The Humane Society of the United States Commends Today's Vote

WASHINGTON – Legislation to outlaw the commercial sale and slaughter of America's wild horses was passed today out of the House Natural Resources Committee. H.R. 249 seeks to restore permanent federal protections for wild horses and burros from sale and slaughter for human consumption overseas. The longstanding protections were removed by a controversial rider slipped into an omnibus spending bill by former U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) in late 2004.

In the 109th Congress, an amendment to protect wild horses was shepherded through by U.S. Reps. Nick Rahall (D-W. Va.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) and passed in a landslide, bipartisan 249-159 vote. Reps. Rahall and Whitfield introduced H.R. 249 in January 2007 to reinstate protections permanently.  

"The time has passed to restore protections for wild free-roaming horses and burros. I urge my colleagues to heed the will of the American public and respond to common decency by supporting this legislation," Rep. Rahall said. "Horses are an integral part of the tapestry of this country, and we owe no less to these living symbols of the American West."

The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, has actively been campaigning against the slaughter of all American horses for export for human consumption.

"We're encouraged by today's actions and are grateful to Representatives Rahall and Whitfield for their tireless efforts to help bring an end to the misery and suffering of these iconic and majestic animals," said Nancy Perry, HSUS vice president of government affairs. "Horses are symbols of the American spirit and it is a betrayal of our responsibility to slaughter them. We pledge to fight until the doors on the foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses are closed forever."

Facts

• According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 100,800 American horses were slaughtered in three foreign-owned slaughter houses in 2006. Another 30,000 were sent to Mexico or Canada for slaughter.
• Opponents of the slaughter ban argue the practice is a humane way to kill old animals, but investigations by The HSUS show cruelty and abuse throughout the process.
• Less than 1 percent of the total horse population is sent to slaughter, a percentage easily absorbed.
• USDA statistics show more than 92 percent of horses slaughtered in the U.S. are in good shape, not old and infirm as opponents claim.
• In January 2007, a federal court of appeals upheld a Texas state law declaring horse slaughter illegal in that state. Appeals from the slaughterhouses were rejected.
• Legislation to ban the slaughter of American horses nationwide was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate by Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Reps. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), John Spratt (D-S.C.) and Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) introduced a companion bill, H.R. 503.
• The measure received bipartisan support in the 109th Congress, winning a vote of 263 to 146 in the House. In late 2006, it stalled in the Senate, where it had been approved overwhelmingly the year before, and was not brought up for a vote before Congress adjourned.
• Nearly 70 percent of Americans are strongly against the slaughter of American horses for human consumption overseas.

Timeline

• Until late 2004, wild horses and burros had been protected since 1971 with passage of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
• Protections for wild horses were removed in late 2004 by a rider slipped into an omnibus spending bill by former U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).
• Hundreds of wild horses have been slaughtered since the Burns' rider made it into law:

• In April 2005, six horses were purchased and sent directly to a foreign-owned slaughter plant in Illinois. The buyer had told the Bureau of Land Management he intended to use the horses for a church youth program.
• One week later, another 35 sold by the BLM were killed at the same slaughter plant after the purchaser unwittingly traded them.

-30-

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization – backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at www.humanesociety.org.