By BRITTNEY MARTIN of the Dallas Morning News
“It’s very clear to me that he has total disrespect for the animals.”
AUSTIN — Agriculture commissioner candidate Tommy Merritt is drawing attention to rival Sid Miller’s past support for horse slaughter, noting in a mailer to Republican primary voters that Miller introduced measures in the House to legalize the sale of horses for eventual human consumption.
Miller, a former Republican representative from Stephenville, offered bills in 2003 and 2007 that would have allowed the sale of horse meat for consumption in foreign countries. Miller’s goal was to keep open the two horse slaughter plants in Texas to provide a “more humane” option than plants in Mexico.
“In Mexico, it’s not humanely done. It’s done under horrid conditions,” said Miller’s campaign strategist, Todd M. Smith. The bill “was to provide a means for people to have a humane and tightly controlled and regulated means of euthanizing horses under the supervision of a veterinarian and the watchful eye of the state of Texas.”
Merritt, a former House member from Longview, and Miller were the top two finishers in last month’s GOP primary and advanced to a May 27 runoff. The winner will face the Democratic victor, either singer-author Kinky Friedman or Jim Hogan of Cleburne.
Merritt said he worries Miller would push for the measure again if he were agriculture commissioner.
“I voted against the bill [in 2003] and on the side of the horses and the people who love animals,” Merritt said. “It’s very clear to me that he has total disrespect for the animals.”
Neither of Miller’s bills became law. The House passed the 2003 version, but it died in a Senate committee. In 2007, the measure never advanced past a House committee.
There is no specific law prohibiting horse slaughter in Texas, but there is a 1949 statute that prohibits the sale of horsemeat for human consumption.
In 2002, Attorney General John Cornyn affirmed the ban on the sale of horse meat. An appeals court upheld the decision in 2007, forcing the processing plants in Fort Worth and Kaufman to close.
Congress also withholds funding from the U.S Department of Agriculture necessary to inspect domestic horse slaughter plants. Without the inspections, the plants cannot operate.
The Safeguard American Food Exports Act currently before Congress would ban horse slaughter plants in the U.S. and outlaw the export of horses for slaughter in other countries.
“Over 100,000 horses every year are sent to slaughter” in Canada and Mexico, said Holly Gann, horse slaughter campaign manager for the Humane Society of the United States. “The entire horse slaughter pipeline is inherently cruel.”
During transport, horses are often shipped for more than 24 hours at a time without food, water or rest. Gann said that some horses can sustain painful injuries and remain awake during dismemberment.
Miller, a rancher, received a warning from the American Quarter Horse Association last year for tethering three of his horses to the back of a trailer and exercising them by driving slowly in circles, a practice many consider dangerous, The Dallas Morning News reported in December.
Follow Brittney Martin on Twitter at @beedotmartin.
Click (HERE) to comment directly at the Dallas Morning News
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Tagged as: Horse, Horse Slaughter, Texas
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
How many words does it take to say,,,,”horse slaughter is sickening”????……and those that advocate it are cruel b******s……thank your for exposing who they are…….
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This is what happens when someone is on the wrong side of the issue. The vast majority of the American people say NO to horse slaughter.
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Remind that pro-horse slaughter republican, when the Texas slaughter houses were in full run 50,000 horses a year were stolen in the USA and never seen again. Those Texas slaughter plants were trucking in horses from across the country- if he tries to make the lame excuse about todays Mexico border ‘distance shipping’. There is also that study where the crime rate goes up in the worker neighborhoods around any horse slaughter plant. Horse stealing goes up local too, because all the auctions will take stolen horses. This is still a problem today because the meatman buys at all the crappy USA horse auctions.
These politicians who promote horse slaughter are evil people, I hope they never get elected. We have enough wild horse haters, in our Gov. as it is.
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Talk to Paula Bacon to find out what happened to her town when Dallas Crown moved in and refused to leave. It’ll give you nightmares.
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Have any of you how are for horses slaughter been to a plant and seen just what happens? I bet not, you could not stomach it. We the American people 80% of us do not want, not even one horse to go to slaughter, they are not food, they have not been raised to be food , these slaughter houses even take the horses with open sores, ones sick from shipping fever, little babies, this practice is barbaric, and terrorizing to the horses, a horrible cruel death.
