U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo in Albuquerque, N.M., threw out a lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States, Front Range Equine Rescue and several other animal protection groups on Nov. 1. The lawsuit, filed in July, was seeking to block horse slaughter on the basis that the environmental impact hadn’t been properly considered.
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials approved the opening of a new equine slaughterhouse in New Mexico on June 28. The approval, a grant of inspection, was issued to Valley Meats Company in Roswell, N.M., and a second approval was issued to Responsible Transportation of Sigourney, Iowa, on July 2. USDA officials stated they expect to approve other applications soon.
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted on June 13 to eliminate funding for federal meat inspections at horse slaughter facilities. If it makes its way through the entire legislative process, this would effectively stop efforts to resume horse slaughter in the United States.
The amendment, introduced by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., and Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., forbids the U.S. Department of Agriculture to inspect horse-processing plants in the 2014 fiscal year.
On March 12, Senators Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Representatives Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced the Safeguard American Food Exports Act, which would ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the United States and prohibit the transport, export or import of horses intended for slaughter or horsemeat.
Nebraska has joined the list of states making legislature changes on the issue of horse slaughter. A proposed bill introduced by Nebraska state senator Tyson Larson would require the state’s Department of Agriculture put a meat inspection program into effect by 2013.
Larson, whose family owns a ranch and raises roping horses in O’Neill, Nev., argued that the state’s 2007 closing of meat processing plants caused the equine surplus problem, which he links to abandonment and abuse.
Canada has proposed a bill that would end horse slaughter for human consumption in the country. Additionally, the bill would stop the import and export of horses for slaughter from other countries, including the United States.
Two coolers of meat found Wednesday in Miami-Dade County, Fla., have been confirmed to contain horsemeat.
Officers discovered the coolers in a van, parked in a Miami neighborhood known for the sale of black market horsemeat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted tests on the meat and confirmed it to be horse. A bag containing horse legs was later found in the vehicle.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed the Florida Horse Protection Bill into law on Friday, May 14. This law prohibits the mutilation or killing of any horse and outlaws the transport, distribution, sale or purchase of horsemeat for human consumption. It goes into effect July 1, 2010, as Chapter 2010-87 of Florida Statutes.
Delinquents will face a felony minimum penalty of $3,500 and one year in prison.
Missouri state legislators have removed horse slaughter provisions from SB 795, an agricultural bill currently in review, reported the News-Leader.com.
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