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HORSE SLAUGHTER - FEDERAL

AMERICAN HORSE SLAUGHTER PREVENTION ACT OF 2011
Support S. 1176

A BILL entitled the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 (S. 1176) was introduced in the United States Senate, Thursday, June 9, 2011, by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) with 14 originating co-sponsors.

S. 1176 makes it illegal to transport horses to slaughter for human consumption.

In separate articles published in The Hill days before S. 1176 was introduced, both Rep. Raúl Grijalva and Rep. Jim Moran threw down the gauntlet regarding horse slaughter.

Grijalva stated that horse slaughter has been off the Washington radar too long, and Moran that the United States should get out of the horse meat business.

If successful, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 will do just that.

TAKE ACTION

Please contact your two U.S. Senators and respectfully urge them to co-sponsor and vote yes for S. 1176, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011.

>> Find Your U.S. Senators

>> OR vote your support for S. 1176 and contact your U.S. Senators on POPVOX.

If you require a better understanding why the slaughter of horses for human consumption should be banned, then look no further than Congressman Jim Moran's article in The Hill for a clear, concise explanation. I doubt you will find a better one.

In it, Moran points out:

Horse slaughter is not humane. Horses are not raised in the U.S. for human consumption. Just like other animals, sick and old horses are not valued as a food source. The USDA estimates that more than 92 percent of horses sent to slaughter in the past were healthy and could have continued to be productive animals.

While horse meat is considered a delicacy in some countries, it is not in the U.S. There are moral implications for allowing a practice that upwards of nearly three-quarters of the American people oppose.

Just because there is a market for horse meat in some countries does not mean the U.S. must be their supplier. There is a market for dog meat in some societies, too, and an overpopulation of them in the U.S. Should man’s best friend face a similar fate? Of course not, and the same principle should hold true for horses.

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