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Animal rights groups push forward

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Animal rights groups press Congress to halt the slaughter of horses

By Dave Montgomery

McClatchy Newspapers



WASHINGTON - Animal rights groups mounted a final effort Tuesday to push through a ban on U.S. horse slaughterhouses in the closing days of Congress, displaying graphic videos and wielding a letter of support from more than a fourth of the Senate's 100 members.



The legislation, which would shut down three processing plants in Texas and Illinois, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 263-146 in mid-October after a high-profile campaign that included celebrities such as country music star Willie Nelson and actress Bo Derek.



Animal rights groups and their supporters say the horses are kept and transported in inhumane conditions as part of a "slaughter pipeline" that reaches across the U.S. border and ends with brutal deaths. Opponents of the bill argue that the U.S. plants are needed to prevent a surplus of unwanted horses and that the horses are killed instantly and humanely.



With the outgoing Republican-controlled Congress scheduled to adjourn by the weekend, supporters of the measure are frantically trying to push the bill through the Senate, acknowledging that it could be squeezed out by more pressing issues, including a giant spending measure and Robert Gates' nomination to be defense secretary.



Twenty-seven senators, including the bill's sponsors, Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., called on the Senate leadership to allow a vote on the bill and "end this slaughter once and for all."



Despite the last-minute push, the bill faces stiff opposition. Brent Gattis, a senior policy adviser at the Washington law firm of Ollson Frank & Weeda who represents the industry, said that as many as 11 senators have indicated that they'll take steps to block consideration if Senate leaders bring it up.



The bill's signers included members from both parties. Among them: Sens. Trent Lott, R-Miss., Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; Joseph Biden, D-Del.; John Kerry, D-Mass., and California's two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.



The Humane Society of the United States and the Society for Animal Protective Legislation released video footage showing horses being put to death in slaughterhouses in Juarez, Mexico, and Montreal.



Another video clip, made several years ago, was of a horse being killed by a bolt gun, which is commonly used to kill beef cattle. Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle said the video was made in the Beltex plant in Fort Worth, Texas, but Beltex officials have disputed that claim, saying they believe it was shot elsewhere.



The $60-million-a-year horse slaughter industry in the United States consists of Dutch-owned Beltex; Dallas Crown Inc., in Kaufman, Texas; and Cavel International Inc. in DeKalb, Ill.



The three plants slaughtered more than 90,000 horses in 2005, largely for distribution to Europe and Japan, where horse meat is often part of the human diet. It's also sold to zoos.



The video taken in a municipal slaughterhouse in Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, shows a white horse being stabbed repeatedly in the back and neck before collapsing to the floor. In the video from Canada, a man with a rifle shoots a horse standing in a stall.



Pacelle said the video was taken by his organization's investigators to underscore the urgency for passing the legislation, which would also halt the transportation of horses for slaughter. Animal rights groups say that thousands of American horses are exported monthly to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses.



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For additional information:



In favor of the bill



-The Society for Animal Protective Legislation: www.saplonline.org



-The Humane Society of the United States: www.hsus.org



Opposed to the bill



-Common Horse Sense: www.commonhorsesense.com/
 

Econ101

Well-known member
I wonder if they have a program to deal with all those surplus horses.

BMR, don't all those horses that are slaughtered go to foreign markets?
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
So to illustrate inhumane slaughtering in the US, they show video from Canada and Mexico........

Horse slaughter is not going to end, it's just going to be done in Canada or Mexico. If I was Canadian, I think I'd be looking into building a horse slaughter plant at the border - looks like a business opportunity to me. BMR, Manitoba Rancher, Rod - any of you guys need a loan?
 

Manitoba_Rancher

Well-known member
Sandhusker said:
So to illustrate inhumane slaughtering in the US, they show video from Canada and Mexico........

Horse slaughter is not going to end, it's just going to be done in Canada or Mexico. If I was Canadian, I think I'd be looking into building a horse slaughter plant at the border - looks like a business opportunity to me. BMR, Manitoba Rancher, Rod - any of you guys need a loan?

Hey Sandhusker I think you ve got a hell of a good idea. Would you want to be a business partner in a venture....
 

mrj

Well-known member
Manitoba_Rancher said:
Sandhusker said:
So to illustrate inhumane slaughtering in the US, they show video from Canada and Mexico........

Horse slaughter is not going to end, it's just going to be done in Canada or Mexico. If I was Canadian, I think I'd be looking into building a horse slaughter plant at the border - looks like a business opportunity to me. BMR, Manitoba Rancher, Rod - any of you guys need a loan?

Hey Sandhusker I think you ve got a hell of a good idea. Would you want to be a business partner in a venture....

Maybe not! Does anyone have a copy of the bill? Watching most of the action on the House floor, it appeared to me that the law would forbid transporting horses into Canada or Mexico for the purpose of slaughter.

May be some way to get around it, but they are very determined to stop horse slaughter......then on to animals used for meat in the USA!

BTW, why does it matter that the meat is for foreign use, or that the slaughter plants are foreign owned (if that is factual)? Business that serves a useful purpose to the owner, the seller of the product, and the consumer of the product, and is legal should be encouraged. It also provides jobs for people in this country. Certainly it generates taxes for several levels of government from local to national.

MRJ
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
MJR, "BTW, why does it matter that the meat is for foreign use, or that the slaughter plants are foreign owned (if that is factual)? Business that serves a useful purpose to the owner, the seller of the product, and the consumer of the product, and is legal should be encouraged. It also provides jobs for people in this country. Certainly it generates taxes for several levels of government from local to national. "

Take out "horse slaughter" and insert "BSE testing". You're for one but against the other when both apply in your reasons. Think about that, MRJ.
 

Jason

Well-known member
Horse slaughter is an animal health issue now?

Your a bit late with a border slaughter op for horses.

The one in Fort Macleod has been going for quite some time, has access to wholesalers in Europe and Japan, and pretty much sets the domestic prce for slaughter horses.
 
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