by: Pat Raia from the pages of TheHorse.com
Children’s Pro-Horse Letter Writing Campaign Deemed Success in DC
Jo-Claire and John Corcoran from EWA, Declan Gregg from Children4Horses and R.T. Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation deliver Pro-Horse/Anti-Slaughter Children's letters in Washington ~ photo by Terry Fitch
A New Hampshire boy, toting more than 1,000 letters from other children joined representatives from three equine welfare advocacy groups and a Virginia Congressman in Washington, D.C., this week to urge federal lawmakers to ban the processing of horses for human consumption.
Horse slaughter has not taken place in the United States since 2007, but processing again became possible in November when President Barack Obama signed a federal funding bill that did not contain language specifically denying the USDA funds for horse processing plant inspections. Since then, processing plants have been proposed for Missouri and Oregon, but plants have yet been established.
On March 27 Virginia Congressman Jim Moran, representatives from the Equine Welfare Alliance and the Wild Horse Freedom Federation, and 9-year-old Declan Gregg called on Congress to reinstate the funding ban on USDA horse processing plant inspections. Gregg carried more than 1,000 letters opposing horse process written by children and submitted to Gregg though the Children4Horses campaign launched earlier this year on Gregg’s website. The letters were later submitted to Congress members.
During the press conference Gregg said he and the other children who submitted letters opposed horse processing on humane grounds: “I think horse slaughter is inhumane, cruel, and unnecessary. Horses and all animals should be treated with love and respect.”
Moran, who unsuccessfully attempted to retain the defunding language in the budget bill, expressed food safety concerns specifically presence of chemical substances, such as the anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone, horsemeat may contain.
Moran also expressed animal welfare concerns over horse processing, and said that opposition to U.S. horse processing is widespread among Americans.
“When 80% of the American public opposes this practice, congressional leaders have a responsibility to listen to the people,” he said.
In response to the press conference, Wyoming Rep. Sue Wallis, CEO of Unified Equine (the company planning to establish a horse processing plant in Missouri) said that defunding USDA horse processing plant inspections has not prevented U.S. horses from being sent to slaughter. Instead the ban caused those horses to be shipped to Canada and Mexico for processing, she said.
“If (horses) are processed in regulated and inspected facilities inside the U.S. under our Humane Methods of Slaughter laws, they are guaranteed handling with a minimum of stress and an instantaneous end,” Wallis said.
Wallis suggested that processing opponents should consider working “collaboratively with the industry worldwide to find the best practices and the humane handling systems, to ensure that all horses–even those that aren’t somebody’s back yard pet or useful work or breeding animal–are handled appropriately from birth to death.”
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Declan is a young hero. Jim Moran is an older hero. Hats off to them both and also Vicki, R.T. and all the others who took the time and effort to go to D.C. and make these statements on behalf of the horses and burros.
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“our humane methods of slaughter laws”?????? guess she missed the undercover video
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Look up the meaning of the word slaughter & then try to persuade me it’s humane ! It will never be humane !
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What Wallis is really saying is “Hey taxpayers……..you foot the bill to line my pockets, while I run a 501(c) to “rescue horses” and then slaughter them and put that in my pocket too. Hmmmm…….I’d call that a double dip off the folks in this countries back, while we again butcher horses under inhumane surroundings that violate our own animal cruelty law of one strike, insensible. Take a long walk off a very short pier Wallis. Your dog will never be allowed to hunt!
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You’ve got that right! We all know what she’s all about and it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with being humane. “handled appropriately from birth to death” …did I read that right? Her credibility is zero for those who know her, which is all the more reason she should be exposed for her lack of common sense, compassion and respect for our equines.
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A hypocrite of the highest order, sue Sue.
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IT SEEMS SLAUGHTER HOUSE WALLIS CAN NEVER SHUT HER BIG MOUTH. WHAT DUTIES DOES SHE PERFORM AS A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING? IT REALLY SEEMS LIKE NONE. HER HATE FOR HORSES MUST POSSESS HER FULLY. SHE SHOULD THINK MORE ABOUT IMPROVING HERSELF AS A WOMAN.
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What has Dreg Wallis been smoking lately…There is absolutely NO HUMANE TREATMENT at these plants. Unified Equine sounds like a reputable company. They need to call it what it is, a tortureous death camp for equines. These foreign companies are foaming at the mouth to establish this business once again on our shores. The American people should find out who these companies are and tell them we DON’T WANT THEM NOW OR IN THE FUTURE! We hear alot about opening them again, but we really should be informed about the name and where they are located abroad and bombard them with letters from the American people. They just don’t get it that we DO NOT WANT THEM HERE. I was really surprised that one of the American Indian Councils was very serious about opening up a slaughter house. I guess they really don’t cherish horses in the spiritual way we have been told. Kudos to Declan, he is a mighty hero and a Horse Warrior as well. We need to push for the passage of this bill once and for all and send these foriegn companies packing just like we did back in 2007…
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Gail, you are so right. Send them packing, send sue to belgium or france where she can oversee their “humane” slaughterhouses. What a crock! Also the comment about the American Indian Council, hypocrisy again.
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So that everyone knows what’s going on, I just watched a segment on KY3 TV (Springfield MO) showing Wallis and Temple Grandin speaking. They both say they are still planning a horse slaughter plant, probably in Wright or Texas counties in MO. KY3’s reporting on this has always been very one sided (on Wallis’ side) and just want all in MO to know we need to keep vigilant.
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One cannot trust this individual (notice I did not say woman) to speak the truth about anything. She is an individual that has no scrupples, compassion, or love for anything except her pocketbook and herself. She is disgusting and one day she will find that she is standing alone and no one wants to have anything to do with her or even to be in the same town with her. She will be alone and she will die alone with noone caring if she lives or dies. This will be her reward for hating all these beautiful American icons that she would love to kill. Your day will come Slaughter Sue when you have to face our Creator.
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Bless the beast and the children for in this world they have no voice…they have no choice. Declan is proving children do have a voice.
Slaughterhouse Sue just gave a wonderful answer when R.T. confronted her about the slaughter house in Kaufman, TX…SHE HUNG UP! That’s all, when confronted with the truth she just hung up.
She doesn’t own, care for, or breed horses. She’s not in the horse business at all except to slaughter them.
She’s what we call a ‘cull’.
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