By Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) and Prince Lorenzo Borghese as published on The Hill
Horses have played an important role in shaping our national character
Ginerous Legacy (Harley) rescued from slaughter by Terry and R.T. Fitch
Below the West Front of the U.S. Capitol is one of our nation’s most famous statues honoring Civil War Gen. and former President Ulysses S. Grant. In front of the White House is former President Andrew Jackson, and in D.C.’s historic Foggy Bottom area is former President George Washington. Carved into the stone with these famous riders are the horses that carried them into battle.
Horses have played an important role in shaping our national character, carrying us westward. They have served as our partners for decades. There is a unique bond between humans and horses. Horses are used for sport, work, companionship and much more. These noble animals have never been raised for the purpose of slaughter in the United States.
Horse slaughterhouses have not operated in the United States since 2007, but each year, more than 100,000 horses are trucked long distances across the borders to Mexico and Canada with the intent to slaughter them for human consumption.
This practice is not only cruel, as transport to these slaughterhouses is lengthy and inhumane; it poses serious health and food export risks. The Food and Drug Administration has prohibited certain drugs for use in animals that will be used for human consumption. Because horses are not raised for slaughter, they are routinely given these common drugs during their lives, posing a serious health risk to humans when the horses are ingested.
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 would ban the export of horses for slaughter. It would also create a permanent ban on the inhumane killing of American horses for human consumption in our country — instead encouraging humane euthanasia when horses become old, sick or are no longer productive. Most importantly, this legislation is consistent with the views of 80 percent of Americans on this issue, who, according to a recent poll, oppose horse slaughter.
In recent years, our horses have been protected from domestic slaughter due to Congress’s suspension of funding for horse-meat inspections. This year, however, instead of an open, full congressional debate on the issue, a few members of Congress reinstated funding for these inspections during a conference committee on appropriations legislation. This action does not reflect the current public opinion on this subject, and it opens the door to horse slaughter in our country, increasing the need to create a permanent ban on the practice, as was one of the recommendations in the June 2011 Government Accountability Office report.
Public opinion has prevented any horse slaughter plant from opening after funding for inspections was reinstated. When plants were proposed in Mountain Grove, Mo., and Roswell, N.M., the outcry was overwhelming. A similar outcry recently derailed a bill to promote horse slaughter in Tennessee. Clearly, it is time to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
These animals are an integral part of the history and spirit that formed our nation and continue to inform its development. It is time for Congress to act to end this cruel and inhumane practice for good.
Landrieu is a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Borghese is an actor from ABC’s “The Bachelor” and honorary animal welfare ambassador for The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Thank you, Senator Landrieu for speaking up for our horses and for those of us who care passionately about their welfare.
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How easily Politicians/Lawmakers forget, or choose to ignore how animals have contributed to our Nations over the centuries. Horses and mules having made the greatest contribution. The sheer hypocrisy of it all. Statues, memorials are not just erected for a day of honour, but for all eternity. Yes, Lest we forget what Animal has achieved for us all, not just at home but around the world. I believe many, need a refresh course in history education. For starters, the Politicians worldwide.
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Senator Landrieu…Thank You! I believe they should be given National Monument Status. You can’t slaughter a National Monument can you?
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In theory, the American equine was given National Monument status; it is called the 1971 Act.
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Charles W. Dent, Pennsylvania
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Steve Austria, Ohio
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Cynthia M. Lummis, Wyoming
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Tom Graves, Georgia
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Kevin Yoder, Kansas
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Steve Womack, Arkansas
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Alan Nunnelee, Mississippi
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Democrats
Norman D. Dicks, Washington
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Marcy Kaptur, Ohio
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Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana
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Nita M. Lowey, New York
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Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut
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James P. Moran, Virginia
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John W. Olver, Massachusetts
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Ed Pastor, Arizona
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Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
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Betty McCollum, Minnesota
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PERFECT reason to stop the insanity, and the rantings of SSWalrus…………………
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Thank you Mary Landrieu. It saddens me this issue has turned this direction once again. You have not addressed the wild horses here. In my opinion it is for the destruction of our captive wild horses that this is now being forced back upon us as we approach the election. Our captive horses are all at risk. Their lands are being stolen and they are not welcome on their own ranges. The law has been perverted and policy made to fit the removal agenda. Once the election is over we had better have some good ideas to work on the prevention of the destruction of the largest captive wild horse herd in modern history.
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Being involved in the welfare of our horses and burros, domestic and wild, has been a learning experience not taught in U.S History & Government classes. Omitted is the massive corruption and GREED of some influential legislators. Thankfully, we have some who have courage and integrity, such as Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Representative James Moran (D-VA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ). Also the majority of Representatives and Senators who DO co-sign a ban on horse slaughter bill. And We-Will-Not-Stop. For The Horses.
