U.S. Congress - H.R.503 Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009
H.R.503 - Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain conduct relating to the use of horses for human consumption. view all titles (3)
All Bill Titles
- Official: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain conduct relating to the use of horses for human consumption. as introduced.
- Short: Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009 as introduced.
- Official: Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009 as introduced.
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As a responsible horse owner and a tax payer I want this bill passed. Its far pass time for these bills to protect our animals from abuse and neglect and that is exactly what horse slaughter promotes. The Slaughter plants rewards irresponsible people who continue to breed and breed for profits and no regulations to there actions. The ones whinny about haulting the bills are the ones profiting from the Auctioneers that sell to the killers to the killers to the overbreeders to the AQHA,APHA and other organizations that promote breeding for papers. Not one of these organizations set funds or assist in making donations to any Horse Rescues in the US or Canada. Its time to stop rewarding and promoting this kind of business. What next are we going to slaughter dogs and cats for Korea.The AVMA and the AAEP took an Oath to protect animals but according to the (FOIA) Freedom of Information Act the pictures,video,and statements from the USDA inspectors the treatment of horse going to slaughter was inhumane in all ways from Auctions that allowed the sell and transportation to the holding pens that allowed animals to suffer without no vet treatment before slaughter. Also stating that the slaughter of the horses is humane euthaniz as they claimed is false. just more lies to justify there profit efforts. For more facts visit http://SaveDaHorses.org
I have been involved with horses for over 40 years and active in horse rescue for the past 3 years. It is demand for flesh, not “unwanted horses” that drives the corrupt and abusive industry. Please folks, visit www.kaufmanzoning.net
See the USDA evidence and know the truth about horse horse slaughter.
Banning slaughter will encourage more responsible horse ownership and reduce suffering.
It is time for congress to pass this bill and stop the few in congress that are blocking what the American people want.
Take a look at the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) records received directly from the USDA that shows horses faces bashed in and bleeding, their eyeballs hanging from their sockets by strings of flesh and their legs broken off and gone. www.kaufmanzoning.net
This is un-American and needs to stop now. The government knows that it is inhumane they have the records that is where we got them.
As to the Laconia, NH article noted on this site, the US House did NOT pass a slaughter ban this past Fall. The bill died in committee, thanks to opponents who refuse to ‘do the right thing’ by horses.
The cruelty and suffering of horse slaughter begins with the transport and handling processes prior to the slaughter itself. USDA says truckers can ship horses in bulk transport and be forced to endure terrible injuries sustained there. USDA also says that the horses don’t need to be given food, water or rest any more often than 29 hours. Life threatening injuries occur and go untreated for hours or days. Horse physiology and behaviors place them at great risk in the slaughter industry. USDA’s own documents show actual in-process injuries, documented by the regulating agency itself: the failure that is USDA. See this press release: http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/nov24/pressrelease.pdf
On this page you can see that actual USDA documents, see the left-hand column Records A thru F THESE MATERIALS SHOW ACTUAL ABUSE AND INJURIES which occurred on USDA’s watch:
http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/foia.htm
See Houston, TX TV news piece exposes USDA failures and horse slaughter horrors:
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=315146
End horse slaughter today, and end inhumane bulk transport. Practice humane euthanasia.
As a horse owner and American citizen, I want horse slaughter stopped. It is a despicable business that has been going on too long. I am sick to death that these bills get so far and then blocked by nauseating individuals on the take. Over breeding is supplying horses for slaughter. There is no unwanted horse. AQHA and other groups don’t want to give up the money from registrations, they rather see horses being brutalized at auctions, feedlots, transported and then butchered alive. Let Europe and others know that the United States is not going to allow animal abuse so they can eat horse meat. Horse slaughter is a betrayal to an animal that has served this country well…..Save our Horses.
It would seem obvious that protecting such an intelligent and beautiful animal is taking the high road. I cannot conceive of hurting let alone eating a horse. It is a disgusting and despicable act of cold hearted greed saying so much more about us as humans than anything else. I would give anything to afford caring for a horse…it is a dream I will most likely never achieve but I can at least support their well being in every way I find possible. They provide so much to our culture as living, breathing
animals, not something to cut up as food for either ourselves or our dogs or European appetites! Rise to this occassion: SAVE OUR HORSES!!!
