Posts Tagged ‘Humane Society of the United States’

Proposed New Mexico Horse Slaughter Plant Comes Under Intense Scrutiny

Posted: April 23, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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Source: By  of the New York Times

“We need to oppose this unspeakable practice with all our might,”
Piles of cattle bone and offal at a New Mexico slaughterhouse, now seeking to process horses for human consumption. - photo by Troy Grant/New Mexico Solid Waste Bureau

Piles of cattle bone and offal at a New Mexico slaughterhouse, now seeking to process horses for human consumption. – photo by Troy Grant/New Mexico Solid Waste Bureau

Amid the unfolding horse-meat scandal, a New Mexico slaughterhouse has moved closer to becoming the first in the United States since 2007 to be allowed to process horses for human consumption.

“I am recommending to the Dallas district manager that your application be processed, and a grant of federal inspection be issued, provided you meet all other requirements for inspection,” Scott C. Safian, a director at the Agriculture Department, wrote in a letter dated April 13 to Ricardo De Los Santos, owner of the Valley Meat Company.

Mr. De Los Santos has been seeking U.S.D.A. approval for his processing plant in Roswell, N.M., since December 2011.

“Grants will not be issued until an establishment is able to produce a safe product in accordance with the Federal Meat Inspection Act,” said an Agriculture Department spokeswoman, Catherine Cochran.

On Monday, an advocacy group for horses sent a letter to the U.S.D.A., asking it not to grant permission for Mr. De Los Santos to operate the facility because he had failed to disclose two felonies on his original application form, as well as on a second, subsequent form.

“Is this really a guy we want to be operating a regulated business, one in which the U.S.D.A. will rely on his representations?” said Bruce A. Wagman, a lawyer representing Front Range Equine Rescue, the advocacy group.

A. Blair Dunn, the lawyer representing Mr. De Los Santos, said Front Range had erroneously described a case of criminal trespassing as a felony. He said the issue was “another desperate attempt to degrade my clients” by Front Range and the Humane Society of the United States.

“Everything regarding that information has been vetted” through the department’s food safety and inspection service “and has been certified by letter by U.S.D.A. to offer no impediment,” Mr. Dunn wrote in an e-mail.

The issue of horse slaughtering has become contentious in light of a labeling scandal in Europe, where ground beef in processed foods made and sold by companies ranging from Nestlé to Ikea was found to contain horse meat.

On Monday, Robert Redford, who starred in “The Electric Horseman” and “The Horse Whisperer,” lent his voice to the debate in a letter to Equine Advocates, a horse welfare group, explaining his opposition to slaughter. “We need to oppose this unspeakable practice with all our might,” Mr. Redford wrote. “It has no place in our culture.”

Horses have not been slaughtered in the United States since 2007, after Congress forbade the use of federal money for inspection of horse meat. That prohibition fell out of legislation in 2011, and Mr. De Los Santos first applied for inspection in December of that year.

On that application, dated Dec. 13, 2011, Mr. De Los Santos wrote “none” in the section asking applicants to account for any felonies they have committed.

A subsequent application dated March 1, 2012 was filled out the same way, with no note made of any felony.

But on a third application dated March 15, 2013, the section is filled out with Mr. De Los Santos’s name and two convictions, one for criminal trespass in Texas in 1988 and the other for residential burglary there in 1978.

Court records show that Mr. De Los Santos was arrested by the Amarillo police department on Sept. 11, 1989 — his third U.S.D.A. application reported the incident occurring a year earlier — on suspicion of criminal trespass but charged only with a moving violation and convicted of that offense.

He was arrested on Aug. 28, 1978, in Dallam County, Tex., charged with residential burglary and convicted.

In his letter, Mr. Safian indicated that the U.S.D.A. and Mr. De Los Santos had been corresponding for some time on the issue. “We note that your April 4, 2013, submittal contends that the disclosed convictions were previously identified on a 1990 application for federal inspection,” Mr. Safian wrote. “However, for clarification, our records indicate prior disclosure of only the 1978 conviction, and no disclosure of a 1988 conviction prior to submittal of your March 2013 application.”

