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USDA
MAKES END RUN AROUND CONGRESSIONAL
HORSE SLAUGHTER BAN Federal Agency
Considers New Scheme to Slaughter American Horses for
Human Consumption, Say Humane Groups FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Heyde, 703-836-4300, chris(at)saplonline.org WASHINGTON, DC (January 5, 2006)
— Lawyers for the
Society for Animal Protective Legislation, Doris Day Animal League, The Humane
Society of the United States, American Humane Association
and
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals today delivered a 17-page
letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns demanding
that the U.S. Department of Agriculture pull in the reins
on a plan to continue the slaughter of American horses for
human consumption in France, Belgium, Japan, and other
countries. Last year the U.S. House of Representatives
voted 269-158 and the U.S. Senate voted 69-28 to stop the
slaughter of horses for Fiscal Year 2006. The
USDA recently informed members of Congress that it is
seriously considering creating a new horse inspection
scheme to circumvent the new federal law, which prohibits
USDA from paying employees to inspect horses destined for
slaughter for human food. This announcement comes as a
result of a petition for emergency rulemaking filed by
three European-owned slaughterhouses – two in Texas, one
in Illinois – that would allow the companies to continue
butchering tens of thousands of horses for foreign menus
each year. "It is
beyond our imagination in the U.S. Congress that the USDA
would flout its mandate and spend tax dollars in the
coming months working on ways to circumvent this law,"
said U.S. Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY). "Even our most
hardened opponents knew that the purpose of the amendment
was to stop horse slaughter -- there was never any
confusion about that. It's disturbing that an agency like
USDA feels it is appropriate to obstruct a law passed by
an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in Congress when
their sole mission is to implement the law." After
suffering a sweeping, bipartisan defeat in Congress, the
horse slaughter industry has quietly petitioned the USDA
to establish a “fee-for-service” inspection system for
horse slaughter in lieu of federally funded inspections,
which Congress voted to end. The plants have asked that
the USDA implement this change without notifying the
public or following normal rulemaking procedures, claiming
that it is in the “public’s interest” to keep this
maneuver secret.
“The
USDA is playing games and ignoring the directives of
Congress while the lives of America’s horses, who have
served us faithfully and provided us with companionship,
are at stake,” said Michael Markarian, executive vice
president of The HSUS. “By even entertaining this
eleventh-hour bid by the slaughterhouses to re-write the
law, the USDA is thumbing its nose at Congress and trying
to substitute the judgment of foreign gourmands for the
judgment of our elected lawmakers.” In its
letter to Secretary Johanns, animal welfare groups pointed
out that the fee-for-service proposal “would not only
thwart an unequivocally expressed Congressional directive,
it would also violate the Federal Meat Inspection Act’s
requirement that the United States Department of
Agriculture, not private facilities, fund horse slaughter
inspection.” The groups have called on the USDA to deny
petitioners’ request for expedited rulemaking and
implement Congress’ clear mandate to halt the slaughter of
horses for human consumption. "Granting this
petition would set a damning precedent,” said Holly
Hazard, executive director of the Doris Day Animal
League. “In circumventing the clear intent of our
legislators to cease certain federal programs and simply
buying the services of the executive branch without any
policy directive from Congress, special interests will
thwart democracy.” “Why
is the USDA acting in defense of three foreign-owned horse
slaughter plants engaged in a brutal trade?” asked Chris
Heyde, Deputy Legislative Director for the Society for Animal
Protective Legislation. “The barbarity America’s horses
currently endure must be stopped as Congress has stated
loud and clear. Congress sought to shut down the
slaughter of American horses, not merely change the method
by which inspections are funded.” While
Congress has voted to end horse slaughter for most of one
fiscal year, animal protection groups are lobbying for the
passage of H.R. 503 and S. 1915, a permanent ban on horse
slaughter for food, introduced by U.S. Reps. John Sweeney
(R-NY), John Spratt (D-SC), and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) in the
House, and U.S. Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Mary
Landrieu (D-LA) in the Senate. The
organizations are represented by Meyer Glitzenstein &
Crystal, a Washington, DC, public interest law firm. ---
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