laws banning horse
slaughter, so there is a chance a new slaughter facility can be
established. We need federal laws enacted that ban horse slaughter
anywhere in the U.S.
"Federal law will also ban the shipment to slaughter. That will put a
stop on horses being shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. We are
gaining momentum, and we are not going away."
AQHA Announces Gala Promotion and Contest
On the heels of announcing the pending registration of its 5 millionth
Quarter Horse foal, the American Quarter Horse Association has unveiled
an extravagant new promotional program. “Phase one, our auction for the
naming rights on the 5 millionth foal, was an enormous success and a
tribute to our tireless breeders” said spokesperson and European venue
coordinator Morra Lean. “But we want to show our appreciation to
everyone who makes this exciting industry possible and that means all
phases of a Quarter Horse’s career.
The American Quarter Horse is the most prolific breed in the United
States largely because of its amazing versatility. Very few people
realize just how versatile the breed is. “They think of rodeos and
barrel racing but don’t realize that there are dozens of other venues
where Quarter Horses appear, ranging from reining to racing.” Lean
explained, “and when they are done entertaining us, many Quarter Horses
go on to culinary venues in Europe and Japan where the breed garners
tremendous respect for its unique attributes.”
Lean explained that the AQHA could never have attained its goal of 5
million foals without the European venue to keep opportunities open in
the US for new Quarter Horses. She went on to explain that it is the
resultant flow of registration fees that allows the AQHA to fund its
important educational and legislative programs. “Educating the public
about the vital need for such things as horse harvesting is made all the
more difficult and expensive by the extremist animal rights groups.”
Lean complained, “They continually resort to radical tactics such as
exposing statistics and facts that disagree with our position.”
In response to this challenge the AQHA has announced phase two of its
promotional program. The second phase will include the all important
European consumers of Quarter Horses. The contest will involve the
printing of replicas of every Quarter Horse’s registration papers on
fine imitation linen napkins. These napkins will have a small scratch
off area over the registration number and diners will scratch off the
coating to view the horse’s registration number. When registration
number 5,000,000 is found the lucky diner will receive a deluxe set of
steak knives engraved with the likeness of the foal on its birth date.
Additionally, the membership will be eligible to participate in a
lottery contest to guess the date when the 5 millionth Quarter Horse was
harvested. “We can only allow our paid members to participate” said
Lean, “since it is their dues and registration fees that make this whole
industry possible.” Any member that guesses the exact date the horse was
humanely harvested will receive their choice of an artificial
insemination kit with a five gallon thermos of semen or free
registrations for a year (not to exceed 100 foals).
For more information contact:
Morra Lean
Director of European Venues
American Quarter Horse Association
moralean@aqha. fr
Disclaimer: This document is provided for entertainment purposes only
and any similarity to actual events, programs, positions or statements
of the AQHA, no matter how compelling, is purely coincidental. As with
authentic AQHA press releases, it may contain false, misleading and
distorted information.
Dear fellow fighters of horse slaughter,
My daughter and I put the story of the Cavel Miracle Horses, Snickers and
Willie into a little video. I hope you enjoy it. (Its kinda long, but gee -
its a long story to tell!) You will also see some pics of more of the
Miracle Horses that you may not have 'met' yet. I tried to find as many as
I could out of the group. They are ALL special and ALL lucky to be alive -
not just my Snickers and Willie and I wanted to pay tribute to all of these special
souls.
I cried, of course, as we put this together, even after all these months.
I want to thank Mr. John Holland for originally penning this remarkable
story, which many of you have hopefully had the opportunity to read. It was
a wonderful piece of work! I used many of his original ideas in the video
but also had to edit and change the wording around alot to fit it into a
reasonable time-frame. The sequence of events, though, could not change.
Again, it is rather long - but such a moving story.
Please feel free to use this in your anti-slaughter work. We WILL get 'er
done in 2008!
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEM14aZ7N9k
Love,
Dawn (and Tara)
You SEE how they treat horses!?
Round Lake firefighter Joe Couture comforts a horse.
(Tribune photo by Joe Shuman / October 28, 2007)
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-horse_weboct29,1,3813887.story
The Unwanted Horse Coalition
&
The American Horse Council.
There seems to be some confusion regarding these two, one and the same, organizations and their stand on horse slaughter. To clarify:
"The Unwanted Horse Coalition, a broad alliance of equine organizations that have joined together under the American Horse Council," or see "Unwanted Horse Coalition folded into AHC".
The American Horse Council's official stand on slaughter is:
"AHC Position
The AHC is neutral on the legislation because it has organizations and individual members both supporting and opposing a federal legislative ban."
Although previously statements declared that they were in favor of slaughter, the current membership of AHC contains organizations which are both pro and con on the slaughter issue. Nevertheless, if some feel that they need to affiliate with them due to the mistaken impression that AHC /UHC are anti-slaughter, please refer to the AHC list of members.
It is somewhat enlightening to refer to the section for AHC Members, then cross reference it to the list of members for Common Horse Sense/aka Horse Welfare Coalition/aka slaughterhouse web site, (commonhorsense.com domain previously registered to attorney for Texas slaughterhouses, now listing contact as SciWords, the PR firm for the slaughterhouses).
If the chain of association still seems cloudy, refer to the list of Current Unwanted Horse Coalition Member Organizations. The first four on the list are very actively pro slaughter. Also, reference JAVMA, August 15, 2006 where a news release was published in the AVMA Journal as the start up of UHC was initiated. AAEP/AVMA was instrumental, and both organizations are quite openly in favor of horse slaughter.
There are no praises to be sung for UHC as related to the slaughter issue. Elsewhere, perhaps there are, but not here. If someone is considering donating dollars to them, it would be better spent in assisting horse rescue.
Why would we highly regulate horse slaughter plants when
we can't even check our beef plants properly??? ----- the
plants needed to be closed! support HR503 / S 311 -
CLOSE THE BORDERS!!!!!...
Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:45pm EDT
You are here: Home > News > Article
USDA admits skipped meat plant checks for 30 years
By Charles Abbott
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For three decades, U.S. inspectors visited 250 meat processing plants as rarely as once every two weeks despite federal law requiring daily inspection, Agriculture Department officials admitted to lawmakers on Thursday.
"All I can say is, it's been going on for a long time," said Undersecretary Richard Raymond to the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture. "It's going to stop now."
There are 6,000 federally inspected slaughterhouses and meat processing plants in the United States, USDA says.
The practice started under directives issued in the early 1970s, said Raymond. He told reporters afterward that daily inspections would commence "soon, damn soon." He said the plants apparently were small operations located a long distance from an inspector's base.
Also during the hearing, Raymond said USDA would delay until June or July the implementation of "risk-based inspection" of processing plants, rather than begin in April. USDA may propose at the end of 2007 to adopt the system at slaughterhouses, he said.
Subcommittee chairwoman Rosa DeLauro repeatedly challenged whether USDA has the data needed to justify the new inspection system. "If I can help it, not on my watch," said the Connecticut Democrat in adjourning the hearing. She said Raymond would be called to another hearing in April.
DeLauro said the infrequent inspections at the 250 plants could be a violation of meat inspection laws, which require daily inspection. "I believe you're exactly right," replied Raymond, who is in charge of food safety at USDA.
While Raymond said he learned three weeks ago of the practice, DeLauro said "I find it very improbable" no one at the Food Safety and Inspection Service, which runs the meat inspection system, was aware of it.
FSIS acting administrator David Goldman told the subcommittee the 250 plants were not allowed to ship meat without inspection. They held it until approved by an inspector, he said. Some plants were checked twice a week and others were visited once every two weeks, said Goldman.
Raymond said he would take steps to assure all plants received daily inspection.
"It is critical that FSIS from this point forward document that plants are visited daily, as required by law," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Federal law requires continuous inspection of packing plants and daily inspection of processing plants.
© Reuters2007All rights reserved
--
Mary D. Martin
www.newenglandequin
www.myspace.
www.freewebs.
haul horses to slaughter in effect.. December 7, 2006.
While the law provides a loophole in that horses may still be transported in
these inhumane trailers for other purposes, it does indeed outlaw their use
in transporting horses to slaughter plants.
The statute is copied below should anyone need to have it on hand for use in
helping local, state, and federal authorities enforce the law.
If you live near a slaughter plant, or frequent auctions where horses are
loaded for slaughter, please contact local police to advise them of the
situation. Also, if you witness a double decker at a horse slaughter plant,
please
be certain to write down the D.O.T. number on the semi-tractor door, as well
as the license plate number and name of the company. Please call Chris Heyde
at the Society for Animal Protective Legislation immediately with this
information. 703-836-4300.