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Please everyone make those calls, send those fax’s, write those post cards or letters– lets stop this war on horses for good:)
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I’m begining to believe that this whole illegalizing of “American” horse going to slaughter bill deal is nothing but a big red herring that’s given folks something to hope for to make it all better, and therein, giving them a reason to sit and do nothing but hope for that magic pill…
WAKE UP!
How many years now have thousands of people been waiting for that bill to go through?
What else have they been doing in the mean time to make the kill buyers adhere to the standing laws, which would eleminate probably over 90% of the horses out there from going that are currently going to slaughter, and therein make the industry not a viable enterprise?
Been doing nothing about that? Well, the results show the efforts.
The truth of the matter is that this new Dream Law would just make some folks who are already disrespecting the written law as a course of normal business change up their mode of operation a little, and life would go on for them.
Is there going to be a bill, a law, that keeps them from taking THEIR horses over the border, and selling to Laurier Brioullette or some other up north, and to who knows who in Mexico, who can do whatever they want to with them?
No, it won’t.
Then there’s the matter of enforcement and oversight… Are those provisions written in there? Or is the bill really just some nice (to some) sounding junk that won’t really do any long term good?
Right now, Ryon Simon gets caught with 42 horses he’s transoprting with no documentation at all… No proof of ownership, no vet’s certificate to travel, and guess what he gets? He gets to keep the 42 horses that he can’t show ownership of, he gets to keep taking them wherever he was taking them, and he gets fined 1500.00. Ha ha, that showed him…
Right now, Keith Tongen gets caught with E.I.D.’s that don’t match the transport certificate, and the Fed’s and State authorities know that a couple of them were stolen, and the USDA doesn’t know what to do about it… They have no authority to turn it over to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution, no authority to get him criminally prosecuted, and:
No one’s been prosecuted yet for falsifying the transport papers, the E.I.D.’s., why Brian Rotz got away with talking his girlfriend into stealing 120 horses, selling them to him in a closed, illegal, sale at the New Holland auction, that the people at the New Holland auction knew about, as did Laurier, who works for Richelieu, and the auction people actually loaded some of the horses from the illegal transaction for him, and he got to walk… as did all of them.
The transport requirements were going to fix things, remember? And the E.I.D.’s., and… what else? There’s been so many… well…
Now the vet looks at a paddock full of horses, if they all appear to be standing, he signs the “affidavit” of fitness to travel, but:
There’s no checking that the backtags go on those horses, they can go on a completely different load, the USDA has no way to check that out… and the Canadian’s and the Mexican’s don’t check either.
I’m just getting started here, so if necessary I can go on, like no oversight or inspection of the facilities where they keep the “slaughter” horses – or, are they mostly stolen horses? Who knows? Nobody’s keeping track of any thing these guys are doing, and they aren’t going to unless you start to act, and quit waiting for something that’s not going to fix the real problems.
There’s alot that could be getting addressed while this bill is sitting there keeping people distracted.thinking that one new law in the books is really going to fix something…
Did those other laws really fix anything?
How about if we start acting smart, and not believing any thing except real results, and then only after the fact?
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How about pushing the USDA to make new rules, regulations, or changes in policy to allow, and require that when they find their Vets, their kill buyers, and transporters breaking a law, they must seek to get them criminally prosecuted? One felony and the transporter’s out of business, same for the livestock dealer… and then there’s that forfeiture provision… I like that law.
How about if the Vet’s actually examine the horses, and make sure that those are the ones that go?
How about giving the USDA/Custom’s guys at the border get the authority to stop a load when a horse is obviously not fit to travel?
How about if the CFIA and the USDA make an agreement that they cross check one another’s documents, and have offenders criminally prosecuted when they find a discrepancy?
How about pushing the FDA to take responsibility for the drugs they allow into American horses not getting into the food chain? It’s their drug policy at the root, and their approved drugs, right?
How about asking the Good Senator, and the other guy to start pushing for effective enforcement of the standing laws?
There’s a start, and we all have the rep’s and the senator’s phone and fax numbers…
Oh, and the FDA, and the USDA have faxes and phone numbers too… you can google them up, and start asking them about how things really work, and how to get it fixed. They just work there, ya know… They do not make policy.
Maybe that’s up to us.
Oh, thank you to the HSUS for getting the USDA to turn violations of the soring laws over to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution, and now, thank you again for taking it to the state Attorney General’s to seek to c ause them to criminally prosecute too.
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