by Vickery Eckhoff, Forbes Contributor

 

This is the fourth post in a series. Today’s focus: horse-slaughter lobbyists, sympathetic Congressmen and media coverage.

Only three. This is the number it took to remove language from an agriculture appropriations spending bill on November 18, reversing a five-year ban on horsemeat inspections. The culprits? Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA). Their strategy? The old closed-door-session-on-Capitol-Hill trick.

This was of course executed at the last moment, allowing Kohl, Blunt and Kingston to hold up the appropriations bill until a government shutdown loomed. The tactic worked as planned, forcing President Obama to sign, despite a 2008 campaign promise to ban horse slaughter and the export of horses for slaughter. And the best part: hardly a word of media coverage was leaked for a good ten days.

Consider the more than 70% of Americans opposed to horse slaughter who awoke on November 29, 2011, to learn that they were now on the hook for funding USDA inspections of horsemeat from the nation’s Quarter Horses (70% of those slaughtered in 2010), Thoroughbreds (16%—many, right off the track) and other hard-working, revenue-producing and well-loved breeds.

Let’s also not forget the more than 5,000 Americans who recently signed a “We The People” petition calling on the President to sign the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011. Also worthy of sympathy are the four sponsors and 175 co-sponsors of this bipartisan legislation.

 

Media Promotes Horse Slaughter

The short burst of media attention that finally exploded on Nov. 28th and 29th was notable for what it did and didn’t say. No mention of the President getting screwed, the 70% of Americans and taxpayers getting screwed, the other members of Congress getting screwed, the “We the People” getting screwed.

Instead, respected, supposedly unbiased publications like The Christian Science Monitor offered-up coverage with a distinct, horse-meaty flavor. An article by the Monitor’s Atlanta-bureau reporter, Patrik Jonsson, identified only “the animal-rights community” as being “outraged.”

The article went on to explain how the 2007 closure of slaughterhouses had led to an “unwanted horse problem,” and quoted Jack Kingston expressing humanitarian concern over the U.S.’ inability to “monitor horse slaughter in a plant in Mexico or Canada … so we don’t know if it’s being done humanely or not because the USDA obviously doesn’t have any jurisdiction there.”

It all made Kohl, Blunt and Kingston’s closed-door horse-meat-inspection caper seem unexpectedly well-intentioned. This was even more true when Patrik Jonsson’s second article appeared the next morning, dumbfounding everyone with the announcement that PETA had endorsed the move. “It’s quite an unpopular position we’ve taken,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said understatedly.

All this was cleverly synched up with a PETA event planned later that evening at New York City’s 92nd Street Y. Calling it an “Exciting Celebrity Panel in NYC!”, PETA Senior Vice President Dan Matthews described how it would put him “in the hot seat at a public debate about PETA’s tactics.”

Matthews went on to explain how “the panel discussion, called ‘Extreme Marketing for a Cause,’ will feature New York Times ad critic Stuart Elliott and Newsweek celebrity columnist Lloyd Grove. I will answer questions from the panel and the audience about how far PETA is willing to go to keep animal rights issues in the public eye.”

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Read the rest of this very informative article here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vickeryeckhoff/2011/12/21/how-many-congressmen-does-it-take-to-screw-a-horse/

There are three more pages!

by Suzanne Bryant on Friday, December 16, 2011

I hear the question posed all the time.  If we don’t slaughter the horses, where are they all going to go?  People proposing to slaughter them (often breeders, breed registries or from the meat industry who stand to profit) say that YOU – meaning folks that are against the slaughter of horses for human consumption, should just take them all.  Buy them up, save them all and take care of them yourselves if you don’t like it.

So, I guess if we’re responsible horse owners and against horse slaughter for whatever reason, there’s plenty of reasons to dislike horse slaughter, we should be willing to purchase, rehabilitate, heal, train and rehome all those quarter and paint horses being bred and “culled” by their breeders for being the wrong conformation or color, and all the slow or broken thoroughbreds being sold to kill buyers on the back stretch? Also the “by-products” of the drug companies, the cast offs from the Amish, the Mustangs that find their way to kill pens even though the BLM “doesn’t sell them for slaughter”, and every other pleasure, sport and companion horse that finds their way, through no fault of their own, to the kill buyer’s trucks.  Interesting.