Also, please remember to keep calling your Senators on the American Horse
Slaughter Prevention Act. For our latest alert and more info, please click
here: _http://www.saplonline.org/Alerts/102506.htm_
(http://www.saplonline.org/Alerts/102506.htm)
******************************************************************************
*****************************
Executive Order 12372
This program/activity is listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance under No. 10.025 and is subject to Executive Order 12372,
which requires intergovernmental consultation with State and local
officials. (See 7 CFR part 3015, subpart V.)
Executive Order 12988
This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988,
Civil Justice Reform. This rule: (1) Preempts all State and local laws
and regulations that are in conflict with this rule; (2) has no
retroactive effect; and (3) does not require administrative proceedings
before parties may file suit in court challenging this rule.
Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with section 3507(d) of the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. et seq.), the information collection or
recordkeeping requirements included in this final rule have been
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The assigned OMB
control number is 0579-0160.
List of Subjects
9 CFR Part 70
Administrative practice and procedure.
9 CFR Part 88
Animal welfare, Horses, Penalties Re porting and recordkeeping
requirements, Transportation.
Accordingly, we are amending 9 CFR, chapter I, subchapter C, as
follows:
PART 70--RULES OF PRACTICE GOVERNING PROCEEDINGS UNDER CERTAIN ACTS
1. The authority citation for part 70 is revised to read as
follows:
Authority: 21 U.S.C. 111, 112, 114a, 114a-1, 115, 117, 120, 122,
123, 125-127, 134b, 134c, 134e, and 134f; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, 371.4.
2. In Sec. 70.1, the list of statutory provisions is amended by
adding at the end of the list the following:
Sec. 70.1 Scope and applicability of rules of practice.
* * * * *
Sections 901-905 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and
Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 1901 note).
* * * * *
3. A new part 88 is added to read as follows:
PART 88--COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION OF EQUINES FOR SLAUGHTER
Sec.
88.1 Def initions.
88.2 General information.
88.3 Standards for conveyances.
88.4 Requirements for transport.
88.5 Requirements at a slaughtering facility.
88.6 Violations and penalties.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1901, 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, 371.4.
Sec. 88.1 Definitions.
The following definitions apply to this part:
APHIS. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Commercial transportation. Movement for profit via conveyance on
any highway or public road.
Conveyance. Trucks, tractors, trailers, or semitrailers, or any
combination of these, propelled or drawn by mechanical power.
Equine. Any member of the Equidae family, which includes horses,
asses, mules, ponies, and zebras.
Euthanasia. The humane destruction of an animal by the use of an < BR>anesthetic agent or other means that causes painless loss of
consciousness and subsequent death.
Owner/shipper. Any individual, partnership, corporation, or
cooperative association that engages in the commercial transportation
of more than 20 equines per year to slaughtering facilities, except any
individual or other entity who transports equines to slaughtering
facilities incidental to his or her principal activity of production
agriculture (production of food or fiber).
Owner-shipper certificate. VS Form 10-13,\1\ which requires the
information specified by Sec. 88.4(a)(3) of this part.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Forms may be obtained from the National Animal Health
Programs Staff, Veterinary Services, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 43,
Riverdale, MD 20737-1231.
----------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
Secretary. The Secretary of Agriculture.
Slaughtering facility. A commercial establishment that slaughters
equines for any purpose.
Stallion. Any uncastrated male equine that is 1 year of age or
older.
USDA. The U.S. Department of Agriculture.
USDA backtag. A backtag issued by APHIS that conforms to the eight-
character alpha-numeric National Backtagging System and that provides
unique identification for each animal.
USDA representative. Any employee of the USDA who is authorized by
the Deputy Administrator for Veterinary Services of APHIS, USDA, to
enforce this part.
Sec. 88.2 General information.
(a) State governments may enact and enforce regulations that are
consistent with or that are more stringent than the regulations in this
part.
(b) To determine whether an individual or other entity found to
tran sport equines to a slaughtering facility is subject to the
regulations in this part, a USDA representative may request from any
individual or other entity who transported the equines information
regarding the business of that individual or other entity. When such
information is requested, the individual or other entity who
transported the equines must provide the information within 30 days and
in a format as may be specified by the USDA representative.
Sec. 88.3 Standards for conveyances.
(a) The animal cargo space of conveyances used for the commercial
transportation of equines to slaughtering facilities must:
(1) Be designed, constructed, and maintained in a manner that at
all times protects the health and well-being of the equines being
transported (e.g., provides
[[Page 63616]]
adequate ventilation, contains no sharp protrusions,&n bsp; etc.);
(2) Include means of completely segregating each stallion and each
aggressive equine on the conveyance so that no stallion or aggressive
equine can come into contact with any of the other equines on the
conveyance;
(3) Have sufficient interior height to allow each equine on the
conveyance to stand with its head extended to the fullest normal
postural height; and
(4) Be equipped with doors and ramps of sufficient size and
location to provide for safe loading and unloading.
(b) Equines in commercial transportation to slaughtering facilities
must not be transported in any conveyance that has the animal cargo
space divided into two or more stacked levels, except that conveyances
lacking the capability to convert from two or more stacked levels to
one level may be used until December 7, 2006. Conveyances with
collapsible floors (also known as ``floa ting decks'') must be
configured to transport equines on one level only.
Sec. 88.4 Requirements for transport.
(a) Prior to the commercial transportation of equines to a
slaughtering facility, the owner/shipper must:
(1) For a period of not less than 6 consecutive hours immediately
prior to the equines being loaded on the conveyance, provide each
equine appropriate food (i.e., hay, grass, or other food that would
allow an equine in transit to maintain well-being), potable water, and
the opportunity to rest;
(2) Apply a USDA backtag \2\ to each equine in the shipment;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ USDA backtags are available at recognized slaughtering
establishments and specifically approved stockyards and from State
representatives and APHIS representatives. A list of recognized
slaughtering e stablishments and specifically approved stockyards may
be obtained as indicated in Sec. 78.1 of this chapter. The terms
``State representative'' and ``APHIS representative'' are defined in
Sec. 78.1 of this chapter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) Complete and sign an owner-shipper certificate for each equine
being transported. The owner-shipper certificate for each equine must
accompany the equine throughout transit to the slaughtering facility
and must include the following information, which must be typed or
legibly completed in ink:
(i) The owner/shipper's name, address, and telephone number;
(ii) The receiver's (destination) name, address, and telephone
number;
(iii) The name of the auction/market, if applicable;
(iv) A description of the conveyance, including the license plate
number;
(v) A d escription of the equine's physical characteristics,
including such information as sex, breed, coloring, distinguishing
markings, permanent brands, tattoos, and electronic devices that could
be used to identify the equine;
(vi) The number of the USDA backtag applied to the equine in
accordance with paragraph (a)(2) of this section;
(vii) A statement of fitness to travel at the time of loading,
which will indicate that the equine is able to bear weight on all four
limbs, able to walk unassisted, not blind in both eyes, older than 6
months of age, and not likely to give birth during the trip;
(viii) A description of any preexisting injuries or other unusual
condition of the equine, such as a wound or blindness in one eye, that
may cause the equine to have special handling needs;
(ix) The date, time, and place the equine was loaded on the
conveyance; and
(x) A state ment that the equine was provided access to food, water,
and rest prior to transport in accordance with paragraph (a)(1) of this
section; and
(4) Load the equines on the conveyance so that:
(i) Each equine has enough floor space to ensure that no equine is
crowded in a way likely to cause injury or discomfort; and
(ii) Each stallion and any aggressive equines are completely
segregated so that no stallion or aggressive equine can come into
contact with any other equine on the conveyance.
(b) During transit to the slaughtering facility, the owner/shipper
must:
(1) Drive in a manner to avoid causing injury to the equines;
(2) Observe the equines as frequently as circumstances allow, but
not less than once every 6 hours, to check the physical condition of
the equines and ensure that all requirements of this part are being
followed. The owner/shipper must o btain veterinary assistance as soon
as possible from an equine veterinarian for any equines in obvious
physical distress. Equines that become nonambulatory en route must be
euthanized by an equine veterinarian. If an equine dies en route, the
owner/shipper must contact the nearest APHIS office as soon as possible
and allow an APHIS veterinarian to examine the equine. If an APHIS
veterinarian is not available, the owner/shipper must contact an equine
veterinarian;
(3) Offload from the conveyance any equine that has been on the
conveyance for 28 consecutive hours and provide the equine appropriate
food, potable water, and the opportunity to rest for at least 6
consecutive hours; and
(4) If offloading is required en route to the slaughtering
facility, the owner/shipper must prepare another owner-shipper
certificate as required by paragraph (a)(2) of this section and record
the date, time, and location where the offloading occurred. In this
situation, both owner-shipper certificates would need to accompany the
equine to the slaughtering facility.
