By Meghan Goss
Horse slaughter is America's "dirty little secret."
That was the message from T. Boone Pickens, legendary Texas oilman and life-long animal lover, who testified in strong support of H.R. 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, at a congressional hearing July 25. Hundreds of passionate advocates crowded the hearing, causing the session to be relocated to a larger room midway through.
"This is a black eye on our state and nation that demands action," Pickens told a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.
There are three horse slaughterhouses in the United States, and all are foreign-owned. Two are in Pickens' home state of Texas, where a recent poll showed that more than 70 percent of residents oppose horse slaughter. The third plant is in Illinois, where horse groups and individuals statewide oppose the grisly practice.
H.R. 503 would put an end, once and for all, to the slaughter of American horses for human consumption. The legislation enjoys broad and bipartisan support in the House, with 203 cosponsors.
"Not only does a vast majority of Congress support my efforts, but the majority of Americans do too," said Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.). "Horses are American icons and deserve to be treated as such. The practice of horse slaughter is a contradiction to our culture and our history."
Horse meat is not eaten in the United States but is shipped overseas, primarily to France, Belgium and Japan, where it is considered a delicacy. Nearly 100,000 American horses—thoroughbreds, family ponies, wild horses, carriage horses, and others—are slaughtered annually in the United States, or sent to Canada or Mexico for slaughter, to appease the palates of foreign gourmands.
The cruelty of horse slaughter is not limited to the killing.
"I am surprised that no one ever seems to openly discuss the absolutely deplorable way these animals are treated on their way to the slaughterhouse," testified Dr. Patricia Hogan, an equine veterinary surgeon. "Once these horses enter the path to the slaughterhouse, their treatment is not humane in any way."
Opponents of the bill argue that slaughter is a necessary evil for old, broken down, unwanted horses, but according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 92 percent of the horses arriving at U.S. slaughter plants are in "good" condition. Among those "good" horses are horses who have been stolen from their rightful owners or sold to killer buyers under false pretenses.
The number of "unwanted horses" is dramatically less than advertised by slaughter advocates and has been declining over the last 10 to 15 years, according to USDA data. (See sidebar.)
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By the Numbers |
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 The number of U.S. horses slaughtered or shipped to slaughter was down to 128,833 in 2005 from the peak of 379,571 horses in 1989—a reduction of more than two-thirds. In a single year (1992 to 1993), the number of U.S. horses slaughtered dropped more than 91,898.
While H.R. 503 opponents insist that slaughter provides an answer to the “unwanted horse” problem in America, it should be noted that of the horses killed in U.S. slaughter plants so far in 2006, nearly 4 percent were imported from Canada. And in 2005 7.5 percent of the total horses slaughtered in U.S. plants were imported live from Canada.
The Dallas Crown, Inc. slaughter house, based in Kaufman, Texas, made $12 million in revenue in one year and paid only five dollars in U.S. taxes. |
Even legends such as Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby champion, are not immune from this grim and painful end. Ferdinand was sent to the slaughterhouse in 2002 for consumption in Japan, where his meat was offered as an opportunity to "Eat an American Champion."
"Hopefully it will not take the slaughter of another Derby winner to put the spotlight on this important issue and shut down these killing factories once and for all," Pickens said in his testimony.
Great strides were made in 2005 when Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation halting taxpayer support of horse slaughter inspections for Fiscal Year 2006. But the USDA—responsible for slaughterhouse oversight—skirted the new federal law by allowing the foreign-owned plants to pay for their own inspections.
In his written testimony, Dick Koehler, vice president of Beltex Corp., a slaughter plant in Fort Worth, Texas, described the horse slaughter industry as a "tax-paying legitimate business." Yet witnesses at the hearing revealed that Dallas Crown, Inc., based in Kaufman, Texas, made $12 million in revenue in one year and paid only five dollars in U.S. taxes.
"Horses have done so much for us in our country's history," said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of The Humane Society of the United States. "We are grateful for the strong leadership of Rep. John Sweeney, Rep. Ed Whitfield, and other members of Congress who are siding with the interests of the American people over the interests of French and Belgian chefs."
The House Agriculture Committee held another hearing on H.R. 503 on July 27. With no proponents of the legislation even invited to appear as witnesses, questionable and contradictory statements slipped by in the one-sided testimony. The hearing deprived committee members the other side of the story and left many important questions unanswered.
The full U.S. House of Representatives has scheduled a vote on the legislation in early September. An identical Senate companion bill, S. 1915, was introduced by U.S. Senators John Ensign (R-Nev.), who is a veterinarian by profession, and Mary Landrieu (D-La.).
In addition to The HSUS and other animal welfare organizations, dozens of equine industry groups, including the National Show Horse Registry, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the National Steeplechase Association, and Churchill Downs, vehemently support the effort to ban horse slaughter.