Closure of the slaughter houses is NOT what is causing the glut on the horse market—it IS the lousy economy and breed registeries like AQHA who only care about how many new foals they register, not what happens after the foals are registered. From my own experience, I can tell you horse abuse was alive and well way before the U.S slaughter houses closed. Also, the slaughtered horses are not going to feed starving 3rd. world countries—they are going on the plates of well-to-do Europeans—-most of whom hate the U.S. anyway.
Passing this legislation is way overdue. Horse slaughter just encourages even more over breeding. That is the source of unwanted horses. Stop breeding so many. Slaughter is NOT the answer.
It’s time the breed registries start educating their members about the horse population. The economy just makes matters worse. Why are they still breeding and breeding…..spewing out thousands of foals every year?
I’m a horse owner and it makes it tough on us. If we don’t want our horses to end up at slaughter, we can’t even sell them. Pro-slaughter people like to talk about property rights. As a horse owner I should have the option to sell my horse without it ending up at slaughter. It is a scary thought for a responsible owner.
Let’s get this legislation passed!
Horses are a symbol of American Freedom; our National Heritage and they are also companion animals. They don’t deserve to be cruelly trucked and butchered to end up on the dinner plates in foreign countries. We do not raise horses for food in America. Horse slaughter
is horrific, cruel and barbaric and is a product of greed in this country. The majority of the American people want an end to horse slaughter and with such previous landslide votes in the House of
Representatives you would think that our horses would finally have the protection they need from this evil. The majority of the horses that go to slaughter are healthy. The problem is the overbreeding which will eventially stop when this brutal practice is ended. It is about time that our lawmakers pass a bill to protect these beautiful, majestic
animals that are dearly loved by the majority of the American people.
Jenny you have said this so well….if not us then who will protect our stately horses? Who will make decisions that care for and protect them? Abuse of our animals speaks so directly to our lack of values and compassion in many areas. Herein lies an opportunity to repair some of the disastrous damage we have done to our beloved horses. Thanks for speaking out so well.
Horses are not food animals in this country. They are held in the same sphere as dogs – work, service, sport and companion animals. We would never allow our dogs and cats to be slaughtered to supply the Asian markets. I have a list of all the ridiculous pro slaughter arguments they use to justify horse slaughter on this page on my site. www.vickitobin.com/id4.html None of them hold water and are easily disputed.
The horse slaughter industry is predatory and preys on the irresponsible. It serves 1% of the horse population. If 99% of horse owners are responsible, why on earth is this despicable industry allowed to continue for the lowest common denominator of the horse industry? We are torturing our horses because of 1% of irresponsible owners. Majority rules and it must end, NOW.
The unintended consequence is not a tsunami of abandoned horses. The consequence is owners will have to take responsibility for their horses. What a concept!
live·stock (lvstk)
n.
Domestic animals, such as cattle or horses, raised for home use or for profit, especially on a farm.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
DAH Horses are livestock,,, not lap animals
Maybe if PETA and all of the special interest groups raise more money they can pay Webster’s off to get them to change the legal definition of Livestock
Hi Miss Nay,
You can look things up in your dictionary, good for you. Here are a few of words that are pertainent to passing this bill maybe you could look them up and give us all the definitions:
Cruelty, inhumane, abuse, neglect, immoral, greed, overbreeding, AQHA
let’s start with those but the list goes on!
I am not PETA :)
If an organization as huge as AQHA is for the slaughter of horses……that should tell everyone something. Furthermore, AQHA is one registery that wanted to limit the amount of foals to be registered to slow down the horse population. Just tell me what is going to happen to all the unwanted horses when the rescue facilities are full and can no longer accept unwanted horses?
Are you seriously defending the AQHA, the Puppy Mill of the Equine World?? Also, your facts are totally incorrect. At the recent AQHA convention, Bill Brewer, the AQHA Executive VP made the following statement “…our challenge becomes looking at ways to introduce an “equine economic stimulus package” that will boost registration numbers so we don’t have a horse shortage in a few years.” Which is it, too many horses or a shortage?
Thank you so much! It’s about time someone recognized the horse as livestock……
Where did the definition of Livestock say “food animal”? Even pet shops refer to their animals as “live-stock”.
