Source: Fox News.com
“With today’s court ruling and the very real prospect of plants resuming barbaric killing of horses for their meat in the states, we expect the American public to recognize the urgency of the situation and to demand that Congress take action,”
A federal appeals court has temporarily put the brakes on plans to resume horse slaughter for human consumption in the U.S., after a New Mexico judge last week dismissed a push by animal rights groups to stop the practice.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Monday issued a temporary injunction barring the Department of Agriculture from inspecting the plants.
Slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Missouri had hoped to start up as soon as this week after the federal judge in Albuquerque on Friday threw out a lawsuit by The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups.
Their lawsuit alleged the Agriculture Department failed to conduct proper environmental studies when it issued permits to the slaughterhouses. The groups filed an immediate appeal and won the emergency injunction.
The practice of slaughtering horses for human consumption was legal and fairly common in the United States for many years.
In 2005, Congress voted to withhold funding for USDA inspections of horse meat. It was a way to stop the slaughters because meat for human consumption at the time had to be inspected.
However, the USDA gave the OK for slaughterhouses to pay for their own inspections. Congress voted to end the practice in 2007.
The measure to stop the slaughters lapsed in 2011 and now U.S. companies are clamoring to get back into the game.
Across the country, businesses have been applying for permits with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They want to ship horse meat to countries where it is eaten by humans or used as animal feed.
Retail purchase of horse meat for human consumption in the U.S. is not yet approved but the possibility could be coming.
The Humane Society had pledged after the New Mexico judge’s decision that it would “not only appeal the decision, but also work with the states to block the plants from opening in Iowa, Missouri and New Mexico and step up its efforts in Congress to stop the slaughter of American horses.”
“With today’s court ruling and the very real prospect of plants resuming barbaric killing of horses for their meat in the states, we expect the American public to recognize the urgency of the situation and to demand that Congress take action,” Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said in a statement last week. “Court fights and state legislative battles have been important, but this is an issue of national importance and scale, and Congress should have an up-or-down vote on the subject.”…CONTINUED
Click (HERE) to read the rest of the story and to comment at Fox News
Related Articles
- Horse Slaughterhouses Could Resume Operations This Week (consumerist.com)
- Horse slaughter plants a step closer on US soil (horsetalk.co.nz)
- New Mexico judge dismisses lawsuit, OKs horse slaughter to resume (latimes.com)
- Judge in New Mexico clears way to slaughter horses for meat, but local lawyer says Missouri packing plant still blocked (stltoday.com)
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Thank you R.T. as always, good info, we are not done with our fight. SAFE act must pass. reading Straight from the horse’s heart again.
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Please stop this barbaric act. These horses are our heritage!
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Agree, but how are we going to get this past the co-author of the Burns Amendment? All attempts to protect wild horses and stop slaughter dating back to Rep Whitfield in 2005 have begun in the House. the Senate has done nothing to protect wild or domestic horses.
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Great question
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The story from Fox News failed to go into the real issues of horseslaughter, while making the statement “profitable to American companies… I don’t think so! Ask the
former Mayor of Kaufman,Texas, Paula Bacon. Records show the damage caused from the slaugherhouse to the environment by massive amounts of waste (blood), destructive to the community, with cost to the taxpayer. Who will really be benefiting from such a horrific, and inhumane practice?! No horse should have to end their iife on a slaughterhouse floor to benefit foreign interest! Nothing good will come out of this and when all facts are presented, hopefully common sense, respect for our horses and the wishes of the American people will prevail.
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The note about horsemeat consumed in the US was ridiculus fodder, it was in WW time periof because a few people were forced to, but they dont mention it was the era before drugs in horses exploded on the marketplace, or prior to horsemeat killing thousands of dogs and catz and contamination of bute through chicken feeds. None of that is mentioned. Indian tribes quit consuming it after the major lawsuit getting horsemeat Federally Against the Law in Pet Foods an old article from 1981 my grandfather kept states it clearly.
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TRO IsTemporary! Yes, It Halts Things For Now But Things Have To Happen Fast! Don’t Let Legal begles keep farting Around So another Expiration Comes About. Win This Battle And Then Run Those Pro Slaughter Groups Out Of The Country!
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I’m with you Terry.
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THANK YOU! So so much!
This is a horrific sick thing to kill slaughter a western cultured animal we all love so dearly. What’s next if we go so low to kill part of of culture for centuries! Stop this NOW!
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NO to horse slaughter in the USA or anywhere else. Us horses are not raised or regulated as food animals and should never enter the food chain. 80% of the taxpayer have said they do not want their taxes going to pay for meat inspectors to be trained when horsemeat is toxic and they won’t eat their horses! Please help us pass HR1094/S541 to stop the war on our American horses once and for all!
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