|
Bo Derek launches Canadian campaign
(January 15, 2008) AFP reports that
Bo Derek "launched a campaign Monday to stop
horses from being slaughtered for meat in
Canada". Bo Derek has successfully
campaigned in the U.S. by visiting
representatives and Senators at the Capitol.
Export of U.S. horses to Canada has
increased enormously since the American
slaughterhouses were closed in 2007.
Click here to read the article.
Suspicious Movement of US
Horses to Mexico
(September 7, 2007) - In a letter to Representative Rahall, Valerie James-Patton from California raises awareness of suspicious movement with an uncharacteristic high number of geldings from the U.S. being moved from New Mexico to Mexico.
Click here for more info.
Federal Court upholds ban - Cavel Shuts Down
for Good
(September
21, 2007) The Associated Press reports that
a federal appeals court in Chicago upheld
the Illinois law banning the slaughter of
horses for human consumption. Cavel may try
to take its case to the Supreme Court but
the requests of two Texas horse slaughter
plants with similar cases have already been
refused. The deadline for the request is
January 18, 2008.
Cavel to Resume Horse
Slaughter Operations
Chicago, Ill. (July 18, 2007) - In a
crushing blow to horses and the
people of Illinois, the US Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit
granted a motion by Cavel International,
allowing it to resume horse
slaughter operations. Cavel was previously
shut down in June, when
the US District Court for the Northern
District of Illinois denied the
same request.
Immediately following the passage in May of
a new Illinois law that
makes it a crime to slaughter horses for
human consumption, Cavel
filed suit in federal court to challenge the
mandate's enforceability. On
July 5, the US District Court ruled that the
law was constitutional and
thus, enforceable.
However, Cavel has appealed that decision to
the US Court of Appeals,
and while the appeal is pending, the
slaughterhouse will be able to
slaughter horses for human consumption. The
US Court of Appeals
granted Cavel's request without a hearing,
just two days after the
slaughterhouse filed its motion.
"We would have liked an opportunity to
oppose Cavel's request before
the Court handed down its decision, and we
are certainly disappointed
with this ruling," said Tracy Silverman, an
attorney with the Animal
Welfare Institute (AWI).
The US Court of Appeals is expected to issue
opinions related to its
decision, as well as an expedited briefing
schedule, shortly.
Represented by the nationally renowned law
firm Patton Boggs, AWI will
continue to be actively involved in this
case until its resolution.
Contact: Tracy Silverman (AWI) or Chris Heyde
(SAPL)
703-836-4300
***
Illinois Horse
Slaughter House loses in court -
American Horses are free
Dekalb,
Ill.
(July 5th, 2007) - July 4th was a different
kind of American birthday for many
horses as the Belgian and French
Slaughter Plants were defeated by the
U.S. A judge dismisses challenges from
the Illinois horse slaughter plant Cavel
in Dekalb, Illinois. The plant will
remain closed! On the state level, all
slaughter plants are closed; however, on
the federal level, the horses still
remain at risk being shipped to
slaughter plants in Mexico and Canada.
See the
archives page for publications about the
topic.
*** Tom
Meyers Uncovers: Ohio's Slaughter Town
Cleveland, OH
(April 26, 2007) - WOIO's Tom Meyers reports
about Sugarcreek, a popular auction house in
Ohio. He uncovers the auction house's
shocking sales and reports about feedlot and
slaughter conditions.
Click
here to view the video (scroll down to the
bottom of the page):
http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=6432105
***Wild Horses Win Again
in US House of Representatives
WASHINGTON,
D.C. (April 26, 2007) – The US House of
Representatives today resoundingly
reaffirmed what it originally declared in
1971 – America’s wild, free-roaming horses
and burros must be protected from commercial
exploitation and the cruel slaughter
industry. In a tremendous victory on behalf
of all horses, the House passed H.R. 249
with a vote of 277 to 136, restoring the
prohibition on the commercial sale and
slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and
burros.