In the US, food-producing animals are regulated on medications to protect consumers. In the US, horses are not food animals, they are recreation, pleasure, work, and sport animals. They are not regulated to protect consumers from illegal dangerous drug residues because they aren’t food animals. In the EU, where most US horsemeat is exported, the horse is a food animal and is regulated to protect consumers.
Here are the EU horse passport regulations
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/id-move/horses/horses_qa.htm
US FDA laws – Responsibility for Illegal Drug Residues in Meat, Milk and Eggs http://www.fda.gov/ora/compliance_ref/cpg/cpgvet/cpg615-300.html
US horsemeat violates FDA Export laws -http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgidbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+21USC381 – Sec. 381. Imports and exports,(e) Exports
http://www.beva.org.uk/node/84
Thank You! It took a while to get to a sensable comment on the issue. What is wrong in this country. I love my horses but they are animals/livestock and it comforts me to know they can have some redeeming value at the end of their career whether it be by old age or injury. At least by slaughter they serve a purpose to feed Zoo animals as well which the emotional Animal Rights driven propoganda never mentions and as we know people in some countries welcome horse meat. Also at a processing plant all of the carcass has a use. I much prefer that than paying to inject them with drugs that are toxic to wildlife that may encounter the carcass and toxic to the ground if buried?
If they get this past who will they go after next?
American’s won’t allow this atrocity anymore! Bottom dwellers operate in the horse slaughter business, theives, cheaters, and liers. The foreigners are still using our tax money to operate, and never pay taxes. They along with Big Ag have developed this dirty business which they hid pretty well until the slaughter of Ferdinand and Exceller. The TB racing world is changing for the better and trying to do what’s right. The AQHA and the AVMA are bucking us every step of the way, they make millions on the slaughter business why would they want to do what’s right for the animal that put them where they’re at.
Hmm they’re using our money to pay taxes (?), however who was it that lent the good old love struck USA billions of dollars so we could all receive those “economic stimulus checks” in ‘08? GO AQHA and AVMA,, my dues are paid! I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have gotten that extra stimulus money from PETA, they’re too busy spending theirs on paying off the Congressmen in this country for YES votes to get what they want, so we will have a bigger mess when it’s all over.
I have owned horses for many years and watched good and bad owners. Not only are horses a huge part of our past they are also used today to help with troubled children, inmates and re-hab for adults and children. I agree that over breeding is a big problem, I live in Florida and watch as the large farms produce a huge amount of foals on the chance that one or two might make the money in whatever disipline they are breeding for..As for the rest..they don’t care because they can sell to kill buyers..Lets stop this now.
As an American citizen and horse owner, I implore that this bill be passed in 2009. It can’t be passed soon enough for the thousands of American horses who will be cruelly and brutally slaughtered otherwise. While the last 3 foreign owned horse slaughter plants on American soil have been shut down, every 5 minutes an American horse is still being slaughtered just over our borders in Canada and Mexico. Slaughter does not prevent abuse – it merely hides and perpetuates it and is a form of abuse in an of itself. Do the research for yourself; there are no valid reasons for letting this atrocity continue any longer. Our equine friends do not deserve this terrible fate; it must be stopped once and for all.
I think there is a real need for slaughter house to reopen in the u.s.The people that want them all shut down are not looking at all the starving horses that are seen everywhere this winter.Its going on daily,and they have nowhere to go.People are loosing jobs,no money to feed horses and turning them loose to fend for thereselves,can you imagine how scared a horse is looking for food and not finding it?This can go on for months,at least a slaugher house will get it over with in a few hours and not let them just linger starved to death for months.Yes there is overbreeding of horses,but who is going to stop that?These horses are sufforing now.More than i have ever seen in my lifetime and because of the fact that there is no slaughter houses open in the u.s.People open your eyes to these starving animals.At least with local slaughterhouses there was a short ride to end there pain.It costs a lot to have a vet put down a horse and dispose of it.So let it suffor for months is everyones idea of a Quick death?The goverment isn’t able to care for humans let alone send someone to look in everyones back pasture to see if there horses are fed.I think that everyone that wants to shut down slaughter of horses should have to take at least 1 horse and feed it until it dies or have the vet dispose of it.After all you will be creating a problem for the horse to live for sometimes months with a starved hungery weak belly.
Please, this is all misinformation. Go do some research.