(c) Handling of all equines in commercial transportation to a
slaughtering facility shall be done as expeditiously and carefully as
possible in a manner that does not cause unnecessary discomfort,
stress, physical harm, or trauma. Electric prods may not be used on
equines in commercial transportation to a slaughtering facility for any
purpose, including loading or offloading on the conveyance, except when
human safety is threatened.
(d) At any point during the commercial transportation of equines to
a slaughtering facility, a USDA representative may examine the equines,
inspect the conveyance, or review the owner-shipper certificates
required by paragraph (a)(3) of t his section.
(e) At any time during the commercial transportation of equines to
a slaughtering facility, a USDA representative may direct the owner/
shipper to take appropriate actions to alleviate the suffering of any
equine. If deemed necessary by the USDA representative, such actions
could include securing the services of an equine veterinarian to treat
an equine, including performing euthanasia if necessary.
(f) The individual or other entity who signs the owner-shipper
certificate must maintain a copy of the owner-shipper certificate for 1
year following the date of signature.
Sec. 88.5 Requirements at a slaughtering facility.
(a) Upon arrival at a slaughtering facility, the owner/shipper
must:
(1) Ensure that each equine has access to appropriate food and
potable water after being offloaded;
(2) Present the owner-shipper certificates to a US DA
representative;
(3) Allow a USDA representative access to the equines for the
purpose of examination; and
(4) Allow a USDA representative access to the animal cargo area of
the conveyance for the purpose of inspection.
(b) If the owner/shipper arrives during normal business hours, the
owner/shipper must not leave the premises of
[[Page 63617]]
a slaughtering facility until the equines have been examined by a USDA
representative. However, if the owner/shipper arrives outside of normal
business hours, the owner/shipper may leave the premises but must
return to the premises of the slaughtering facility to meet the USDA
representative upon his or her arrival.
(c) Any owner/shipper transporting equines to slaughtering
facilities outside of the United States must present the owner-shipper
certificates to USDA representatives at the border.
Sec. 88.6 Violations and penalties.
(a) The Secretary is authorized to assess civil penalties of up to
$5,000 per violation of any of the regulations in this part.
(b) Each equine transported in violation of the regulations of this
part will be considered a separate violation.
(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control
number 0579-0160.)
Done in Washington, DC, this 3rd day of December 2001.
Bill Hawks,
Under Secretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs.
[FR Doc. 01-30259 Filed 12-6-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-U
Gail Vacca
Illinois Coordinator
National Horse Protection Coalition
Wilmington, Illinois
Tel: 815-761-4937
Fax: 815-476-5257
_www.horse-protection.org_ (http://www.horse-protection ..org)
|
| Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 6:30 PM |
| horse slaughter myths |
|
Most Americans are shocked to learn that horses are slaughtered for foreign food exports. In 2005, both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate cast landslide bi-partisan votes to stop horse slaughter in a 2006 budget bill. In order to stop the suffering experienced by horses and put an end to slaughter practices that most Americans abhor, efforts are underway to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S. 1915/H.R. 503) which would establish a permanent ban on horse slaughter. Opponents of the bill are trying to confuse the issue by the extraordinary and untenable argument that the slaughter industry somehow benefits horses.
Myth: A ban could result in "unregulated shipment of horses to slaughter" and horses being shipped longer distances to slaughter. Fact: Untrue. The passage of The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption, as well as the trade and transport of horseflesh and live horses intended for human consumption. This legislation will terminate any legal option for sending American horses to slaughter within the United States at one of the three, foreign-owned plants or to any foreign slaughterhouse. Myth: There has been an increase in the number of abandoned and unwanted horses in the United States, and a slaughter ban will lead to an increase in horse abuse and starvation or neglect cases. Fact: There is no evidence to support these claims. According to the USDA, at least 5,000 horses have been imported into one of the three foreign-owned slaughter plants in the United States for slaughter since August 2004. If there were "too many" horses in the United States, then there would be no reason to import horses for slaughter. Furthermore, a ban on horse slaughter will not lead to an increase in horse abuse and neglect. In California, where horse slaughter was banned in 1998, there has been no corresponding rise in cruelty and neglect cases. In fact, horse theft has dropped by 34% since enactment of the ban. Allowing one's horse to starve is not an option—state anti-cruelty laws prohibit such neglect. Myth: Transport guidelines protect horses shipped to slaughter from harm. Fact: The 2002 guidelines allow horses to be shipped for more than 24 hours without food, water or rest, with broken limbs, with eyes missing, even heavily pregnant. Industry pushed to delay the prohibition on use of double-decker trucks until December 7, 2006. The regulations only cover the final journey to the slaughterhouse. If horses are loaded and unloaded at various places as part of their route to slaughter, only the final leg of the trip is covered. Enforcement of these guidelines will only occur once the truck reaches the slaughter plant, so these guidelines will have little preventative effect. These guidelines are wholly inadequate and allow extreme suffering in transport to continue. Myth: There is no need for a ban because slaughter is humane euthanasia. Fact: Horse slaughter is a far cry from humane euthanasia. "Euthanasia" means a gentle, painless death provided in order to prevent suffering. Horse slaughter is a death fraught with terror, pain, and suffering. Horses are shipped for more than 24 hours at a time in crowded double-decker cattle trucks without food, water, or rest. Pregnant mares, foals, injured horses, and even blind horses must endure the journey. Once they arrive, their suffering intensifies—undercover footage obtained by The Humane Society of the United States demonstrates that fully conscious horses are shackled and hoisted by the rear leg and have their throats slit. Because horses are skittish by nature, it is particularly difficult to align them correctly and ensure the captive bolt stun gun renders them unconscious. Unwanted horses should be humanely euthanized by a licensed veterinarian when no other option exists, rather than placed on a truck, cruelly transported, and then butchered. Most horse owners already use humane euthanasia for their older or ill horses. Myth: If horses can no longer be slaughtered, their welfare is at risk due to the lack of adequate equine rescue facilities and uniform standards for them. Fact: Standards of care have already been developed and embraced by the hundreds of equine rescue and retirement facilities that exist throughout the country that routinely rescue horses from slaughter. All must comply with state and local animal welfare statutes. In an effort to end the slaughter of racehorses, the New York Racing Association has partnered with other groups to launch the "Ferdinand Fee" to raise funds for the care of retired racehorses, and to honor Ferdinand, a former Kentucky Derby winner who went to slaughter. The organizations leading the charge in favor of a slaughter ban are the very organizations that are actively working to provide sanctuaries and solutions for any horses that would otherwise go to slaughter. Myth: If a slaughter ban is passed, the federal government will face the financial burden of care for horses no longer going to slaughter. Fact: This assertion rests on the false premise that all horses currently going to slaughter would become the financial responsibility of the federal government. Horse owners, not the government, will remain responsible for the care of their horses. Owners who no longer wish to keep their horses and who cannot sell or place their horses in a new home will have the option of humane euthanasia. The average cost for veterinarian-administered euthanasia and carcass disposal—approximately $225, the cost of one month's care—is simply a part of responsible horse ownership. Myth: Ending horse slaughter will cause environmental harm. Fact: Hundreds of thousands of horses are safely disposed of annually by means other than slaughter, and the infrastructure can absorb an increase in numbers. Conversely, the operation of the horse slaughterhouses has a very real negative environmental impact, with two out of the three in violation of current environmental law related to the disposal of blood and other waste materials. Mayor Paula Beacon of Kaufman, Texas—the home of one of the three horse slaughter plants in the United States—desperately states "Dallas-Crown is operating in violation of a multitude of local laws pertaining to waste management, air quality and other environmental concerns... Residents are also fed up with the situation. Long-established neighbors living adjacent to the plant cannot open their windows or run air conditioners without enduring the most horrific stench." Myth: A prohibition on horse slaughter creates a negative precedent for beef, pork, and poultry producers by legitimizing efforts to end consumption of food derived from any animal. Fact: Americans don't eat horses, and unlike other livestock, we don't breed them for human consumption. Additionally, horses are different from cattle (and other animals specifically bred, sold, and transported for human consumption) due to their instinctive flight response in stressful conditions, making it difficult to accurately stun them prior to slaughter. Undercover footage has demonstrated that many horses are dismembered while fully conscious, underscoring the need to ban this utterly inhumane process. The American public overwhelming supports a ban on horse slaughter—horses have a special place in our heritage and they are beloved companions to millions today. Myth: Consuming horsemeat does not put the public's health at risk. Fact: Horsemeat is potentially dangerous to humans when eaten because horses are not raised for this purpose. Recent lab work revealed that horsemeat from one of the Texas plants contains several substances that are not intended for human consumption. Our horses are regularly treated with worming medications, drugs, and other injections unintended for human consumption. Myth: There has been no formal public discussion on this issue. Fact: For years, legislation that would prohibit horse slaughter has been under consideration in the Senate. The U.S. House of Representatives witnessed thoughtful and substantial public floor debate on this identical amendment which led to its passage by a landslide bipartisan vote. Further, there has been extensive media coverage on this issue by newspapers and television networks nationwide including CNN, The L.A. Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and many others. Action on this issue is past due. Myth: Zoos will be prevented from feeding their big cats an adequate diet. Fact: Zoos will be able to continue to feed horse meat to their big cats, as the bill will only stop the domestic slaughter of horses for human consumption. However, there is a growing trend to feed a beef-based diet to captive big cats. Several USDA-licensed facilities that keep big cats like lions and tigers have switched to such diets because it is a healthier alternative for these species. Horses are treated with many drugs that are prohibited for use in animals raised for food. This information courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States |
By John Holland
The phone rings and Shelly Price, a director of the nonprofit rescue
and educational organization Speak Up For Horses Inc. answers. It is
yet another person wanting to know how they can help with the
unwanted horse crisis in Kentucky. The call is in response to an AP
story, written by Jeffrey McMurray, that has reached as far as
Taiwan with sensational headlines like "Kentucky, land of the
thoroughbred, swamped with unwanted horses" and "Drop in slaughter
leads to too many horses".