Nonetheless, Mr. Safian concluded that because of the time that had elapsed since the incidents and “other factors,” he was recommending approval of the application.

Mr. Wagman, the lawyer for Front Range, contended that Mr. De Los Santos now has committed a third felony by improperly filling out his first two applications. Under federal law, it is a felony to knowingly falsify, conceal or materially misrepresent facts submitted on a federal application.

Front Range also forwarded to the U.S.D.A. letters from the New Mexico Environment Department to Mr. De Los Santos, noting various failures related to discharge from what was then known as the Pecos Valley Meat Packing Company, a cattle slaughtering operation the De Los Santos family operated in the facility where they are seeking to slaughter horses.

In 2009 and 2010, the U.S.D.A. itself suspended inspection of Pecos Valley Meats, effectively suspending its operations, after finding problems with its sanitation and food safety program including “inadequate” testing for E. coli and “irregularities” in the segregation and disposal of “specified risk materials.” Those are parts of an animal banned for human consumption because they run a higher risk of contamination with the bovine spongiform encephalopathy prions that transmit mad cow disease. Mr. Dunn said the suspensions were only for a short time.

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It’s Not Cool To Be Cruel

Posted: April 14, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Rescue, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Source: Children 4 Horses ~ Declan Gregg

“I decided to start a new project and I need your help!”
**Pictured is Declan with his favorite horse up for adoption at the NHSPCA, Scarlet**

**Pictured is Declan with his favorite horse up for adoption at the NHSPCA, Scarlet**

“I have been thinking about how people think that if guys like animals that it makes them “uncool” or “whimpy”. The message out there seems to be that is ok to be cruel to animals if you’re a guy. I don’t think this is right at all and I know that that is not the truth. It is VERY COOL to like and help animals, even if you’re a guy!

I decided to start a new project and I need your help! I went to the New Hampshire SPCA today to talk with guys I met there to see what they thought about it. I also brought a sign I made that says “REAL MEN are kind to animals” and asked if I could take their picture. Everyone was impressed with my idea and they were happy to help and let my professional photographer (my mom), take their picture! My idea is to use the pictures for a special project and here is where YOU can help! You can do the same thing I did, make a sign and talk to guys about how they feel about animals and ask them if you can take their picture. I bet you will be surprised by the answers you hear and it will be great to spread the word, that “IT’S NOT COOL TO BE CRUEL”. Women can help me too! Hold up your sign and let everyone know that you think *REAL* Men Are Kind To Animals too! Please post your pictures and stories here on Children 4 Horses, so I can use them for my project :-) I have set up a special album on my page for all the pictures titled “IT’S NOT COOL TO BE CRUEL” and I can’t wait to add yours!

Please join me in my “IT’S NOT COOL TO BE CRUEL” campaign and help me raise awareness all over the world, that guys can love animals too! And have fun!!” ~Declan

"Moose" and his trusty human, R.T. Fitch

“Moose” and his trusty human, R.T. Fitch

TN Animal Abuse Bill Targets Photographers

Posted: March 30, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse Health, Horse News, Horse Rescue
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Source: Evan Johnson of WBIR.com

Tennessee Swine Farming Legislator wants to stifle free speech!
Click on IMAGE to view Video

Click on IMAGE to view Video

Seeing pictures and video of animal abuse stirs some strong reactions, and now there’s an effort to ensure those images get in the hands of investigators a lot faster.

State Representative Andy Holt (R – Dresden) says too often authorities don’t see those images in time to help animals in need.

James Pope, President of the Loudon County Farm Bureau, agrees. Pope said, “It’s a real problem to think that somebody can come and take a picture of a downed animal and that evening see it on TV.”

Pope said he doesn’t want animal abuse covered up, but added sometimes there much more behind the images shown to the public before the problem is brought to the owner’s attention.

