Congress Begins with New Opportunities to Help Horses
Legislators Must Act Quickly on Reintroduced Bills

January 17, 2007

Dear Humanitarian:

American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act Reintroduced

©Jill Umphlett/AWI

Following tremendous momentum on the movement to ban horse slaughter achieved in the House last session, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA) has been reintroduced in both chambers of the new 110th Congress.

Giving the House a chance to renew its support for the only legislation that will ban all horse slaughter for human consumption in the United States and the transport of horses abroad to meet the same fate, Representative Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Representative Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Representative John Spratt (D-SC) have again introduced the bill as H.R. 503. Additionally, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator and veterinarian John Ensign (R-NV) have reintroduced the AHSPA in the Senate as S. 311, with the support of many of their colleagues from both parties. Last summer, the House approved the AHSPA overwhelmingly, but the session ended before the Senate could vote on the measure.

The AHSPA sponsors have worked tirelessly toward the bill's enactment and are moving quickly to ensure it receives a vote as soon as possible.  The overwhelming majority of Members of Congress have consistently demonstrated strong, bipartisan support for putting an end to the cruel horse slaughter industry in our country. In fact, legislators have voted five times on measures to end the slaughter of wild and domestic horses.

Fortunately, there is promising news in Texas. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just overturned a lower courts ruling that had granted the two Texas slaughterhouses protection from a state law prohibiting the sale, possession and transportation of horsemeat for human consumption. While the companies that own the slaughterhouses have some legal recourse, it remains limited, and it is unlikely that they will win. Once their options are exhausted, Texas authorities will move to close the plants once and for all. In the meantime, passage of the AHSPA is critical because we must ensure horses who would have been slaughtered in Texas are not simply sent to Mexico, where they would be destined to face even greater suffering.

Just last year, over 100,000 American horses were killed in the three remaining foreign-owned US slaughterhouses and shipped abroad to Europe and Japan for human consumption.  Every week Congress fails to act on this important bill means that thousands of American horses will continue to suffer terribly.

Chairman of House Natural Resources Committee Steps up for Wild Horses

In addition, we are pushing for a vote on a bill to stop the commercial exploitation and slaughter of wild horses. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rahall and Representative Whitfield have reintroduced H.R. 249 – first considered in the last session – to repeal the 2004 “Burns rider” and restore the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act to its original language.

The American public and over 500 organizations from the humane community, a majority of horse industry organizations and veterinarians all back support our effort to end to the slaughter of America’s horses. We will continue to fight for horses until they are all protected.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please call, fax or email your Representative and both Senators today, urging their co-sponsorship of the AHSPA (H.R. 503/S. 311). Ask your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 249 at the same time.

To find your legislators, please visit www.compassionindex.org.  For facts and additional information on both bills to include in your calls and letters, please visit www.saplonline.org/horses.htm.

Additionally, please share this eAlert with family, friends and co-workers, and encourage them to contact their Representatives, too.  As always, thank you very much for your help!

Sincerely,