Shelly patiently explains that she spent days with the reporter but
that the story reflects none of the facts she provided. "He told me
that he had already spoken with proslaughter sources and asked me
about all the horses being turned out because people could not
afford to feed them. I told him that I had never seen an abandoned
horse in Kentucky and warned him to validate that story."
The article begins "The bidding for the black pony started at $500,
then took a nosedive, there were no takers at $300, $200, even
$100." McMurray then goes on to talk about horses being turned loose
in Kentucky in the hundreds or thousands to starve to death, and
blames the problem on a growing movement to stop horse slaughter.
Unfortunately, the premise ignores both the fact that ponies are
rarely purchased for slaughter because of their small size, and the
fact that a horse turned loose in the Bluegrass State would be the
equivalent of a person being turned loose to starve in an all-you-
can eat buffet! "I know of a horse that escaped its pasture near
here," says Price. It took them 9 months to catch it, and it was in
great flesh when they did." But these are only two of many of
McMurray's statements that left experienced horse people scratching
their heads.
"I was with Jeffrey at the Shepherdsville auction and discussed
prices with him afterward", states Annie Haag, another horse
advocate, who agreed to help McMurray gather information for his
story from the anti-slaughter perspective. But after the auction she
says "Jeffrey just wanted to know about the one that sold for $75. I
was confused and did not realize that he was talking about a pony. I
told him I didn't see any horses selling under the $400 range. I
told Jeffrey that prices were up almost $100 on most horses." Haag
continued, "I would have told him that $75 is not a bad price for a
pony! He really didn't know much about horses."
Tamie Semler, of Angel Horse Rescue in Mannford, Oklahoma challenged
McMurray's premise that slaughter buyers help remove the unwanted
horses from the auction. She told of a reverse Darwinian world where
the rule is survival of the most unfit. To prove this, Semler keeps
meticulous records of who buys which horses at the big Mid America
auction in Bristow, Oklahoma. "At the auction last week," says
Semler "all 30 of the loose horses that were over 1,000 pounds went
to slaughter. They brought an average of $510 each, while the thin
horses all went to individual buyers and dealers and averaged only
$193."
A "loose horse" is one run through the auction ring without a rider
while horses ridden into the ring under saddle are called "saddle
horses". Although many loose horses are saddle broke they sell for
less than saddle horses and are thus the favorites of the kill
buyers. "So how exactly does it help with the problem of unwanted
horses when they take the best?" Semler asks, "I just could not
afford to outbid the killers. It is a shame too because with a
little training here and there we could have placed those healthy
horses so quickly."
McMurray's article goes on to quote a number of horse breeders
complaining about horse prices, but many of the quotes make no sense
to most experienced horse people. For example McMurray quotes a
breeder named Nelson Francis saying "You try to hang on until the
price changes, but it looks like it's not going to change. What do I
do? I've got good quality horses I can't market because of the has-
been horse." While almost all horse people agree that there is far
too much backyard breeding of horses, it makes no sense to complain
that "has-been" horses would push good riding horses out of the
market, and that somehow a lack of slaughter is to blame.
The complaint that "good saddle horses" are being pushed out of the
market by "has-been" horses does not agree with other assessments.
Jim Bradshaw, in a recent column in the Live Stock Weekly out of
Lubbock Texas discussed the effect of the closing in January of the
two Texas horse slaughter plants. He quotes Tony Mann, owner of
Lubbock Stockyards (an opponent of banning slaughter), on the price
of loose horses saying, "I didn't have any idea it would be this
good. We might have been $50 to $100 cheaper per head, but I didn't
see anything down too much. It was pretty good on the riding
horses." The article, in the enthusiastically pro-slaughter trade
journal, went on to quote other sources as saying the price of
saddle horses was basically unchanged.
When contacted for confirmation about the story of horses running
loose in the land, Lt. Phil Crumpton, the Commander of Kentucky
State Police Media Relations Branch, laughed saying, "You must be
joking?" When he realized the question was serious, he said that he
had no such reports to either their headquarters or to any of the
Regional Posts.
McMurray goes on "Some people who live near the strip mines in the
mountains of impoverished eastern Kentucky say that while horses
have long been left to roam free there, the number now may be in the
thousands, and they are seeing herds three times bigger than they
did just five years ago." The explanation for these reports took
only a quick google search. It is ironically from a mid-February AP
story!
It is the tragic story of two teenage boys charged with shooting and
killing several of the horses belonging to Trish Hayes who owns the
animals and operates Breaks Stables in Breaks, Virginia. The horses
were used for trail riding in warm months at the Breaks Interstate
Park. They wintered in the area of an abandoned coal mine in Eastern
Kentucky. The area is so safe and sparsely populated that there is
no need to fence them. Hays was quoted as saying "You've got miles
and miles of flat land where these horses graze and just stay. When
they're up there, they look like a band of wild horses, but when you
drive up, they'll come right up to your window." The story can still
be found online at the equine veterinary magazine The Horse. The
situation was fully investigated by the Kentucky State
Veterinarian'
well cared for and that there were no breeding (un-gelded) males.
The McMurray story continues, "There have been reports of horses
chained up in eastern Kentucky and left for days without food or
water. " But this tale appears to have been borrowed from another of
McMurray's sources, Kathy Schwartz of Days End Farm Horse Rescue. It
is the story of a horse named Beetle Bailey who was found chained to
a tree. But the Days End Farm is in Maryland, not Kentucky. Beetle
Bailey's story has no connection whatsoever to horse slaughter or
the current situation. Beetle Bailey was adopted out of the rescue
in the Winter of 2004!
The discrepancies in McMurray's AP story do not end there, but its
sensational shrillness (astonishing coming from the institutionally
careful Associated Press) has had the effect of creating a fire
storm of unwarranted concern across the mainstream media, the
internet, and even the talk show circuit. In yet another irony, one
of the facts that McMurray did get right makes this very serious.
The US Congress, Kentucky, New York, and Illinois are all
considering legislation to ban horse slaughter, and Texas is
considering legislation that would nullify its 1949 law against
slaughtering horses for human consumption which was only recently
upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. All this pending
legislation raises the issue to a level of significance that demands
responsible journalism.
In light of this, a few questions must be asked. Who assigned
McMurray, a young sports writer with no knowledge of the horse
industry, to this story? Why did McMurray work so desperately to
weave disconnected, unsubstantiated and unrelated scraps of
information into a largely incoherent argument in favor of horse
slaughter? And why did the Associated Press, a respected news
outlet, allow such a sensationalized and distorted story to get out?
I call upon the Associated Press to do the right thing and set the
record straight by retracting this ridiculous story and I ask that
all the publications that printed it inform their readers of its
inaccuracy. We as Americans need to know that we can trust our most
cherished guardian of truth, the free press, and its traditionally
most responsible messenger, the cherished Associated Press.
JH - 3/18/2007
&
The American Horse Council.
There seems to be some confusion regarding these two, one and the same, organizations and their stand on horse slaughter. To clarify:
"The Unwanted Horse Coalition, a broad alliance of equine organizations that have joined together under the American Horse Council," or see "Unwanted Horse Coalition folded into AHC".
The American Horse Council's official stand on slaughter is:
"The AHC is neutral on the legislation because it has organizations and individual members both supporting and opposing a federal legislative ban."