1) American horses are going to slaughter in the SAME or LARGER numbers as when the US slaughterhouses were open. They are just going across the border ALL the time instead of some of the time.
2) The slaughterhouses DO NOT WANT the starving horses, or the lame, sick, old horses — they want nice, young plump horses to make into steaks for foreigners.
3) Even if the slaughterhouses were open here again, it is ONLY ONE PERCENT
-1% -of the US horse population that is slaughtered for human consumption. That is not enough to solve any problem.4) It was not “a short ride to end there (sic) pain” — it may have been a short ride in some cases, but it was terrifying, brutal, cruel and abusive end.
5) When demand is stopped by outlawing slaughter of US horses, the supply will be adjusted: the overbreeders will cut back.
6) There may be some horses abandoned, but some of the stories about that were planted by the pro-slaughter people.
7) Euthanasia is a far kinder end than shipment to slaughter. In fact, if you could not afford euthanasia, you should not have had the horse in the first place.
8) Horsemeat from US horses is full of toxins and carcinogens, such as “bute,” pesticides, wormers, etc. and should not be eaten by humans or animals in the first place.
As for everyone taking 1 horse in and caring for it, I have 9 currently, not that it is the total I have helped.
Slaughter encourages overbreeding, perpetuating the problem. Pro-slaughter uses scare tactics like this to justify their greed for blood money. Starved & sick horses do not go to slaughter it is the healthy ones that have been fattened up that go, many young, some in foal (pregnant), some give birth to their foals on the slaughter house floor while they are being killed. It is not quick or painless, as far from the truth as one could possibly be actually. Also there is absolutely no corelation between people who abuse and neglect their animals and availability of slaughter as it is still an option, thus this bill.
If a fee were charged for a required license to breed the money from the licenses could go into a fund for low cost gelding and euthanisia programs.
There are answers and slaughter will never be the answer to the problem.
I agree 100% with you on opening the US slaughter houses. Im not saying there shouldn’t be changes made in the way things are done, but since the closing, horses are shipped hundreds more miles to do the same thing. I heard one resolution to this problem would be to open shelters (like today’s dog/cat shelters) where horses were to be evaluated and adopted out. The horses that were not suitable to be adopted would be put to sleep……..at who’s expense? Ours the american tax payers. Do you realize how expensive this would be? Where would you put all of the hundreds maybe thousands of unadopted horse carcasses? The cost it would instill upon us? Today’s ecomomy could not handle this! Why not take money used towards these rescues etc to feed some of the hungry neglected children in the United States….my motto: SAVE A CHILD, NOT A HORSE.
Common sense a dying thing. Who is going to pay to rescue all the horses? How about the abandoned or just plain starving back yard horses of people who can’t afford to feed them and think it is more humane to just barely keep them alive by not selling them before they got in bad shape to prevent slaughter. Now mwny of these prople find if they do take the horse to a sale barn often they wind up having to pay more than the horse brings if they get a bid? Yeah Save a fetus an human life first.
You are saying there there is not an issue with overbreeding in our country? Common sense tells me that if there are too many horses then someone is breeding too many. It’s certainly not the horse rescuers overbreeding. We do not breed horses for food and we do not slaughter horses in this country anymore. GET OVER IT.
Thank you, common sense in such an emotion driven mess.
It’s not a Slaughter house its a PACKING PLANT. Where if you “euthinize” all the horses that have been processed in the Packing Plant each Year roughly 90-100,000 head – are you going to put all the carcasses?? While we in the US don’t consume much Horse meat, who are you to decide that someone else can’t. Why let 90-100,000 horses PER YEAR suffer and then let them fill up a stinking landfill, why not let starving people have the meat and let the death be in some way useful? (who in this country is going to allow the “landfill” to be around where they live??) Why? Horses are Livestock NOT Pets Period end of story. Banning the Packing plants for horses is only going to cause more problems for horses in the USA, instead of a good horse costing $1500 making him worth something, that same horse is 300-600 making him worth less than a TV. They cost alot of money to maintain properly and the parents that go get “little johnny” a horse that know nothing about feed and maintenance – end up being one of the statistics for neglect. I don’t feel that the US Government needs to act like Big Brother, besides the language of this bill is questionable at best and doesn’t address the issue of 90-100,000 horses PER YEAR!