“Today, our elected representatives have
listened to the truth about wild horses,”
said Chris Heyde, deputy legislative
director of the Society for Animal
Protective Legislation. “Despite the
enormous amount of misinformation being
spread by pro-horse slaughter individuals,
the facts remain clear: wild horses are not
to blame for rangeland destruction, and they
are not starving to death.”
In late 2004, a rider stripping away the
original Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros
Act’s decades-old protections was adopted
without public awareness or Congressional
oversight. Passage of H.R. 249, reintroduced
in the 110th Congress by House Committee on
Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall
(D-WV), effectively stops the Bureau of Land
Management from implementing this
reprehensible measure.
“We knew the House of Representatives would
continue to listen to the will of the
American people, and now they must put a
permanent end to horse slaughter for human
consumption,” Heyde said. “There are far too
few of these national treasures. They
deserve to live free on our public lands,
and we must ensure their future welfare.”
With the will of the people being heard in
the Halls of Congress, the House and Senate
is poised to take the next step in finally
ending the inhumane practice of horse
slaughter. The public must demand passage of
the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act
(H.R. 503 and S. 311) – the only bills to
permanently ban all horse slaughter for
human consumption – by calling on their
Members of Congress to act immediately.
The Society for Animal Protective
Legislation, the Animal Welfare Institute's
legislative arm, is the unsurpassed leader
in obtaining laws to benefit animals in
need, including the protection of domestic
and wild horses.
(Press Release) ***
Texas and Horse Slaughter - No More
Week of March 22, 2007 - This week, two
blows crippled efforts of Dallas Crown and
Beltex to regain footing on Texas grounds.
First, the U.S. Supreme Court denies the
hearing of the Texas plants' petition to
overturn the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of
Appeals' decision affirming Texas State Law
banning sale of horse meat for human
consumption.
Then, in an attempt to overturn the law
from 1949 (prohibiting sale of horse meat
for human consumption), Texas bills fail as
the deadline passed in Texas Congress
without a hearing. The law sticks. The
sale of horse meat for human consumption in
Texas remains illegal.
*** AHSPA introduced in
U.S. Senate and House
WASHINGTON (Jan. 17, 2007) – Today,
the American Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act was introduced in both the
U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives to ban the slaughter of
American horses for human
consumption overseas. The Senate bill was
introduced by Mary Landrieu
(D-La.), and John Ensign (R-Nev.), and the
House bill, H.R. 503, was
introduced by Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ed
Whitfield (R-Ky.), John
Spratt (D-S.C.), and Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.).
The bill has 61 House original cosponsors
and 11 Senate original
cosponsors. Both bills clearly command
majority support in both
chambers of Congress, and nearly all of the
leaders in Congress –
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
(D-Md.) and Senator Majority Leader Harry
Reid (D-Nev.), Majority
Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.),
and Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) –
have favored the ban on
horse slaughter.
This action comes just after 100,800
American horses were slaughtered
in the three foreign-owned equine
slaughterhouses in the United States,
according to year-end figures from the U.S.
Department of
Agriculture. At least another 33,400 were
exported to Canada, Mexico,
and Japan for slaughter. Adding in the
approximately 4,000 horses
imported from Canada, the total number of
horses caught in the
slaughter pipeline for this time period
exceeds 139,000.
"Every day the Congress waits, there will be
more torment and more
suffering for America's horses," said Wayne
Pacelle, president and
CEO of The Humane Society of the United
States. "The horse is an
American icon, and it is a betrayal of our
responsibility to these
animals to treat them like cheap commodities
and send them to foreign-
owned companies for slaughter. All we ask of
leaders in Congress is
for a fair up or down vote on the issue."
Despite strong bipartisan support in the
last Congress, including
passage in the House in September by a
landslide vote of 263 to 146,
the Senate failed to act on the bill before
adjourning, partly
because of the obstructionist efforts of
Montana Senator Conrad
Burns, who was defeated in his reelection
bid.
