(photo: Albuquerque Journal)  This photo was taken back when Rick De Los Santos, owner of Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, N.M., was giving a tour of his “little-shop-of-horrors-to-be” (aka horse slaughterhouse).

SOURCE: Albuquerque Journal

By Deborah Baker / Journal Staff Writer                          September 22nd, 2015

A state district judge in Santa Fe today refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed nearly two years ago by the attorney general against Valley Meat Company, which wanted to operate a horse slaughterhouse in Roswell.

The company had argued that the lawsuit is moot because it no longer wants to slaughter horses at the site — and that it couldn’t even if it wanted to, because Congress banned funding for the required inspectors in this year’s federal budget.

But the attorney general argued that the federal funding could be resumed. And because some of the people involved in Valley Meat have formed a new business, D’Allende Meats, the AG says the successor company could be positioning itself for horse slaughter in the future.

There has been a preliminary injunction in place since January 2014 barring horse slaughter at the Roswell plant, and State District Judge Francis Mathew today expanded that prohibition to include D’Allende Meats.

The lawsuit could go to trial next year.