FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASETexas Ruling
Against Horse Slaughter Confirmed
by Federal Court of Appeals
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) March 6, 2007
– In affirming the January 2007 panel decision to uphold a Texas
state law making it illegal to sell, possess and transport
horsemeat for sale for human consumption, the entire US Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has rejected the two Texas-based
slaughterhouses’ petition to review its earlier decision.
"Given the careful analysis by the Court of
Appeals in the written panel opinion, and the rarity of
rehearings en banc, we are not surprised that this local Texas
issue was not reheard by the federal Court of Appeals," said
Tarrant County Deputy Chief Ann Diamond.
The Texas horse slaughter plants have no further
options other than to take their argument to the US Supreme
Court. They have 90 days from yesterday’s ruling to file a
petition for a writ of certiorari. "The foreign-owned
corporations behind this horrible industry are not likely to
prevail, and we expect that the two Texas plants will soon close
– leaving only one facility operating in Illinois. Yet as long
as the case is pending, the plants are able to remain open,"
said Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director for the Society
for Animal Protective Legislation.
In court, the slaughterhouses have argued that a
ban on the sale of horsemeat does not protect horses from theft
and abuse, while regulating horse slaughter would achieve this
goal. However, in January, the Fifth Circuit panel ruled that
the Texas law “survives the constitutional challenges raised by
the slaughterhouses” and flatly dismissed an earlier district
court finding that the alternative measures to protect horses
are adequate for their protection and preservation.
Only the passage of the AHSPA, recently
reintroduced in both chambers of Congress as H.R. 503 and S. 311
respectively, will guarantee that no horses in this country are
hauled across the country under terrible conditions to be killed
for human consumption, or transferred abroad for the same
purpose.
The Society for Animal Protective
Legislation, the Animal Welfare Institute's legislative arm, is
the unsurpassed leader in obtaining laws to benefit animals in
need, including the protection of domestic and wild horses.
More information is available at
www.saplonline.org/horses.htm.
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Contact:
Chris Heyde, 703-836-4300