"The slaughter of horses is both cruel and
inhumane, and it is our
responsibility to ensure that it no longer
occurs," Sen. Landrieu
said. "As a lifelong equestrian, I was proud
to cosponsor legislation
to ban horse slaughter in the 109th Congress
and I am proud to be the
lead sponsor of the legislation in the
110th."
Supporters of the slaughter ban reject the
claim by the industry that
slaughter is "humane euthanasia." In fact,
The HSUS documented the
cruelty and abuse last fall, when
investigators followed "killer
buyers" transporting horses thousands of
miles from auctions to
feedlots to interstate highways. They also
documented a barbaric
method of slaughter on a kill floor in
Juarez, Mexico. Here, where
thousands of American horses are "stunned"
by stabbing with short
knives – a method that leaves them paralyzed
and unable to breathe –
the animals are still sensible to pain as
they are hoisted up by a
chain and their throats slit.
Footage from domestic plants taken by HSUS
investigators also
demonstrates cruelties ranging from harsh
conditions that allow for
days of transport with no food, water, or
rest before arriving to the
actual killing floor. Once there, a captive
bolt gun to the brain is
used to render the skittish animals
unconscious, but because this
method is uniquely unsuitable for horses in
a frightening situation,
multiple blows may be required. The American
Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act will bar the slaughter of
horses for human consumption
in the U.S. as well as the export of horses
for slaughter in other
countries.
"The time has come to put an end to the
practice of slaughtering
horses in America," said Sen. Ensign, one of
two veterinarians in
Congress. "Horses have an important role in
the history of our
country, particularly the West, and they
deserve our protection. As a
senator and a veterinarian, I am committed
to doing what I can for
these magnificent animals."
The HSUS is joined by members of Congress,
the National Show Horse
Registry, National Thoroughbred Racing
Association, National
Steeplechase Association, Churchill Downs,
and more than 500
endorsing organizations along with the
majority of Americans in
support of the American Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act.
"From the farms of Illinois to the blue
grass of Kentucky to the
ranches of the West, horses are an
essential, defining part of the
American landscape," said Rep. Jan
Schakowsky. "For too long, our
government has allowed foreign corporations
to slaughter tens of
thousands of horses each year so that they
can be consumed overseas.
The vast majority of Americans believe that
horse slaughter should be
outlawed. Joined by members of both parties
and with the support of
hundreds of animal welfare and agricultural
organizations, I'm
introducing legislation to ban this shameful
practice."
"A significant number of the 100,000
American horses being
slaughtered for human consumption every year
were stolen and
not "unwanted," as opponents of this bill
claim," said Rep.
Whitfield, the Republican leader on H.R.
503. "The American public
overwhelmingly opposes horse slaughter, and
I urge my colleagues to
support the American Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act to end this cruel
and brutal practice once and for all."
Media Contact: Polly Shannon: 301-721-6440
or 703-283-5104,
pshannon@hsus. org
*** Double-decker Trailer Ban Goes into Effect -
Alert by Gail Vecca from the National Horse Protection Coalition
Dear friends,
The long awaited prohibition on
double-decker cattle trailers being used to
haul horses to slaughter goes into effect, December 7, 2006.
While the law provides a loophole in that
horses may still be transported in
these inhumane trailers for other purposes,
it does indeed outlaw their use
in transporting horses to slaughter plants.
A link to the statute is below should anyone
need to have it on hand for use in
helping local, state, and federal
authorities enforce the law.
If you live near a slaughter plant, or
frequent auctions where horses are
loaded for slaughter, please contact local
police to advise them of the
situation. Also, if you witness a double
decker at a horse slaughter plant, please
be certain to write down the D.O.T. number
on the semi-tractor door, as well
as the license plate number and name of the
company. Please call Chris Heyde
at the Society for Animal Protective
Legislation immediately with this
information. 703-836-4300.
For more information and a
copy of the executive order,
click here.
***
|