Although previously statements declared that they were in favor of slaughter, the current membership of AHC contains organizations which are both pro and con on the slaughter issue. Nevertheless, if some feel that they need to affiliate with them due to the mistaken impression that AHC /UHC are anti-slaughter, please refer to the AHC list of members.
It is somewhat enlightening to refer to the section for AHC Members, then cross reference it to the list of members for Common Horse Sense/aka Horse Welfare Coalition/aka slaughterhouse web site, (commonhorsense.com domain previously registered to attorney for Texas slaughterhouses, now listing contact as SciWords, the PR firm for the slaughterhouses).
If the chain of association still seems cloudy, refer to the list of Current Unwanted Horse Coalition Member Organizations. The first four on the list are very actively pro slaughter. Also, reference JAVMA, August 15, 2006 where a news release was published in the AVMA Journal as the start up of UHC was initiated. AAEP/AVMA was instrumental, and both organizations are quite openly in favor of horse slaughter.
There are no praises to be sung for UHC as related to the slaughter issue. Elsewhere, perhaps there are, but not here. If someone is considering donating dollars to them, it would be better spent in assisting horse rescue.
|
| |||
 |
NEW: Cavel must close at midnight | ROCKFORD - A federal judge ruled Thursday evening that Cavel International J. Philip Calabrese, attorney for Cavel, had argued that Judge Frederick J. | ||
The most current info on the status of slaughter... www.saplonline.org
Horse Slaughter Bill Advances in the
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 25, 2007) – The Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee of the US Senate today held a mark-up for S. 311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), voting 15 to 7 in favor of sending the bill to be considered before the full US Senate.
Dispelling misguided arguments from AHSPA opponents, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) argued, “We have this law in place in
The three remaining foreign-owned slaughter plants in the
“Until Congress acts, horses are being hauled under horrible conditions across the border to
Two years ago, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to stop horse slaughter for a year, and last year, the House passed the bill. Unfortunately, Congress went out of session before the Senate could vote on the measure. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, sponsored in this session by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and John Ensign (R-NV), will ensure that the practice of horse slaughter for human consumption is stopped permanently.
Before the measure went up for a vote, Senator Ensign stated, “There is no question that this bill will pass in this Committee, in the full Senate and in the House of Representatives, finally stopping horse slaughter.”
The Society for Animal Protective Legislation, the Animal Welfare Institute's legislative arm, is the unsurpassed leader in obtaining laws to benefit animals in need, including the protection of domestic and wild horses.
##30##
CONTACT:
Chris Heyde,
Please note that photographs and footage of horse transport and slaughter are available upon request. More information on the issue is available at www.saplonline.
|
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Federal Court of Appeals Affirms Ruling Declaring Horse Slaughter Illegal in Texas
Two of the Nation's Three Horse Slaughter Plants Must Now Close
WASHINGTON (March 6, 2007)—Today, The Humane Society of the United States hailed a decision yesterday by the entire United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to affirm an earlier panel decision upholding a Texas state law banning the sale of horsemeat for human consumption.
Without comment or dissent, the 19 judges of the full court rejected a petition by three foreign-owned slaughter plants seeking full court review of a three-judge panel’s January 19, 2006 decision upholding the Texas horse slaughter law. The slaughter plants had claimed the Texas law at issue was unconstitutional, an argument that was quickly brushed aside by the Court in its January opinion and again by its decision denying rehearing yesterday.
“This is the end of the line for the horse slaughter industry in Texas," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO for The HSUS. "The kill floors should be still and quiet in Texas if the owners of these foreign-owned plants obey the law.”
“Only one slaughterhouse continues to operate in the United States, and it is time for Congress to step in and halt this grisly business once and for all,” Pacelle added.
The HSUS has been actively campaigning to ban the slaughter of American horses for export for human consumption.
Facts
· The criminal code of Texas has long prohibited the sale or possession of horse meat, but the law has never been enforced.
· According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 100,800 American horses were slaughtered in three foreign-owned slaughter houses in 2006. Another 30,000 were sent to Mexico or Canada for slaughter.
· Opponents of the slaughter ban argue the practice constitutes a humane way to kill old animals, but investigations by The HSUS show cruelty and abuse throughout the process. USDA statistics show that more than 92 percent of horses slaughtered in the U.S. are not old and infirm but in good condition.
· Legislation to ban the slaughter of American horses nationwide was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate by Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Reps. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), John Spratt (D-S.C.), and Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) introduced a companion bill, H.R. 503.
· The measure received tremendous bipartisan support in the 109th Congress, winning a vote of 263 to 146 in the House. It stalled in the Senate in late 2006, however, and was not brought up for a vote before Congress adjourned, even though a similar effort had been overwhelmingly approved by the Senate in 2005.
· Nearly 70 percent of Americans are strongly against the slaughter of American horses for human consumption overseas.
Timeline
· In 2002, responding to citizen and local government concerns about the two foreign-owned horse slaughter plants in the state – Dallas Crown in Kaufman and Beltex in Fort Worth – then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn issued a written opinion that the 1949 Texas law applies and may be enforced.
· In response, the Tarrant County District Attorney attempted to enforce the law, but last year a federal district court in Texas ruled that the law was repealed by another statute and preempted by federal law.
· The District Attorney appealed that decision last year, and the HSUS filed an amicus brief in the case in March 2006.
· In January 2007, the court of appeals upheld the law, flatly rejecting the slaughterhouses' arguments that the ban on the sale of horsemeat does not protect horses from theft and abuse, and that regulating horse slaughter can achieve those same purposes, noting instead that "it is a matter of commonsense that…alternatives…
- 30 -
Media contacts:
Polly Shannon, pshannon@hsus.
Tracey McIntire, tmcintire@hsus.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization – backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at www.HumaneSociety.
Support HSUS animal protection programs with your life insurance policy. Visit www.hsus.org/
§ The notion that H.B 1711 is going to precipitate some huge crisis belies the experience of the past 15 years. The number of horses slaughtered has fallen dramatically with no corresponding increase in horse abandonment or neglect. When California banned horse slaughter in 1998, there was no increase in neglect or abuse cases, but there was a 34% drop in horse theft. This makes sense because the USDA reports that more than 92% of horses that are slaughtered are in "good condition" so could easily have led productive lives in new homes if killer buyers had not outbid others at horse auctions.
§ We have more horses than ever in the United States, with no increase in "unwanted horses." Even as the overall horse population has risen from below 7 million horses to more than 9 million over the past decade, the number of "unwanted horses" has been declining dramatically (both in absolute and relative terms). In 1995, approximately 150,000 horses were slaughtered – roughly 2.2% of the total US horse population. In 2004, the number or horses slaughtered had fallen by a third while the horse population had risen by a third – leading slaughter rates to fall in half – to 1.1% of the US horse population.
§ Even using their own numbers, horse slaughter advocates' analysis falls apart.[1] In a table included with Bonnie Beaver's testimony entitled "Horse Welfare Coalition, Fiscal Impact of Horse Processing Facility Closures," the number of "unwanted horses" is estimated at 25,200 per year.[2] It is not 60,000, 70,000, 80,000, 90,000, or 100,000 – which are the numbers horse slaughter advocates provided in Congressional testimony over a two day period of hearings in July 2006. And this much smaller number than the one thrown about carelessly today is based on the assumption that every horse sent to slaughter would become "unwanted," which simply isn't true. More than 92% of them are in perfectly good condition, according to the USDA, and would find useful lives in new homes.
§ For a decade, the decline in horse slaughter has been consistent, with no increase in "unwanted horses." Over the past ten years, an average of nearly 45,000 fewer horses have gone to slaughter each year – which is more than twice the number opponents now estimate will be in need of rescue/adoption annually. There are no horses wandering our streets, despite these declines in horses slaughtered.
§ Slaughter is obviously not an outlet for "unwanted horses" since we are importing horses to slaughter them. If slaughter advocates are so certain that slaughter provides an answer to the "unwanted horse" problem in America, perhaps we should ask why nearly four percent of horses slaughtered between January and July of 2006 were imported from Canada. Of the nearly 70,000 horses slaughtered in the US through July 2006, 2,534 were imported from Canada (of whom 2,238 were slaughtered in Illinois).[3] This is no aberration – in 2005, 7,095 live horses were imported from Canada bound for American slaughter plants, or 7.5 percent of the 94,037 horses slaughtered here.[4] If horse slaughter was actually an answer or in any way connected to an "unwanted horse" problem, then we would not be importing horses from Canada for slaughter.
"The horses arriving at horse slaughter plants are the unwanted of the unwanted."