 

So, those who are responsible should really take responsibility for those who aren’t I guess? We should also take their financial burden away, allow them to claim their loss and continue to allow them to knowingly add to the problem while subjecting foreign countries to unregulated, tainted meat. They should continue, business as usual, to churn out more horses than the market can bear.  It’s their “right”.  The fact is, those of us that are responsible are already doing JUST THAT!! We’re rescuing and purchasing and rehoming horses every single day of the week. On top of that, we’re also tidying up all the neglect and starvation cases that the slaughter industry will NEVER assist with. We’re weary and we’re shoveling the proverbial sand against the tides.  When will those that are culpable for the mess start helping us clean it up?  Ever?

 

It’s high time that the very people who are continually adding equines to the equine industry as well as to the meat industry, step up to the plate and stop behaving like petulant children who should have what they want, when they want it and at a price that they deem acceptable. They should not be allowed to continue unabated at our expense.

 

Well, let’s see, where are “all those” horses ~ that whopping 1% (or less) of the current poplulation of equines ~ going to go if not slaughtered?  People proposing to slaughter this “excess?”  1%  want us to believe if not slaughtered, they’d be starving.  But, the fact is, they ALL have owners already, they’ll just have to be responsible.

 

I will stop fighting against horse slaughter when we stop slaughtering horses. Horses are not “unwanted”. They are not a “crop”, they don’t get “harvested”. Slaughter is not humane euthanasia, it’s not a suitable population control measure and the food chain should not be a dumping ground for our pets and companion animals.  Salvage?  It’s for inanimate objects, not lives.

 

Please call your Congressmen and Congresswomen TODAY.  Ask for their support on the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011.

Ask your Representatives to Co-Sponsor House Bill HR 2966

Ask your Senators to Co-Sponsor Senate bill no. S.1176. 

You can find them all, along with other useful information at  http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php

I think not…

Many proponents of horse slaughter think that opening slaughter plants in the USA will help decrease abuse/neglect and help bolster the struggling horse market.  Let’s think about this a little more logically.

First of all, the issue of horse slaughter is neither conservative nor liberal. People and politicians from both sides support the issue.  Horses are a revered part of our society and history.  They play an important role in our culture; we use horses for sport, entertainment, therapy, and working animals.  They are used as police horses, boarder patrol, search and rescue, working/ranch horses, racing, showing, hippotherapy (for people with physical and mental disabilities), prison rehabilitation programs, guide animals, recreations, and companions.  The only other animal that does as much for us are dogs.  Horses are a very important part of our society.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Jerry Finch, Habitat For Horses December 6, 2011

Before I start discussing the slaughter issue, let me mention the one person that the pro-slaughter folks use as their spokesperson – Sue Wallis. While I will have intelligent conversations with anyone, I’m not sinking that low. After seeing Ms. Wallis support and promote the disturbed acts of a teenager who killed her horse and wrapped herself in its body, I have absolutely no regard for Wallis or her cult followers.

To start, I will quote the American Veterinarian Medical Association (AVMA), who allegedly represents the veterinarians on this issue. Interesting to note that while the AVMA operates through the membership fees of the vets they “represent,” those vets have NEVER been polled concerning their beliefs on horse slaughter.

What is an “Unwanted Horse?

According to the AVMA – “It may be a healthy horse that an owner can no longer afford to keep or feed. It may be a horse that is dangerous to handle and has injured (or is likely to injure) people. It may be a horse with an injury, lameness, or illness, and the owner is unwilling or incapable of taking care of it.

“The American Horse Council estimates that there are 9.2 million horses in the United States. We do not have reliable statistics on the number of horses that become unwanted each year. We do know that 90,000 to 100,000 unwanted horses have been sent to slaughter annually, and that the total number of unwanted horses is substantially greater than this.”