“Grandpa gets old and don’t have the funds to properly feed it and take care of his other bills and that’s when we seem to have problems with people coming around and showing that part of it,” Pope said.

State Representative Holt said, “We want to keep radical animal activist groups like PETA and HSUS from collecting video over what we’ve seen as being months of investigation while their reported abuse is taking place.”

Holt, who’s also a swine farmer, is sponsoring House Bill 1191. If passed, the bill would require anyone who takes a picture of video of livestock believed to be abused to give the images to law enforcement within one business day. Also, the submitted evidence must be unedited.

Pope said, “I think this bill will give the opportunity to work through the proper channels.”

The Humane Society of the United States issued the following statement:

“Whistleblowing employees have played a vital role in exposing animal abuse, public health issues, and environmental problems on industrial factory farms. Rather than trying to prevent animal cruelty and food safety problems from occurring, these bills demonstrate that the animal agriculture industry’s real intent is simply to prevent Americans from finding out about those abuses in the first place.

The industry’s representatives’ claim is plainly false and evidenced by its inability to cite even one case where this has happened.

Here are the facts about our investigations: In 2009, HSUS’s whistle-blowing investigation of callous animal cruelty at a Vermont slaughter plant led to its closure and a felony criminal conviction. A 2008 HSUS investigation of a dairy cow slaughter plant in California prompted the largest meat recall in U.S. history and criminal convictions, as well. In 2012, the whistleblowing HSUS investigation of Wyoming Premium Farms documented rampant animal abuse, leading to nine workers being charged with criminal animal cruelty. In 2012, the HSUS undercover video of shocking horse abuse at Tennessee Training Stables led to top trainer Jackie McConnell pleading guilty to felony conspiracy to violate the Federal Horse Protection Act. These investigations are critical to protecting our food supply and factory farmed animals from unethical and criminal activities.”

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Poll: Oklahoma Voters Strongly Oppose Horse Slaughter

Posted: March 23, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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Source: by of SoonerPoll.com

A strong majority, 65.1 percent, of respondents in rural counties opposes the legislation, despite claims by the horse slaughter proponents that rural communities support it.

A strong majority (66 percent) of Oklahoma likely voters opposes passage of proposed legislation allowing for the slaughter of horses here in Oklahoma, and of those that oppose, 88 percent strongly oppose the legislation, according to a new poll.

The Oklahoma legislature is currently considering two bills, House Bill 1999 and Senate Bill 375, which would allow for slaughter of horses here in Oklahoma for human consumption in other countries but would maintain a ban on the sale of horsemeat in the state.

A strong majority, 65.1 percent, of respondents in rural counties opposes the legislation, despite claims by the horse slaughter proponents that rural communities support it. Counties within the Tulsa MSA, 69.6 percent, and counties within the Oklahoma City MSA, 64.3 percent, also have high levels of opposition to horse slaughter.

Complete question wording and topline results

Significant majorities of all political parties also oppose horse slaughter: 72.5 percent of Independents oppose this legislation, followed by 67.6 percent of Democrats and 63.4 percent of Republicans. Another strong majority, 60.5 percent, of conservative respondents, who make up more than half of all likely voters, is opposed to the horse slaughter legislation, as well as 74.7 percent of moderates.

When asked about having a horse slaughter operation in their community, an overwhelming majority, 72.3 percent, of likely voters is opposed, with 91.9 percent of these likely voters in strong opposition. Sixty-eight percent of rural likely voters oppose having a horse slaughter facility in their local community, followed by 74.6 percent of likely voters in the Tulsa metro area and 75.8 percent in the Oklahoma City metro.

A majority of likely voters, 54.1 percent, would be unlikely to vote to re-elect their senator or house representative if he or she voted in favor of this horse slaughter legislation regardless of whether or not it becomes law.

