More Than 200 Organizations Concerned With Horse Welfare
Equestrian News Release
Disappointed That the U.S. House Focused on Emotion Not Fact
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite a disappointing loss in a vote today in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Horse Welfare Coalition vowed to continue its efforts to preserve the only federally supervised way to assure humane euthanasia for the nation's unwanted horses.
Efforts of a bipartisan group of Congressmen -- led by Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia), Joe Barton (R-Texas), John Dingell (D-Michigan), Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) -- fell short to defeat HR 503 by a 263 to 146 vote. The Coalition expresses its thanks to the House Members who took the time to become educated on the real dangers of this bill -- not only to the economy, but to the very horses it claims to be protecting.
"The Horse Welfare Coalition believes that the best interest of horses and American agriculture was lost today," said Charles Stenholm, a former Congressman who now represents the Coalition. "We will work to fight the misinformation campaign waged by our well intentioned but misguided adversaries -- the fact is, that without these federal inspectors, more horses are vulnerable to mistreatment."
Members of the more than 200 groups -- including the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Quarter Horse Association -- have already begun sharing the facts behind this safe and necessary practice with members of the U.S. Senate.
Horse processing is the most tightly regulated of any animal slaughter, and the only animal that has its transportation to slaughter regulated. If horse processing plants are forced to close, the Horse Welfare Coalition estimates the 60,000 to 90,000 unwanted horses annually would be exposed to potential abandonment and neglect. Or even worse, plants in Canada and Mexico would likely take over the business without supervision under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Humane Society of the United States continues to distribute to TV networks and on the Internet a video that they claim portrays current horse slaughter. However, no independent analysis has proved that the video is authentic, or that it was taken at any of the three plants currently in operation. It certainly does not reflect specific laws that been in effect in the U.S. since 1904, including laws and regulations in the last decade that strengthen USDA oversight of the plants.
"By law, the plants must handle the horses in a manner that meets specific humane standards or the USDA shuts them down," says Stenholm.
Now that the USDA has formally weighed in to assure the American public that the process is humane, Stenholm says things will undoubtedly go more smoothly as they work to defeat a similar bill in the Senate.
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