To arrive at this figure, I wonder if they hung around the auctions and asked the horses if they were “unwanted”? What about those that were stolen, or those where the killer-buyers outbid the family that wanted the horse? What about those killer-buyers that show up at the homes that advertise “Free horse” in newspapers and on Craigslist and promise the owner that they will love the horse for the rest of its life?

Read the rest of this entry »

by John Holland and Vicki Tobin, Equine Welfare Alliance   

Once the drug issues came to light, an unintended consequence emerged. Americans are becoming increasingly interested and suspicious about how their own meat is being produced. Some are asking why the EU bans our beef that is raised using growth enhancing steroids and/or antibiotics. A member of Equine Welfare Alliance and the food production industry, Diana Bodensteiner, stated it best, “Slaughter is food production. It is a serious, tightly regulated business. It is not the place we send unwanted cows, swine, sheep, and horses.”

 

Read the rest of this entry »

Article by Vickery Eckhoff, Contributor on Forbes.com

President Obama signed the spending bill to prevent a government shut-down, despite a 2008 campaign promise to end horse slaughter cruelty—an issue opposed by 70% of U.S. citizens. His November 18 signature on the bill comes at a price.

No funding has been earmarked for the inspections in the appropriations bill and the estimated $5 million price tag will be paid by U.S. taxpayers even though all the meat will be exported to foreign markets. This will take away from funding for vital food assistance, food safety and education programs on which many U.S. families rely.

Undercover footage and photos taken at a Canadian slaughter facility designed by Dr. Temple Grandin were released Monday by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC).

The CHDC’s report reveals troubling discrepancies and missing data on Equine Information Documents (EIDs), forms that are required by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to track the drug history of horses sold for slaughter, including more than 59,693 trucked in from the U.S. in 2010. (USDA figure)

[T]he CHDC’s new documentation, along with previous findings, show a history of violations on the part of slaughterhouses working in collaboration with U.S. kill buyers to cover up the horses’ origins and falsify their drug profiles.

This is alarming from a food safety perspective due to drugs that are banned in animals raised for slaughter but are regularly administered by horse owners and veterinarians, including common wormers, vaccines, diuretics and analgesics.

Within the EU, an equine “passport” is required of any horse intended for slaughter beginning at the age of six months. The EID is an interim program for horsemeat imported from outside the EU. Its purpose is to weed out horses that have been administered these banned drugs.

Representatives of the U.S. horse slaughter industry have successfully downplayed the food safety issues. But the CHDC’s new investigation has put a spotlight on them, where they will be scrutinized by an already skeptical EU field veterinary office.

Read the full article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/vickeryeckhoff/2011/12/06/horse-slaughterhouse-investigation-sounds-food-safety-and-cruelty-alarms/

Posted by Phil Derfler, Deputy Administrator for Food Safety and Inspection Service, on December 9, 2011 at the USDA Blog.

There has been a lot of talk in the past week about Congress’ lifting of the ban prohibiting federal funding for the inspection of horses, which prevented the slaughter of horses for human consumption for the past five years.  The issue is understandably a sensitive and emotional one for everyone who loves these majestic animals, but it is important that the discussion be tempered with the facts.

While Congress has technically lifted the ban, horse processing will not resume anytime in the near term.  Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, horses are an amenable species, which means that horse meat cannot be shipped or sold for human consumption without inspection.

To date, there have been no requests that the Department initiate the authorization process for any horse processing operation in the United States.  In the two states where horse processing took place prior to the Congressional ban, Illinois and Texas,  there are laws in place prohibiting the slaughter of horses.  Even if these laws were changed, any processing facility will still need to satisfy a significant number of requirements, such as obtaining  a federal grant of inspection, conducting a hazard analysis, and developing a Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan prior to the processing of any animals.

