Congress Lifts Horse Slaughter Ban

After a 5-year period, Congress has lifted the ban for U.S. inspectors to oversee horse slaughter, which means the doors are now open again for horses to be killed and butchered in the United States. As expected, activists are outrages (as am I), especially considering that slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month. And for what? Greedy ranchers.

Back in 2006, those who opposed horse slaughtering pushed a bill through Congress which cut off funding for horse meat inspections and essentially banned the practice. But now, thanks to a new spending bill courtesy of President Obama two weeks ago, congress has lifted the federal ban on horse slaughtering in the U.S.. Any funding for this would now have to come from taxpayers, costing us $3 million to $5 million a year. Although, the USDA did say that there are currently no slaughterhouses in the U.S. that butcher horses for human consumption, but if one were to open, it would conduct inspections to make sure federal laws were being followed. How gracious of them.

Those who are in favor of horse slaughtering still claim that without it, we would see an increase in neglect and the abandonment of horses (like butchering them is not abuse?), and that they wasting now time now getting a slaughter plant going–possibly in Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska or Missouri. They say a slaughterhouse could open in 30 to 90 days and as many as 200,000 horses a year could be killed with the meat being shipped to countries in Europe and Asia.

PETA is taking a strong stand against this and is reminding people of the horrible conditions these horses have to endure. They stated on Facebook:

No one wants to see any horse killed for meat or to turn a fast buck, and PETA has always had concerns about the suspension of US slaughter, since it meant more suffering for these sensitive animals, not less. What we feared would happen did: Rather than have a change of heart and stop killing horses, greedy ranchers who deal in horse flesh simply jammed their “commodities” into tractor trailers and hauled the frightened animals hundreds of miles to Canada and Mexico – a journey most did not have to face before – to terrifying deaths in slaughterhouses there. As PETA documented years ago, that ride means horses crammed together with strangers who bite and kick, slippery floors that mean foals and pregnant mares fall and are trampled, and horses who, being taller than cows but often shipped in cattle trucks, must ride the whole way with their heads bent to their chests. That export loophole still needs to be slammed shut. To reduce horses’ suffering, there must be a ban on exports of live horses together with a ban on slaughter in the U.S., or it doesn’t work, never did, never will.

It’s truly shameful and unthinkable that there are people out there who treat animals this way. Much less try to make a profit out of abusing and butchering them. Let’s hope that Congress wakes up and reenacts its ban against slaughtering these beautiful animals.