LIVE FEED ON SATURDAY FEB. 7TH 3PM With John Holland (Senior Analyst for AAHS) and Paula Bacon and Laura Allen!

Saving America's Horses on WFL Endangered Stream Live, Talk Radio for the Protection of Animals

The Hidden Cruelty of Horse Slaughter and the Fight for Federal Support to Make it Stop.

Host Katia Louise interviews an expert panel of guests on the continuing sordid practice of horse slaughter as currently sustained by the United States. Horses suffer unimaginable cruel treatment in the process of their transport out of the US to Mexico and Canada where they experience barbaric slaughter. Listeners will learn the truth about one of America's darkest secrets and how to take action to stop this cruel and rapidly growing business of exports through the support of current, yet disregarded bills lingering in Congress for the past 8 years.

Guests include Paula Bacon representing Americans Against Horse Slaughter and as former mayor of Kaufman TX, she helped to shut down the Dallas Crown, a US horse slaughter plant now operating in Mexico, among the worst malign abusers of cruelty in this brutal practice. Also joining us is the renown author on the issue of horse slaughter, John Holland; senior analyst for Americans Against Horse Slaughter. Holland has authored and coauthored studies on the relationship of horse slaughter to the rate of abuse and neglect in horses and has written dozens of articles on the subject of horse slaughter and its politics. Plus we have Animal Law Attorney, Laura Allen of the Animal Law Coalition who's been fiercely active in the support of getting legislature passed for the Prevention of the Equine Cruelty. These panelists are fighting to abolish horse slaughter and the export of horses for slaughter with support more stringent enforcement of laws to prevent abuse and neglect.

Call-in number: (646) 727- 2170. Calls will be accepted live during the show. The chat room at the show's WFL Endangered Stream Live Blog Talk Radio page will be open throughout the broadcast for simultaneous discussion and to help answer questions. Registered listeners may connect and talk straight from their computer from anywhere in the world. (learn more)

Listen live on Saturday, Feb 7th at 3pm (PST) at WFL Endangered Stream Live Blog Talk Radio.
Listen anytime on demand.


Links:
http://wflendangeredstreamlive.org/showlineup.html

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wflendangeredstreamlive/2009/02/07/Saving-Americas-Horses

North Dakota Bill To Study Impact of Equine Slaughter Facility

North Dakota legislators are advancing a plan that would allow the nation's only equine slaughter facility to be built in that state, according to an article on inforum.com.

According to the article, Rep. Rod Froelich, D-Selfridge, and Sen. Joe Miller, R-Park River, sponsored House Bill 1496, which would direct the state's commerce department to conduct a $100,000 study to see if a privately owned horse slaughterhouse would be viable in that state.

Since 2006 horse slaughter has not been legal throughout the United States due to a removal of federal meat inspectors from slaughter facilities. There is national legislation being considered that would permanently ban equine slaughter in the United States.

Comments from locals in the article were in support of the bill due to the increased number of unwanted horses in the area and the United States.

***********************************************************************************

Plant may slaughter horses under North Dakota bill

By: Kim Winnegge , INFORUM

A plan being advanced in the North Dakota Legislature likely will upset some horse enthusiasts and animal rights activists.

Two state legislators are sponsoring a bill that could lead to construction of the nation’s only horse slaughterhouse in North Dakota.

Rep. Rod Froelich, D-Selfridge, and Sen. Joe Miller, R-Park River, are sponsoring House Bill 1496, which would direct the Commerce Department to conduct a $100,000 study to see if a privately owned horse slaughterhouse is viable in North Dakota.

“Lots of constituents were begging us to do this, saying give us an alternative to what we have now, which is nothing,” Froelich said.

The study would assess the cost of construction, the nature and scope of markets the plant could sell to, and if such a project could be accomplished under current regulations, according to a news release.

In 2006, the U.S. House passed the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which banned slaughtering horses. It died in the Senate.

Froelich said the $100,000 cost was just a figure they came up with to highlight that there would be a financial piece to the puzzle.

“Equine processing facilities provide a valuable resource for those who have animals that are no longer needed for recreational, farm or racing uses,” Froelich said in a news release announcing the proposed study.

The study would be conducted during the 2009 to 2011 interim.

Legislators will have a chance to help the state become the only one to offer these services, Miller said.

