Whenever the topic of horse slaughter comes up, I’m instantly reminded of Buttons, an adorable paint pony who was saved from slaughter by a local riding school. He was soon the favored pony of the barn and has brought many students blue ribbons.
I wonder how a sound, cute, healthy pony ends up with his life hanging in the balance as a potential slaughter victim. His sweet nature lends one to believe that he was a cared for by a loving owner at some time.
In August of this year, just days after a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives tried killing legislation that would restrict commercial horse slaughter, a man hauling horses to a Texas slaughterhouse was charged with animal cruelty. Photographs and witnesses attested to the badly injured and abused state of the animals.
According to the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL), approximately 90,000 horses are hauled to three foreign-owned slaughterhouses in the U.S. The meat is exported to Europe and Asia. Those horses could be anyone you or I have known. Many are old school horses. Could the gentle Gaslight who taught me how to canter have ended up at a slaughterhouse?
Those supporting the horse slaughter industry like to say that we, horse owners, want this freedom to do with our horses as we wish. According to SAPL, in July, Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) “condemned the legislation that would stop commercial horse slaughter as an unwarranted intrusion on the rights of horse owners. The committee allowed the bill to go to the House floor for vote, but only after deriding it as unnecessary and unfair to horse owners.”
Let me just state for the record that this horse owner here would not find legislation ending horse slaughter to be unfair to me. I fully support the end of this industry. If just one stolen or missing pet horse has found its unfortunate way to the slaughterhouse, it is one horse too many.
That July Christopher Heyde, Deputy Legislative Director, SAPL, submitted moving testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumption about his first-hand witnessing of the cruelty inflicted upon horses at a slaughterhouse. He described horses hauled up to 28 hours without food, water or rest; poked with rods to get to move off a trailer, sliding and falling down the ramp; then beaten through the kill chute. In their panic, many fell or had their legs caught in rails, only to be beaten mercilessly again. Heyde noted that these horses appeared “adoptable, sellable, and sound” and that they were mostly “young and healthy.”
Horses that end up at slaughterhouses are typically injured racehorses, retired riding school horses, foals from the Premarin industry, protected wild horses and stolen horses. They could be any horse you knew.
In September, advocates for protecting horses from slaughter saw a victory as the House of Representatives passed the bill to end horse slaughter. It has now moved onto the Senate despite intense lobbying from those who back the horse slaughter industry.
According to SAPL, bill sponsors Representative John Sweeney (R-NY), Representative John Spratt (D-SC), Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) “effectively argued the legislation’s necessity.” They showed graphic images of “the horrific cruelty endured by horses being transported to slaughterhouses,” and that “the legislators exposed the inhumane conditions inflicted on more than 92,000 of America’s horses last year alone.”
Know which of your state's senators are for or against the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. If you want to see an end to the horse slaughter industry and do not feel that its end is unfair to your rights as a horse owner, contact those legislators who support the slaughter industry and make them aware of your position. And tell them to stop saying that they are speaking for us.
Contact your senator to support the passage of this bill. The day your horse is missing or stolen and you don't have to call the slaughterhouses in search of him is the day you won’t regret taking the time to support this bill.
