PrintFor horse people, there are few topics more controversial than slaughter.
When a government report was released June 22, it didn’t tell anyone seriously involved on either side of the debate anything they didn’t already know. But the report did frame the situation perfectly by recommending either closing the channel of slaughter from the United States or re-opening domestic slaughterhouses.
Depending on which side of the debate you’re on, one of those recommendations likely expresses your best-case scenario. People on both sides of the pro/anti-slaughter debate tend to agree that since all three slaughter plants in the United States closed in 2007, the situation has gotten worse for the horses—they make longer trailer trips with less government regulation. But having agreed on that, the next step is the subject of great discussion.
“I was a proponent of getting rid of the slaughter-houses in their previous format,” said Allie Conrad, director of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of The Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses. “It wasn’t being done humanely—putting the horses in a room where they’re seeing other horses killed is horrifying for them, and not to mention the transport. But the unintended consequences have been worse. It hasn’t slowed the number of horses down at all. They’re going farther, and [the people sending them] are sneakier.”
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) introduced a bill called the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 on June 9. It would officially ban slaughter in this country while also outlawing export of horses for slaughter. U.S. Reps. Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill introduced a similar bill in the House of Representatives on September 19.
“As a lifelong horse lover and rider, this practice is appalling to me, and more importantly, the majority of Americans oppose it,” said Landrieu in a statement released by her office. “We raise and train horses to trust us, perform for us, and allow us on their backs, and as such, they deserve to be treated with human compassion. When horse owners are faced with the sad reality of having to put their animals down, it should be by humane euthanasia. I intend to…get this bill passed and permanently end the slaughter of our American horses.”
Some version of the bill has been introduced for the last several years. However, another bill, introduced by Montana Senator Max Baucus, attempts to re-instate funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections at U.S. horse slaughter plants. “It’s still contentious,” said Ben Pendergrass, legislative director at the American Horse Council, an organization that has remained neutral on the topic. “There’s a polar split 50/50 down the middle in the horse world and in Congress. People are really concerned with welfare, and that’s what we’re concerned with. It’s a very emotional issue for a lot of folks.”
A Brief History