Miller said the last two “equine processing facilities” in Texas and Illinois closed in 2007, leaving open the U.S. market for horse slaughtering.

“They were shut down due to activists in the area,” Miller said. “(They provided) false or circumstantial information, misconstruing what really goes on.”

Calls to several animal rights groups for comment went unanswered Friday.

North Dakota horses ready for rendering now have to be shipped to Mexico or Canada, Miller said, which is costly.

A rendered horse can provide horse meat, gelatin, glue, pet food and leather products, Miller said.

Froelich said the legislation will help provide another economic resource for North Dakota.

“We have a lot of equine that are being abandoned now, not taken care of,” he said. “We have to find someplace for animals to be taken.”

Miller said the point of the proposed legislation is to humanely dispose of those animals that have “worn out their usefulness.”

“We’re going to get to a point where horses will be running around like deer,” he said. “That’s something we need to control.”

Bill to End Horse Slaughter Reintroduced in 111th Congress

Bill to End Horse Slaughter Reintroduced in 111th Congress

Washington, DC (January 15, 2009) – The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503), was reintroduced yesterday by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Representative Dan Burton (R-IN). They first introduced the bill, which will ban horse slaughter, in the summer of 2008. It gained quick bipartisan support and passed out of the Judiciary Committee but did not move further as the legislative clock wound down. Committed to seeing the measure passed into law, Chairman Conyers has given the bill priority in his committee, as signaled by its reintroduction so early on the legislative calendar. With sixty-one original cosponsors, the bill already enjoys strong bipartisan support.

Although the few remaining horse slaughter plants operating in the US were shut down in 2007 under state law, the absence of a federal law banning the practice means that American horses are still at risk of being slaughtered for human consumption. In fact, more than 100,000 horses were exported to Mexico and Canada in 2008 for slaughter; In Canada horses are often shot to death while in Mexico some plants still use the “puntilla” knife to stab the horse into a state of paralysis prior to being slaughtered while still fully conscious. The meat is then sold to high-end consumers in Europe and Asia.

“There are naysayers who claim we should reopen the US plants rather than seek to ban all horse slaughter. Clearly, they’ve already forgotten how awful the plants here were,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of Government and Legal Affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute.

Documents recently released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal just how brutal conditions were at the US plants before they were shut down. Hundreds of graphic photographs taken by U.S. Department of Agriculture employees at one plant show live horses with missing legs, with eyeballs hanging out, with skin ripped from the body and the birth of foals at the plant. Other photos show horses dead on arrival, having succumbed to the miseries of transport.

“The suffering of hundreds of thousands of our horses rests solely on the shoulders of those blocking this bill. Were it not for their stalling tactics horse slaughter would have ceased years ago. Meanwhile an American horse is slaughtered every five minutes. We commend Chairman Conyers and Representative Burton for taking the lead once again to end this cruel practice through introduction of H.R. 503, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act,” said Heyde.

##30##

For further information contact:
Chris Heyde, 202-446-2142
Liz Ross, 202-497-6780

For over 58 years, AWI has been the leading voice for animals across the country and on Capitol Hill. Please join us in our ongoing campaigns to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans. Sign up for AWI eAlerts to receive the latest news on what you can do to help us protect all animals: http://www.awionline.org/joinus.

TAKE ACTION THROUGH THE HSUS!

New Legislation Introduced to End Inhumane Transport of Horses!

HR 305

Stop Inhumane Horse Transport
Doubler decker trailers are designed for short-necked species, such as cattle and hogs, not horses. However, current federal law allows horses to be transported in these trailers to any destination other than slaughter plants.

Since these trailers are not meant to carry horses, frequently the top deck of the trailer will collapse, resulting in horrific injuries and even death. Just last year, a double decker trailer carrying 59 young Belgian horses overturned on an Illinois highway, killing 17 horses and injuring dozens of others.

Fortunately, Representatives Kirk (R-IL) and Cohen (D-TN) introduced, H.R. 305, the Horse Transportation Safety Act, to ban the use of double decker trailers for all horse transport.

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative to urge support for H.R. 305 to prohibit double decker trailers for horse transport. You can reach your Representative through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or click here to look up your Representative and the phone number.

After making your call, fill in and submit the form on the right to automatically send an email to your U.S. Representative. Remember to personalize the email message by expressing your opinion in your own words; it's much more effective.


Take Action!