– Dick Koehler, Vice President, BelTex Corporation
- Representative Bob Goodlatte
§ According to the USDA's own "Guidelines for Handling and Transporting Equines to Slaughter," 92.3 percent of horses arriving at slaughter plants are in "good" condition. Among those "good" horses are horses who have been stolen from their rightful owners or else sold/adopted to killer buyers under false pretenses. That means that no more than 8% are ill, injured, or otherwise unable to be used productively. At most, there are some 7,280 horses that would need to be humanely euthanized and spared the horror and suffering of slaughter – a relatively small and manageable number.
§ Owner ignorance, the economy, and the weather are the causes of neglect – not access to slaughter. Because the number of horses being slaughtered annually represents only one percent of the horse population, their fate has little – if any - effect on horse welfare overall. Neglect is likely more dependent upon factors such as weather (forage and hay availability) and the state of the economy than any other factor.
It is absurd for the horse slaughter plants to attempt to claim that they represent the best interests of the horses, rather than The Humane Society of the United States. Support H.B 1711!
[4] Ibid. In 2005, 6,144 Canadian horses were slaughtered in Illinois.
Slaughter is not the only bad part!! See what happens to horses on the way to the plant. ):
http://stream.luxmedia.com/?file=/clients/hsus/e-community/mo_horses.wmv&type=wmv
It is the united opinion of VEW veterinarians that it is beyond the scope of our profession to comment on the culinary practices of any person or country, however, consumer safety of meat produced in our country is very much a responsibility that veterinarians must carefully consider.
Horses, unlike traditional food animals in the United States, are not raised or medicated during their lifetime with the intent of one day becoming human food. Because no American horse is ever "intended" for the human food chain, often times horses throughout their lives will have received medications that are banned for use ever during the life of food animals. Click here for list of drugs prohibited for use in horses slaughtered for human consumption.
Additionally, medications which are FDA approved for use in traditional food animals come with very specific withdrawal schedules printed on the packaging, whereas, the very same medications, for example-- dewormers, when purchased for horses do not include the requisite food animal withdrawal schedule, but simply state "NOT FOR USE IN HORSES INTENDED FOR FOOD".
Unlike the United States, European Union and United Kingdom member countries have a distinct safety policy with regard to horses entering the food chain. All EU/UK horses must carry "equine passports" in which the animal is declared to be either "eligible for slaughter as human food ", or "not eligible for slaughter for human food".
Any EU or UK horse which has ever received a medication that is banned for use in food producing animals, is forever prohibited from entering the food chain. All food animal approved medications that are prescribed and administered to horses in the EU or UK have strict withdrawal schedules printed on the packaging and all such medications must also be recorded on the equine passport. The EU/UK system is designed specifically to ensure the health and safety of humans that consume horsemeat. Click here for EU Council Directive 2002/99/EC.
It is the strong position of VEW members that absent any formal regulation or structure by the United States with regard to medications and food safety withdrawal schedules for equines entering the food chain, horsemeat derived from any US horse can never be determined as safe for human consumption.
Furthermore, VEW member veterinarians strongly object to the AVMA and AAEP position in favor of horse slaughter for human consumption. For the AVMA and AAEP to condone the human consumption of meat derived from equines that have not been raised or medicated with food safety regulations having always been observed is, in our opinion, unethical and dangerous.
http://tinyurl.
More...
February 2007...
Anti-Horse Slaughter legislation introduced in Illinois
Thursday, February 22, 2007 - by Jacqueline Batambuze
Springfield, IL --- A bill introduced today in the Illinois State
Legislature could soon signal the end to the practice of horse slaughter
in the United States.
Illinois is the only state where significant horse slaughter continues.
A recent federal court decision has made it hard for two Texas plants to
operate, and likely will lead to their permanent closure. The three
facilities are the only ones in the country that slaughter horses and
export the meat for human consumption in Europe and Asia.
The Illinois bill is sponsored by State Rep. Bob Molaro (D-Chicago). It
would prohibit the transportation of horses into the state for the sole
purpose of slaughter for human consumption.
A Belgian company, Cavel International, runs a horse slaughter plant
near DeKalb, Ill. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, just
over 100,000 American horses were slaughtered last year at the three
facilities in DeKalb, Fort Worth and Kaufman, Texas.
“When I read about the Jan. 20th 5th Circuit Court decision upholding a
longstanding Texas law which bans the slaughter of horses for human
consumption, I was thrilled to learn that two of the remaining three
companies engaged in this grisly business had finally been shut down,”
said Molaro.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and the Illinois Department of
Agriculture supported a similar bill when it was last introduced, and it
is anticipated that they will support it again. Illinois Rep. Jan
Schakowsky (D) is leading the federal effort with a bill cosponsored by
Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY). Similar legislation is
pending in the U.S. Senate.
“Illinois has long been a leader in animal protection and anti-cruelty
laws, and as such, it is high time we put an end to equine cruelty and
join Texas and all other U.S. states in protecting horses from needless
slaughter,” said Molaro.
In May of 2004 a similar bill easily passed the Illinois Senate, but was
narrowly defeated in the House because of an unrelated issue.
“This year, we are confident the legislation will clear both houses and
be signed into law by Governor Blagojevich,” said Chris Heyde, deputy
legislative director of the Society for Animal Protective Legislation.
"Horse owners, veterinarians, residents of Illinois and the American
people want an end to slaughter, and Illinois legislators are standing
up to end this cruel industry."
Slaughter video...www.sharkonline.org/horseslaughter.mv
PLEASE watch this video! It is nice...NOT graphic!
John Hollands video...http://ac4hstorage.com/
Vote! on John's video. It has been nominated for a Producer's Award!!...
http://www.metacafe
The rate of horse theft in CA after slaughter was banned in '98...
http://www.newenglandequinerescues.com/HorseTheftinCA.gif
The rate of neglect/abuse in relation to slaughter...
http://www.newenglandequinerescues.com/The Relationship of Abuse to Slaughter.pdf
http://equineprotectionnetwork.com/cruelty/dt.htm
Plus some shots of horses being loaded to go to slaughter...sad! ):
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aboyandhishorse/album?.dir=/da29&.src=ph
http://www.saplonline.org/horses.htm Willie Nelson on slaughter.
loaded for slaughter, are asked to contact local police to advise them of the
situation. Also, people witnessing a double Decker at a horse slaughter plant,
are asked to please be certain to write down the D.O.T. number on the
semi-tractor door, as well as the license plate number and name of the
company. Please call Chris Heyde at the Society for Animal Protective Legislation immediately with this information. Ph 703-836-4300
The Politics of Horse Slaughter
By: John Holland
We are coming up on mid-term elections that could finally break the roadblocks to passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This report is to update you on the current situation and on what ramifications the election may have on it.
The current situation
At this moment, the AHSPA (American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) is awaiting a vote in the Senate as S.1915 after passing the House as HR.503. The wording of the two bills is identical, and will remain so unless the Senate attaches amendments. It is also possible that the Senate could vote on HR.503 itself. There can be no doubt it will pass the Senate if it gets a vote, but that is anything but certain.
Many people have been told by Senate staffers that S.1915 may not be voted on by the Senate before January or February of next year. This is misinformation and is most probably intended to placate proponents until after the election. If the AHSPA is not voted on by the Senate when it re-convenes after the election for the brief lame duck session, the bill will die at the end of the year and will have to be reintroduced next year. That means at least another year of slaughter, and the USDA slaughter numbers are going up astronomically.
The anti-slaughter movement has grown rapidly, but as it has neared success, the opposition has pulled out all the stops to block this legislation. Power brokers such as the cattlemen, who have always feigned indifference, have now stepped out from the shadows and begun to campaign actively to block the AHSPA. Despite an incredible response by horse lovers, there is only a modest chance that S.1915 will get to the floor before the 109th Congress ends. If it does not get a vote, our House win will have been yet another in a series of hollow victories.
A recent history of the AHSPA
To understand how we have been defeated repeatedly by arguably the most despised, foreign owned “industry” in our country, you must understand how power really works at the federal level. The three branches of government are; the Executive (the President and his cabinet); the Congress (the Senate and House); and the Judiciary (the courts and judges).
The House of Representatives and the Senate together create the laws and control the budgets. The President can veto a law or a budget but most Presidents are reluctant to do so in any but the direst of circumstances. Congress can over-ride a veto with a 2/3rds majority vote. There are two senators per state, but each state has a number of representatives proportional to its population. There are thus 435 Representatives and 100 Senators. All representatives come up for re-election every two years, while Senators have a 6 year term and only 1/3rd of all Senators face re-election every other year.
Both the House and the Senate are broken down into committees. These committees control laws governing various aspects of the government like interior, defense, commerce, agriculture, etc. The majority party in each house appoints chairpersons of all the committees in that house, and this the real source of power in Congress. If a party has one more seat than the other party, they appoint all the chairpersons, and thus have total control of the bills introduced by that house.
