The Truth Behind the Lifting of the Horse Slaughter Ban
Published December 5, 2011
Courtesy of Shelley Abrams
President Obama may not be entirely to blame for the five-year-old horse slaughter ban being lifted. Read on to find out the horse slaughter facts.
Horse lovers who are aware of the horrors that horse slaughter entails often get highly emotional about this topic. So after I read reports emphasizing President Obama’s broken 2008 campaign promises to both ensure a ban on horse slaughter that produced meat for human consumption and to end the transport of horses to slaughterhouses outside the United States, I hastily wrote an angry piece titled Horse Slaughter Ban Lifted. I have to confess that my objective journalistic perspective flew out of the window.
After talking with people far more knowledgeable than I about how the horse slaughter ban was lifted, I gained a more balanced perspective on horse slaughter facts and felt compelled to share these facts with readers who may be blaming Obama for horse slaughter possibly resuming.
At the same time, I'd also like to invite all animal lovers to get involved to help reach a permanent solution in order that horse slaughter finally may be abolished.
Here are the horse slaughter facts:
In 2006, Congress added language to the Agricultural Appropriations bill de-funding horse meat inspections. The language in this bill remained intact for five years, and was only meant to be a short term "fix" until a federal bill to prohibit horse slaughter and the transport of horses outside the country for slaughter was finally passed.
By quietly removing the 2006 language, two pro-slaughter members of Congress lifted the five-year-old ban de-funding inspections on horse meat and opened the door to legal horse slaughter resuming in the U.S. As Elayne Boosler, (writer/comedian/animal activist) succinctly put it in her recent piece on Huff Post Green, “This Trojan Horse rode in on the budget bill.”
In order to keep the government afloat, it was critical to have this appropriations bill passed. Many sponsors of the anti-slaughter legislation had to sign it and regretfully, so did our President. Most importantly, however, is the fact that nowhere in the bill is horse slaughter, or the ban being lifted, even mentioned.
However, Congress failed to allocate new funding for horse meat inspections, resulting in the cost of $5 million or more a year to taxpayers.
Horse slaughter proponents would like you to believe horses destined for slaughter are no longer useful and slaughtering them is an act of kindness. In fact, the majority of these horses are healthy and fit.
The only way to put an end to horse slaughter is by having federal legislation passed which will trump appropriations bills. Already, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate. But more co-sponsors are needed to sign on for a better chance for finally getting these bills to the floor for a vote.
There is a silver lining in this dark cloud which has always been called "America's dirty little secret.” This event has brought horse slaughter out in the open with many more people now aware of what is happening. Our fight is not over! We must get busy getting more co-sponsors to support Senate bill S 1176 and House Bill H.R.2966 . Our beloved horses need your help!
Take action! Call your members of Congress to find out when their next Town Hall meeting will be held. Show up and tell them politely that horse slaughter is unacceptable, and any representative supporting it will lose your vote.
Many thanks to Shelley Abrams and Debra Lopez, the co-founders of Americans Against Horse Slaughter for posting this crucial clarification on the AAHS Facebook page.
AAHS has provided a link to the AWI Compassion Index to easily find your legislators and their contact information.
How do you feel about the legalization of horse meat? Share with a comment.
Shortly after retiring as a social worker and psychotherapist, I discovered my "writer's voice"…
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Comments (33)
At lunch I overheard an investment advisor pitching the farming of horses for human consumption in the US. The horses would be raised in such a way to obtain the Organic label from the USDA and the meat would be marketed to an upscale gourmet clientel. The investors were very enthusiastic. We don't need to produce more horses, especially not for food. Horse production, like dog and cat breeding, needs to be limited and regulated. There's that hated word but... $ talks so your friend with that uncontrollable mare will have her bred and will sell the foal, with its mother's genes, to someone else who can't control, etc etc. For those who oppose gov't regulation, "Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless." MLK Jr. Regulation. Period.
I love horses and think they're beautiful animals, but if you look past the tree hugger propaganda and actually gain some true knowledge of horse slaughter, you might see that it isn't as bad as it looks. And when I say it isn't as bad as it looks, I'm not saying that I support the unethical treatment of animals and that I find nothing wrong with hanging a horse up by it's hind leg and dipping it in acid while it's still alive. I'm very much against what goes on IN slaughterhouses, which is why I would like to see slaughterhouses open back up in the U.S. At least then the U.S. would have some say over how the horses are treated once they're in the slaughterhouses. Although I think the real problem is backyard breeding and irresponsible horse owners, there is no way of stopping it. People are greedy, and if they can make a few hundred bucks off a horse they breed, then they're going to do it. There is no one there to smack them on the hand and tell them no. If you buy a horse, you should be prepared for all the expenses and upkeep that comes with it. People who buy horses are responsible for giving it a long, happy life and a humane death when the time comes administered by caring hands. It pisses me off when I see people who cannot afford their horses anymore, but are too selfish to let it go to someone who can. People like this are the reason there are so many neglected horses wondering the streets underweight by an easy 500 lbs. This is a problem that can only be fixed by RESPONSIBLE BREEDERS AND OWNERS.
Do you think that it is more humane to turn out these unwanted, injured and old horses of no value letting them slowly starve to death? If so then you have never seen a horse die of starvation, slow and very painful and long. How about these horse owners that take unwanted horses out in the country somewhere and turn them out for someone else to do something with which is being done in my community every day because the owner does not want to buy the feed for them. That is what is happening when there is no place to take horses like this. People will not spend the money to put these horses down so they just let them die slowly. That to me is much worse then the slaughter and letting someone get some use out of these unwanted horses. I raise a lot of horses and I am very much in favor of slaughter as a good solution to this problem.