Little Hope for Return of Horse Slaughter in the U.S.

The Texas Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs convened a hearing on July 10, 2012 in Austin, which included a proposal to review the impact of the laws relating to the closure of (2) horse slaughter plants (in 2007) and across the United States, and to analyze the impact on the equine industry and agricultural sector of the Texas economy.

Of the (3) panels of (3) experts each, two panels consisted of Veterinarians, Breed Association Representatives, Animal Health experts, and a former Congressman from another state, which were decidedly pro-slaughter. After giving their testimony, Chairman Estes asked if they had any documentation more recent than 2005 for some statistics and excerpts from the June 2011 GAO Report on Horse Welfare –To Address Unintended Consequences from Cessation of Domestic Slaughter, and if so, to please submit them to the Committee for further consideration. This report referred to and made recommendations regarding the inconsistencies in documentation provided for horses going to slaughter to the Mexican and Canadian plants over the last five years. Those individuals citing the GAO report neglected to include the very last sentence of the recommendations in the report which states:

“Alternatively, Congress may wish to consider instituting an explicit ban on the domestic slaughter of horses and export of U.S. horses intended for slaughter in foreign countries.”

The third panel consisted of (3) horse advocates including our own Paula Bacon, former Mayor of Kaufman, Texas, the location of the last horse slaughter plant in Texas, and Jerry Finch of Habitat for Horses, a large horse rescue in the Galveston area, which has been responsible for rescuing thousands of horses through law enforcement seizures over the last 15 years.

Mayor Kaufman testified about the economic and environmental damage that a horse plant does to a location, including blood backing up in sewers, piles of stinking offal on the site, and a severe drop in property values because of the undesirable image. Because the plants are owned by a foreign company, they managed to avoid paying taxes for years and bankrupted the town with lawsuits when the town tried to collect fines for damage to their environment.

Mr. Finch testified about the “Myth of Unwanted Horses”, those that are dumped in numbers in the desert, which turned out to be the sick, lame and injured horses that the Mexican plant feedlots rejected when presented for slaughter, with the slaughter sticker still attached to their rumps!

He also pointed out that as of July 31, 2013, the European Union will no longer accept meat from horses without documentation equal to their required passport. That means that Europeans (the end market for horse meat) will no longer be eating old, sick lame and unwanted horses.

The horses actually desired for slaughter are healthy horses between the ages of 5 and 15. Thus far they have not had the documentation which is required for food animals, that is, a history of everything they have ingested and been inoculated with from birth to death.

Those in favor of horse slaughter have only one option at this point. That is to start raising horses immediately, specifically for food, just as you would with cattle or sheep. At the earliest, any horse born today would be ready for slaughter in two years time (July 2014) in order to have enough meat on it for slaughter. And if that horse has an injury, it cannot be given Bute (and a long list of other substances) for relief or it will be disqualified from the food chain.

When kill buyers are only willing to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a horse bound for slaughter, it doesn’t make economic sense to feed and maintain it for two years for that small amount, especially considering the cost of feed and hay due to the long term drought which half the country is experiencing.

Planning horse slaughter facilities at this time is premature. I would like to think that Texas citizens and the American public can think of far more important things to spend tax dollars on than setting aside $5 million a year to pay USDA Inspectors to monitor horse slaughter plants at this time.

If you agree, then support the Moran Amendment to REINSTATE the LANGUAGE TO DEFUND USDA INSPECTIONS for horse slaughter plants in the Agricultural portion of the Appropriations Bill being considered in Congress right now.