A new law starts as a bill and it must be introduced by one or more “sponsors” in both the House and the Senate. The bill is placed in the appropriate committee depending on what aspect of government it pertains to. In the House, the current AHSPA is called HR.503 and in the Senate it is called S.1915. Members of the House and Senate can then show their support of a bill by signing up as “co-sponsors”. Theoretically, the committee holding the bill should take this support into consideration when deciding whether to release the bill onto the House or Senate floor for a vote. In reality the final decision lies with the Chairperson of that committee.
HR.857 (the AHSPA back in the 108th Congress) was introduced into Bob Goodlatte’s Agriculture Committee in 2003 and had an almost unprecedented 224 cosponsors when it expired at the end of 2004. Only 218 votes are required for passage, so HR.857 would certainly have passed but Bob Goodlatte simply ignored the co-sponsors and his own constituents and blocked it. Such is the power of a chairman. In a letter to his colleagues dated
Goodlatte is the representative of the 6th district of Virginia, but his real allegiance lie elsewhere. His promotion to Chairman of the Agriculture Committee had been something of a surprise since he was jumped over several more senior members of the committee. He gained the position with the help of a powerful group of Republicans from
The fact is that both Goodlatte’s former minority leader Stenholm and his aide Brent Gattis were not at all interested in the welfare of unwanted horses but rather were in thick with the horse slaughter industry. The proof of this came when both men slipped through the famous
A few years ago many of us began to sense that despite broad bi-partisan support we were up against a much better organized opponent than could be seen on the surface. We originally thought that organizations like the Cattlemen’s associations and the AVMA (American Veterinary Medicine Assoc) had little real interest in horse slaughter, but we were very wrong. We had also believed that Goodlatte was acting more or less alone. Again we were dead wrong. Worse yet, we did not realize that despite the overwhelming support the AHSPA had in Congress, the opposition controlled all the key gate keepers of power. We were to be taught this lesson in ambush after ambush.
In 2005, the new AHSPA was introduced into the Energy and Commerce committee as HR.503. This was a move to avoid Goodlatte’s control. This was accomplished by removing any wording that forbids the act of slaughter itself which would clearly fall under agriculture. Instead the bill prohibits things like shipment, receiving, selling, owning, and donating a horse for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption. These are commerce activities.
Meanwhile, on
When a bill has passed both houses it is sent to a “conference committee” where differences between the House and Senate versions are arbitrated and a compromise bill is sent back to both houses for a final vote. The chairman of the conference committee was Henry Bonilla (R-TX). Since both the House and Senate versions of the amendment had identical language, it was not expected that the conference committee would tamper with it. They did. Just days before they were to meet, a staffer leaked that Bonilla intended to throw the amendment out wholesale!
Most of us had never heard of Bonilla, so I ran a simple google search with his name and Bob Goodlatte’s. The results were a shock. Their names appeared together again and again in battles to thwart the implementation of COOL (a law that would help American producers by requiring the country of origin be marked on most meat and produce). They also appeared to be in lock-step promoting allowing “downer” cows back into the food supply.
A check of open secrets showed the final connection between Bonilla and Goodlatte. Both men had received large campaign contributions from the same groups. These groups included the AVMA, the AQHA, and lobbyists for the horse slaughter plants like Jim Bradshaw. In fact the complex patterns of donations were almost identical!
We started a hugely successful fax and phone campaign contacting all of the members of the committee. With overwhelming public visibility, the members would not go along with Bonilla’s plan to discard the amendment completely, but instead they allowed Bonilla to place a 120 day delay on its implementation.
Agriculture secretary Mike Johanns used this delay to put in place a “pay for inspection” plan that allowed the slaughter plants to thwart the intent of congress and to continue slaughtering horses. The plan appeared to violate standing statutes (e.g. the Federal Meat Inspection Act), so animal welfare groups filed a suit to block the plan. A federal judge dismissed the important claims of the law suit on standing, meaning the action of Johanns did not affect the plaintiffs directly so they could not sue. Our victory had been hollow and meaningless.
The move by Johanns was so audacious that it cannot be doubted that his action was at the behest of the man who appointed him and for whom he works; President George W. Bush (R-TX). This action was a direct affront to Congress, but Johanns weathered the ire of the sponsors and slaughter went on. The only hope for 2006 was then the AHSPA which was in the Commerce committee.
The chairman of this committee is Republican Joe Barton. And yes, Barton is a Republican from
Knowing this was going to happen, Goodlatte “recalled” a copy of the bill into his Agriculture committee where he held a Kangaroo Court of slaughter proponents and marked up half a dozen poison pill amendments to the bill to attempt to destroy it.
Both the original version of HR.503 and Goodlatte’s version were sent to the rules committee. The decision of the committee was to allow a vote on the original version and on two of Goodlatte’s poison pill amendments. Both of Goodlatte’s amendments were defeated and HR.503 passed by the overwhelming vote of 263 to 146.
But was this just a hollow victory designed to keep the proponents happy while letting the industry go on slaughtering our horses? By releasing the bill very close to the end of the session, the House made if very unlikely that the Senate would vote on it before the election recess. Worse, the clerk of the House erroneously sent Goodlatte’s version of the bill to the Senate, and it took two weeks to correct the error.
The bottom line:
The anti-slaughter movement has always attempted to keep the issue of horse slaughter a bi-partisan affair for several reasons including the fact that most of the sponsors of the AHSPA are Republican, and we have many important supporters in the party. Furthermore, many horse owners who are needed for grass roots support are Republican. Even so, it is impossible to ignore the fact that 81% of the Democrats in the house voted for HR.503, only 49% of Republicans did so. In the Senate, 43% of the Democrats are already co-sponsors of S.1915, but only 18% of Republicans have co-sponsored.
But the real power is in who controls the gate keepers like Goodlatte, Bonilla, Johanns and Barton. The pattern is clear. The
Three things can now happen:
First, the Senate can return from the elections, regardless of the outcome, and vote on and pass S.1915. If this happens, it is unlikely President Bush will veto it, but a vote is anything but assured at this point. If, however, the Democrats gain control of the Senate (which will not be effective until the new year), then the Republicans are going to be working overtime to pass everything they can before they lose control, and the chances of the AHSPA getting to a vote are even smaller.
If the Senate does not vote on the AHSPA, but the Democrats gain a majority in the House, then even if Bonilla, Goodlatte, and Barton are reelected they will lose their chairmanships and their power. Without these they are just another vote on a playing field where we have the advantage. In the calculus of power, every seat won by a Democrat (especially in the House) is one step closer to passage of AHSPA. Ironically, even if every seat won was taken from an anti-slaughter Republican by a pro-slaughter Democrat it would be sad, but still a step toward breaking the unbridled abuse of power that is keeping the horses streaming into slaughter. Even so, it is important not to forget that we owe our support to our sponsors and cosponsors from both parties.
Finally, if the Senate does not vote, and the Republicans maintain control of the House, the outlook for passage of the AHSPA before the end of the 110th Congress (2008) is bleak. It is generally assumed that the Senate is a more friendly environment for the AHSPA, but if it does not vote on it this year that could herald hidden opposition within the Republican leadership there as well.
I hope this helps everyone understand what the stakes are on Tuesday.
John Holland
USDA SIDES WITH FOREIGN HORSE SLAUGHTER HOUSES AGAINST CONGRESS
(or, how the horses got Abramoff’ed again)
For Immediate Release: 7 February, 2006
Media Contact:
Today the USDA announced that it plans to ignore the intent of Congress and to allow the three foreign owned slaughter houses to continue to kill horses under new rules. These rules will permit the slaughter houses to pay for horse meat inspections. Horse slaughter, which was expected to end on March 10th, can now continue indefinitely. The move is the latest in a complex legislative battle between a broad majority of both Americans and their legislators who want horse slaughter to end, and powerful individuals within government who side with the foreign owned slaughter houses.
The AHSPA (American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) was first introduced in 2003 as HR-857. The AHSPA would permanently ban horse slaughter for human consumption, but during 2003 and 2004 Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, blocked the bill by not letting it out of his committee for a vote. Publicly Goodlatte claims to hold his position out of principal and he espouses that ending horse slaughter would cause a rise in horse abuse and neglect. When asked to explain statistics that do not show this relationship he simply states that he interprets the statistics differently. Public records show that the position has been wise financial decision. Goodlatte, who normally runs unopposed, has been lavished with campaign contributions from Jim Bradshaw, lobbyist for the Beltex slaughter plant in Texas, by the Texas & Southwest Cattle Raiser’s Association (who receive $3 for every horse slaughtered in Texas), and by dozens of other slaughter groups and their affiliates.
