Through Legislative Sleight of Hand, Horse Slaughter May Resume in the US

For years public opinion polls have confirmed that most Americans are against the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

Whether or not Americans actually have a taste for horse meat has never been the central question. It is the documented inhumane practices and conditions that horses have to endure once they enter the pipeline to slaughter that cement opposition to the practice.

In legislation before the House Appropriation committee this afternoon, the language that has stopped horse slaughter in the United States has been omitted. If this legislation is approved and passed, horse slaughter will be enabled in the United States. Prior to their closures, the horse slaughterhouses were all foreign-owned and in repeated code violations in their local communities.

Since 2007, there has been language in the annual ag appropriations bill that defunded federal USDA inspection of horse slaughter plants -- in the current proposed legislation that language is nowhere to be found. The amended legislation making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, will be voted on by the House Appropriations Committee this afternoon.

To let your voice be heard on this matter, call the House Appropriations committee and let it know that horse slaughter for consumption is not an acceptable practice in the United States.

Just a reminder, with federal programs for housing, education, and the environment being eviscerated in the upcoming 2012 federal budget, couldn't the funds allocated to the inspection of horse meat be more wisely spent -- even within the agriculture community?