Reposted from http://blogs.usda.gov/2011/12/09/setting-the-record-straight-on-congress%E2%80%99-lifting-of-the-ban-on-horse-slaughter/

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times Wednesday, November 30, 2011

President Obama last month quietly signed into law a spending bill that restores the American horse-slaughter industry, just a few months after a government investigation said the ban on slaughtering was backfiring.

The domestic ban didn’t end horse slaughter but instead shifted the site of butchery to Mexico and Canada – which meant increased abuse or neglect as the horses were shipped out of the country and beyond the reach of U.S. law.

The ban had been imposed in 2006 when Congress defunded the government’s ability to inspect plants that butchered horses for consumption. Without inspections, the meat couldn’t be sold, and the industry withered.

But the Agriculture spending bill Mr. Obama signed the week before Thanksgiving dropped the prohibition on inspections, and the administration said it now stands ready to conduct them should anyone open a horse-slaughter plant.

“While we have a long way to go, responsible processing represents a vital first step in reversing the unintended consequences to blame for the dismal state of neglected horses and their frustrated caregivers across our country,” said Rep. Adrian Smith, a Nebraska Republican who fought for the change. “Reinstating a humane, accountable and legal management tool is good for horses, good for owners and is good policy.”

All sides agreed that the backdoor ban was a failure.

A June report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ chief investigative branch, said the ban depressed prices for horses in the U.S. and led to a surge in reports of neglect or abuse as owners of older horses had no way of disposing of them, short of selling them to “foreign slaughtering facilities where U.S. humane slaughtering protections do not apply.”

In unusually blunt language, GAO suggested that Congress and Mr. Obama revisit the ban.

The options facing Congress were to further ban the export of horses for slaughter or lift the domestic slaughter ban. Congress chose the latter.

The move got a tepid stamp of approval from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which said it had always been worried about the way Congress went about its initial ban. PETA said it predicted that horses would be shipped to foreign slaughterhouses.

“A law doesn’t change what’s in people’s hearts, and if business people view horses as commodities, ignoring their sensitive natures in favor of the few dollars that their flesh might bring, the horses were sunk from the start,” said David Perle, a spokesman for the group. “To reduce suffering, there should be a ban on the export of live horses, even if that means opening slaughterhouses in the U.S. again. But the better option is to ban slaughter in the U.S. and ban the export of live horses so that no one is slaughtering America’s horses.”

Horse meat is regularly used for consumption by circuses and zoos, and it is now sent to countries in the Eastern Hemisphere where it is an accepted food. But slaughter has been a prickly issue in the U.S.

A bill to ban horse slaughter and export of horses for slaughter has been introduced in the House and Senate, and the Humane Society of the United States said it would redouble its efforts to try to enact that legislation.

In the meantime, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said there are no horse slaughterhouses operating in the U.S. that produce meat for human consumption, but the agency would be ready for inspections if a facility opens.

Another factor is that many states have laws banning horse slaughter.

Michael Markarian, who oversees the Humane Society Legislative Fund, which lobbies for animal protections, said any state that allows a horse-slaughter plant to open will face pressure.

“People will not be happy about their community potentially bringing in one of these plants,” he said. “Americans don’t eat horses, and don’t want them butchered and shrink-wrapped and sent to France or Japan as a delicacy.”

In 2010, about 138,000 horses were exported for slaughter, and another 30,000 horses were shipped for other purposes, though some of those likely were sent to feedlots to be fattened for slaughter.

Congress never banned horse slaughter outright, but gave inspection powers to the Agriculture Department in 1996. In 2006, it voted to halt federal inspections, which essentially ended the industry.

This year, the House version of the Agriculture spending bill maintained the slaughter-ban language, but the Senate did not. When the two chambers reconciled their bills, the language was not in the final version.

Mr. Obama signed the spending bill by autopen on Nov. 18. He was traveling in Asia at the time the bill was presented to him, so he used the automated signature machine for the second time in his presidency.

Reposted from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/30/obama-congress-restore-us-horse-slaughter-industry/?page=all

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