No Horsing Around

While 80% of Americans oppose horse slaughter for human consumption, the USDA recently cleared the way for horse slaughter to resume on U.S. soil by issuing inspection permits to New Mexico and Iowa plants. A third permit for a Missouri facility is pending.

During the slaughtering process, horses often endure repeated brutal blows to the head to render them unconscious and remain awake as their throats are slit. “Horse slaughter plants pollute local water bodies with blood and offal, permeate the air with a foul stench, diminish property values and put horses through misery, “ said Jonathan Lovvorn of the Humane Society of the United States which, along with a coalition of animal groups, filed a lawsuit to stop the plants from opening. They assert that the USDA failed to conduct proper environmental reviews — including impacts on the water, land, and air surrounding a slaughter plant.

Horse slaughter plants last operated in the U.S. in 2007 before the federal government banned the practice by eliminating funding for inspections. Funding was restored in 2011, but the USDA has been slow in granting permits, citing the need for an oversight program. Congress could still cut funding again and reinstate the ban — the House and Senate agriculture committees have endorsed such proposals, and the Obama administration’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year also eliminates that funding.

Read Kathy’s Huffington Post blog about horse slaughter here. To stand up for American horses, click here.

gton Post blog about horse slaughter here. To stand up for American horses, click here.