At the end of the 108th session of Congress, HR-857 died in Goodlatte’s committee even though it had 225 cosponsors which would have assured its passage in the House. In response, this year the proponents of the ban launched two legislative efforts to stop horse slaughter. The first was the Ensign/Byrd Amendment to the Agriculture budget which passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins of 269-128 and 69-28 respectively.
The House and Senate versions of the budget were then sent to conference committee to meld them into a single budget bill. The language of the amendment was identical in both houses, so there should have been nothing for the conference committee to do but to include it in the final bill. However, Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Tx), chairman of the conference committee, is also strong ally of the French and Belgium slaughter houses. Like Goodlatte, Bonilla has been rewarded handsomely by Jim Bradshaw, and the slaughter establishment. When word leaked out of the committee that Bonilla intended to throw the amendment out, horse lovers and animal welfare advocates swamped the committee with calls and emails demanding the language be left alone. In the end Bonilla settled for a delay of 120 days on the effective date. This should have stopped horse slaughter on March 10th.
In January, the USDA had announced it was considering changing its rules on horse slaughter inspections to allow the plants themselves to pay for the inspections. This drew a strong response from the amendment’s sponsors and almost 40 other congressmen, saying that they viewed it as illegal for him to do so. According to today’s announcement Johanns has decided he does not need to obey the intent of the law and will instead interpret it as only restricting his use of federal funds for the inspectors.
Meanwhile, the AHSPA was reintroduced in 2005 as HR-503 in the House and S-1915 in the Senate. The recent announcement by Johanns that he intended to consider the petition of the slaughter houses for paid inspections appears to have resulted in a burst of support for the HR-503 and S-1915. In the past week the bills have gained more new cosponsors than in the previous month.
There are yet more parallels between the horse slaughter issue and the Abramoff scandal. It has just been announced that former Representative Charles Stenholm, has accepted a position as a “consultant” with the horse slaughter industry. Until losing his seat in the 2004 election, Stenholm was the minority co-chair of Goodlatte’s Agriculture committee, and his strong confederate in blocking HR-857.
In 2005, over 120,000 horses were slaughtered in the United States or exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. This represented a 30% increase over 2004, and January of 2006 has seen an additional 30% increase over the same month in 2005. The meat is shipped to Europe where it sells retail for about $12 to $15 per pound as a delicacy. The surge in popularity of horse meat in Europe is largely due to the fear of mad cow disease (BSE) and the perceived adulteration of American beef. As ridiculous as it may seem to an American horse person, this attitude has been fostered by the creation of a marketing myth in the EC that American horses are free of drugs and are raised only on open meadows fed by crystal clear mountain streams. American horse advocates have long marveled at the fact that horses are often taken from the race track or auction straight to slaughter and are frequently loaded with drugs forbidden in other food animals.
You are urged to contact your representative and senators and to ask them to support the AHSPA.
Written by John Holland, hollandtech@earthlink.net
FACTS ABOUT HORSE SLAUGHTER...
Caution...
Slaughter Info...
GRAPHIC slaughter info...
http://www.nuvo.net/archive/2005/08/03/dead_meat.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-horseslaughter_12met.ART.North.Edition2.133a023f.html
2 horse plants likely to close
Slaughterhouses in Kaufman, FW affected by agriculture funds bill
12:00 AM CST on Saturday, November 12, 2005
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
Two North Texas plants that slaughter horses for European diners will
probably be shut down by the federal government.
An agriculture appropriations bill signed by President Bush on Thursday
effectively bans the practice through a technicality: A provision cuts
off funding for meat inspectors at plants that slaughter horses for
human consumption. The Dallas Crown plant in Kaufman, Beltex Corp. plant
in Fort Worth and a plant in Illinois would not be allowed to operate
without an inspector.
"Americans do not eat horse meat, and there is no reason that our
American horses should be killed just to end up on dinner plates in
France or Belgium," said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of
the Humane Society of the United States.
He said this is a victory for animal lovers, but the bill is not
perfect. Because the ban relies on withholding money, funding could be
restored next year.
There are bills pending in Congress to ban outright the slaughter of
horses for human consumption.
Jim Bradshaw, a Fort Worth-based lobbyist for Dallas Crown and Beltex,
said the federal bill is likely to shut down his clients' businesses,
although he said there's always a slight hope they can work around the
new law.
"Yes, it was intended to put us out of business, and yes, it probably
will," he said. "We're being cautious, though."
Pay for inspectors
Mr. Bradshaw said he's investigating whether his clients would be
allowed to pay the cost of the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors
and keep the plants open. He said such an arrangement has been worked
out by slaughterhouses that process rabbits and exotic game, such as bison.
Mr. Markarian said he doubts that's a possibility. Private inspectors
are not permitted, and even a reimbursement plan would require the
spending of federal money, which is still prohibited.
Several members of Congress who championed the ban could not be reached
for comment Friday. Their offices were closed for the Veterans Day
holiday. Officials at the Fort Worth and Kaufman plants also could not
be reached for comment.
The ban will go into effect 120 days from Thursday, when the bill was
signed.
Mr. Bradshaw said that closing the plants would be a blow to the local
economy. According to his Web site, 18 million pounds of horse meat is
shipped out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport annually, making
the product the airport's largest export. The separately owned plants
spend a combined $6 million annually to ship the meat to Europe and
employ more than 160 people at the two locations.
The economic benefits have not always been wanted, though.
Some Kaufman city leaders described the Dallas Crown plant as an
embarrassment to their city and have tried to force it out of town. The
City Council has discussed ways to shut down the plant, including
challenging its zoning and its environmental impact.
Previously, the plant owners successfully fought an obscure 1949 Texas
law banning the sale or transport of horse meat for human consumption. A
federal judge ruled this summer that the federal government, not the
state, had the responsibility for such regulations.
'Return ... negative'
Kaufman Mayor Paula Bacon, a vocal opponent of the plant, could not be
reached for comment Friday. But in a letter to the Senate, she said, "I
can assure you the economic development return to our community is
negative."
Just because Americans find horse meat distasteful, that doesn't mean
that the plants should close, Mr. Bradshaw said. He said that most of
the horses would be euthanized anyway, so this is a chance to put them
to use. In parts of Europe, the high-iron, low-fat meat is a delicacy.
"We are just victims of an emotion-driven campaign, and they have been
very successful," Mr. Bradshaw said.
Mr. Markarian said that emotion is an important factor. Americans have a
different attachment to horses. They are considered companions, more
akin to household pets than cattle or hogs.
"Some countries eat dogs and cats, but that doesn't mean that we take
our dogs and cats from animal shelters and ship them to other countries
for food."
E-mail jmosier@dallasnews.com
Nickerson's in NY...
"This is harrassment. Why was I singled out?'
These were some of the words of Kevin Nickerson of Nickerson Livestock Transportation, Bainbridge, NY as he was being arrested on January 19th on 35 counts of illegally transporting horses.
The double-decker cattle trailer traveling from the New Holland auction barn had crossed over the PA/NY state line on Interstate 81, and in so doing, had violated New York law. Pennsylvania. unfortunately, has no viable law on the books concerning the lawful and humane transportation of horses. New York does. According to the arresting officer, New York State Trooper Steven Cornell of the Sidney Patrol, the cargo at that early point in the presumed journey to the slaughterhouse in Canada, contained 2 mules, 1 pony and 27 horses. There were 27 counts of violating the double decking section of the law and 8 counts violating the lack of partitions a maximum of every 10 ft. It was discovered the involved parties called the trailer/trailers traveling behind them to warn them to stay in Pennsylvania, a safe haven for the "torture trailers", as they have been labeled by those in the know. 
Meanwhile, the 30 horses were loaded onto a legal trailer, which the haulers had contacted. You may recall that Nickerson Livestock Transport was the subject of another arrest in 1995 on similar charges, which resulted in the infamous Syracuse 36 case. In this instance, the horses, many in bad condition, were seized. At the February 5th arraignment. Nickerson pled not guilty. A March 18th non-jury trial is scheduled. We applaud New York legislators for being 17 years ahead of Pennsylvania in passing enforceable laws regulating the humane transportation of horses. And we especially applaud the efforts of the New York State Troopers who enforce the law. These efforts get them no verbal thank yous from the victims, and much verbal abuse from the guilty. It often doesn't change the destination of the horses, but can help reduce some of the unspeakable conditions of their last days, conditions created by the very design of the double-decker trailer when used to transport horses. 
ED. NOTE: New York's admirable law regarding the humane transport of equines was the result of numerous inhumane incidences in up-state New York along a stretch of highway commonly known as the "Torture Trail" (Adriondack Northway), a direct route to Canadian slaughterhouses.
New York Upholds Law