Voters were also asked about particular organizations. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and The Humane Society of the United States, two groups opposed to horse slaughter, received combined favorability (strongly and somewhat favorable) of 69.5 percent and 64.4 percent, respectively, from likely voters. The Oklahoma Farm Bureau, a group advocating for horse slaughter, had combined favorability among 63.4 percent of respondents…(CONTINUED)

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Humane Society- Oklahoma Horse Slaughter Bill a Grizzly Crutch

Posted: March 19, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Source: By Jeanne LeFlore of the McAlester News-Capital

“The horse slaughter industry is not around to rescue horses,”
(Click on Image to Enlarge)

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

McALESTER — A Pittsburg County farmers and ranchers union recently lobbied for equine processing legislation that passed a Senate committee unopposed on Monday.

Although the legislation passed the Senate committee, animal rights activists such as the Humane Society of the United States say the bill legalizing horse slaughter in Oklahoma is nothing more than a “grizzly crutch.”

The Pittsburg County American Farmers and Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union sponsored a lobbying event at the Oklahoma State Capitol Building on March 13, according to Lacie Wedel, communications coordinator for the union.

The AFR/OFU is part of an agriculture and wildlife coalition showing support for HB 1999 and SB 375, authored by Rep. Skye McNeil (R-Bristow) and Sen. Mark Allen (R-Arkoma), Wedel said.

Local legislators Sen. Larry Boggs and Rep. Donnie Condit voted for their respective bills. Rep. Brian Renegar abstained from a vote, citing constitutional privilege. None of three replied to inquiries for comment for this story by presstime.

The legislation amends the Oklahoma Meat Inspection Act by allowing horses, mules or other equine to be transported, manufactured, processed, packed, sold or prepared in Oklahoma as long as the meat is sold on the international market.

Laice said the proposed legislation would provide a “desperately needed outlet” for unwanted horses in Oklahoma.

On Monday, the bill moved forward after members of the Senate agriculture committee voted 9-0 in support of the measure.

Speaking for the union’s support on the measure, Wedel said when horse owners can no longer care for aging or unwanted animals, current options are limited.

The care and feeding of horses is costly and when owners can’t afford an old or sick horse, they have limited or no options, Wedel said.

“Many owners turn horses out to seek food on their own and when neglected or abandoned, these animals die of starvation, illness or predators and become a financial strain on counties forced to care for them,” sshe said.

Union President Terry Detrick said the legislation helps to solve that problem.

“Oklahoma stands poised to take a significant step forward in the care and handling of horses in this country,” Detrick said.

“This bill benefits our state’s rural citizens, business owners and agriculturists, and provides for the responsible, humane harvesting of these horses.”

He said horses that are not abandoned are often transported to Mexico or Canada for slaughter.

He also said legalized state-run and federally regulated slaughter is the answer.

“State-inspected horse slaughter is an all-encompassing solution for the current issue.”

Meanwhile, the proposed legislation has come under fire by the Humane Society of the United States.

Cynthia Armstrong is the state director of USHS.

“We are strongly opposed to this legislation for a number of reasons,” Armstrong said.

“Its a grizzly crutch and it actually perpetuates over-breeding and owner irresponsibility.”

She said legalizing equine slaughter is about money.

“The horse slaughter industry is not around to rescue horses,” Armstrong said. “It’s an economic endeavor.”

And she said the legislation is the not answer to horse neglect.

“Horse neglect occurred when slaughtering was legal,” she said.

She said neglect occurs because of the irresponsibility of the horse owners.

“Legislators need to look at the root cause of the problem which is in part, overbreeding,” Armstrong said.

“They need to consider amending breeding practices.”

She also said slaughtering horses for human consumption is inhumane and creates a serious health risk to consumers.

Although legislation prevents Oklahomans from eating horse meat, it does not prevent the horse meat from being sold to other countries for consumption, she said.

“Its irresponsible to say that the meat is not fit for us to consume yet we can sell it to other  countries for that purpose.”

“If it’s not safe for humans in the US how is it safe for any human consumption?” Armstrong said.

Contact Jeanne LeFlore at jleflore@mcalesternews.com.