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Horse slaughter is criminal.
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What I have to say is not Lady like. But if they do not like the smell. Then get out.
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So this polotician backs crime? No wonder the other one backs antislaughter. If you back horse slaughter the AQHA gives him a letter, funny, they Suspend people for a single bounced check.and publicly humiliate them, but this guy publicly abuses horses and he gets a letter. Well I suppose that means they give killer buyers roses. What is so wrong with our society that this happens? And the theft, deceptive practices, animal abuse, cruelty, starvation, transport and document issues, and they horrible deaths of the horses…..really seriously any politician supporting horse slaughter is supporting criminal activity and needs voted out of office. Anyone opposed to horse slaughter deserves the public backing from the People who they serve.
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Just trying to visualize the man driving a truck slowly, exercising his three horses, probably for efficiency… it’s lazy (not to mention dangerous to the horses) thinking… as slaughter is a lazy solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist. Lazy breeding goals, i.e. produce too many to get a few prize winners, lazy training goals, i.e. starting them too young and causing damage, instead of bringing them along as they mature, and lazy disposal methods, instead of retraining them for a different career to keep them sound and comfortable for the rest of their life.
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In my personal experience the “dragline effect of training has been ongoing since the 60’s, and they figure out in the remote locations they will continue to get by with it. As well there are many things they use like tying a horses head high up in the air for a 12-24 hr period to drain their energy and their blood, then there’s the people who actually draw blood from the horses to make them weak enough to ride and have their heads down, then there’s the old tie their head to the saddle and walk away from the stall and IF they are alive when they return they ride them, the old withhold food and water trick for 2 days or more, then the blocking nerves and tail breaking to keep them from wringing it in disgust, the old tacks in the bridle and buck em til they fall routine, and countless other inhumane tactics…..they do all this when they are young and not strong enough to really understand mentally or physically how to stop this crap, in other words, these people cannot train horses, so they pick on the younger, and the more unseasoned, intelligent to mans ways horses. Trust me, they don’t prove they can ride by being on a 2 yr old. I know I have been a Futurity rider…The thing is…only the strong trainers survive, those are the people who need none of the above and actually train any age especially from scratch and make no excuses of the horses fault….(hence, the true trainers don’t advocate slaughter, only the ones who are angry with the horses, because they cant handle them). Oh, that felt Good to say…..the truth keeps coming out. I know a few people who could use the jogging behind a pickup Ill volunteer the truck and the full tank of gas! haha
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Reblogged this on ephemeral spirit and commented:
This horrible cruelty is shameful, unnecessary and beyond inhumane… has to be stopped… HAS TO BE…. 😦
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Heres the thing, we are responsible for our actions, we must all think first, usually it will be what we have done without first thinking of the ramifications of our own actions,will Haunt us……………… The Mustangs are living breathing feeling beings who will and have given to us so very much, it is unthinkable that we would ever do anything but help them if needed!!!! Money is the Root of all Evil,it brings out the very worst in people , but there is no excuse for harming the innocent to line your own pockets , it is BLOOD MONEY which will destroy your soul and take you with it !!!! Each and every one responsible for the untimely deaths of each and every wild mustang that a political person is directly responsible for (and they know who they ARE NO NEED TO MENTION NAMES ) will mental and physically suffer for their criminal actions towards the Mustangs and they will be also be Jailed for them………………… Karmas a Bit-h isnt it !!!!!
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Arlene, you are right it is BLOOD MONEY to kill horses. The horses, whatever type do not deserve to die like this. It is so cruel to know that the horses that are human partners will be hung up by a meat hook. It is sickening.
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I have very little respect for anyone that can slaughter any animal.
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Oh people you make me sick!!! Leave the wild horses to run free!! It’s looks like everything is turning to the business. Destroy the slaughter houses, just destroy them. I don’t really understand why now is sooooo much interest in land where they live. We people we will wanish all the beauty of this world. I love horses, look at them too how beautiful are……Remember all the bad things you do, will returned to you bad bad bad people!!!!!!
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Stop kill horses leave horses alone I love horses arrest these ppl who kill horses go jail
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Sid Miller can go to hell. Kick him out of politics altogether. The people must kick him out. We don’t need money devils like Sid Miller. Keep away from our horses they are not for eatting.
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