U.S. District Court Judge Allows Horse Slaughter Plant to Temporarily Slaughter Horses While Lawsuit is Underway

Rockford, Ill. (June 1, 2007) - The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) denounces a decision made today by the Honorable Frederick J. Kapala of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to allow a horse slaughter plant to temporarily evade prosecution under a newly enacted Illinois law banning the slaughter of horses in the state for human consumption.    The measure, which was strongly supported by AWI’s legislative arm, the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL), passed overwhelmingly in both chambers of the Illinois legislature and was signed into law by Governor Rod Blagojevich on May 24^th.  The next day, Cavel International, Inc., the only horse slaughter plant in Illinois, filed suit seeking to invalidate the state law.  Additionally, the plant requested injunctive relief, which was the subject of today’s hearing.

“By temporarily enjoining enforcement of Illinois law, today’s ruling will allow Cavel International to resume its slaughter of America’s horses, a practice that continues to be abhorred not only by people of Illinois but by citizens all across America,” noted Tracy Silverman, an attorney with AWI.

Cavel International sets forth a variety of arguments in its lawsuit to invalidate Illinois’ new law.  Some of these same arguments were recently rejected by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a separate challenge of a Texas law banning the sale of horsemeat for human consumption.

In the coming days, the nationally renowned law firm of Patton Boggs will be filing documents with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of AWI and SAPL in opposition to Cavel International’s attempt to use the court system to legalize horse slaughter in Illinois.  

“Cavel is merely choosing to drag its feet on the issue instead of accepting the will of Illinois citizens to rid their state of this despicable industry,” said SAPL Deputy Legislative Director Chris Heyde.  “But whether they like it or not, horse slaughter will soon come to an end, it is only a matter of how many poor horses will die in the meantime."

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