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Federal Legislation would Ban Slaughter of U.S. Horses

Posted: March 14, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Source:  John M. Glionna of the Los Angeles Times

“Until a ban is in place, every horse is just one bad sale away from being sent to slaughter.”

horse-meatProposed federal legislation would ban the export of American horses for slaughter, reinstitute a ban on slaughtering them in the U.S., and protect the public from consuming “toxic” horse meat.

The measure, called the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, comes after revelations that horse meat has been mislabeled as beef in Europe, including in IKEA meatballs.

Sponsors include Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). The bill would outlaw the killing of American horses for human consumption and prohibit transporting the animals across the U.S. border for slaughter in Mexico and Canada.

Proponents of the bill contend that tens of thousands of American horses a year are exported for slaughter in a foreign industry that produces unsafe food for consumers.

A federal ban on slaughtering horses in the U.S. took effect in 2006, but the law lapsed in 2011, opening the door for a New Mexico company to open a slaughterhouse there soon.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its plan to process an application for inspecting horse slaughter at Valley Meat Company LLC in Roswell, N.M.

Valley Meat Company owner Rick de los Santos could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

But he told the Los Angeles Times in December that a new horse slaughterhouse in his state makes sense.

He said he was tired of sitting in southern New Mexico and watching countless truckloads of American horses en route to Mexico for slaughter.

“I’ve seen 130,000 horses a year on their way to Mexico — they go right through our backyard — and I wanted to tap into the market,” he told The Times. “I could have hired 100 people by now. Everyone in our community agrees we need this type of service. And I’m tired of waiting.”

De los Santos said then that he was ready to start killing horses humanely.

“Everything that has four legs that walks can be slaughtered the same way, but we’re ready to do this humanely,” he said. “We’ve upgraded our knocking chutes for giving them that lethal hit.”

But animal advocates say when it comes to horse slaughter, there is no such thing as “humane.”

“Horse slaughter is inherently inhumane,” the Humane Society of the United States said in a statement. “The methods used to kill horses rarely result in quick, painless deaths, as horses often endure repeated stuns or blows and sometimes remain conscious during their slaughter and dismemberment.”

The Humane Society said horses often are transported to the slaughterhouse “without food, water or rest, in dangerously overcrowded trailers” in which they are often seriously injured or killed.

Animal activists also say that domestic horses receive routine treatment with drugs that could be toxic to humans.

Some of the horses that wind up at foreign slaughterhouses come from the herds of wild mustangs that roam the American West.  The Bureau of Land Management periodically gathers the horses off the range and sells them at auction — theoretically to those who want to adopt them. But so-called “kill buyers” come to auctions too.

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Save the Horses! Three Lawmakers Will Try to Ban Slaughter for Food

Posted: March 13, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter
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Source: By of ABC News

“Horses sent to slaughter are often subject to appalling, brutal treatment,”

A trio of U.S. lawmakers is saying “no” to horse meat.

Horse Meat ChartThe U.S. is set to begin slaughtering horses again for the first time in six years, and recent news of Ikea sausages and British Taco Bell beef containing small amounts of horse has raised horse-meat alarm bells among the meat-consuming public.

Congress originally banned horse slaughter in 2006 by defunding USDA’s horse-meat inspectors. But after the ban lapsed in 2011, a lawsuit and industry pressure has forced USDA to start inspecting again, and a company says it expects to open the first slaughterhouse in Roswell, N.M., within the next month and a half.

“These companies must still complete necessary technical requirements and FSIS [the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service] must still complete its inspector training, but at that point, the Department will legally have no choice but to go forward with inspections, which is why we urge Congress to reinstate the ban,” a USDA spokesperson told ABC News.

Enter Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Reps.  Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

The three will introduce a bill on Wednesday that would put a stop to the pending horse slaughter.

The Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, as the House version is dubbed, would not only ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the U.S. but would also prohibit shipping horses outside the U.S. for food slaughter. Unlike the appropriations rider that had prevented horse slaughter until now, the statutory ban would not expire.

The Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will hold a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with the three lawmakers, the two groups announced on Tuesday…(CONTINUED)

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