WASHINGTON— Lawyers for The Humane Society of the United States, American Humane Association, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Society for Animal Protective Legislation, and Doris Day Animal League today delivered a 17-page letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture pull in the reins on a plan to continue the slaughter of American horses for human consumption in France, Belgium, Japan, and other countries. Last year the U.S. House of Representatives voted 269-158 and the U.S. Senate voted 69-28 to stop the slaughter of horses for Fiscal Year 2006.
The USDA recently informed members of Congress that it is seriously considering creating a new horse inspection scheme to circumvent the new federal law, which prohibits USDA from paying employees to inspect horses destined for slaughter for human food. This announcement comes as a result of a petition for emergency rulemaking filed by three European-owned slaughterhouses – two in Texas, one in Illinois – that would allow the companies to continue butchering tens of thousands of horses for foreign menus each year.
"It is beyond our imagination in the U.S. Congress that the USDA would flout its mandate and spend tax dollars in the coming months working on ways to circumvent this law," said U.S. Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY). "Even our most hardened opponents knew that the purpose of the amendment was to stop horse slaughter -- there was never any confusion about that. It's disturbing that an agency like USDA feels it is appropriate to obstruct a law passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in Congress when their sole mission is to implement the law."
After suffering a sweeping, bipartisan defeat in Congress, the horse slaughter industry has quietly petitioned the USDA to establish a "fee-for-service" inspection system for horse slaughter in lieu of federally funded inspections, which Congress voted to end. The plants have asked that the USDA implement this change without notifying the public or following normal rulemaking procedures, claiming that it is in the "public's interest" to keep this maneuver secret.
"The USDA is playing games and ignoring the directives of Congress while the lives of America's horses, who have served us faithfully and provided us with companionship, are at stake," said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of The HSUS. "By even entertaining this eleventh-hour bid by the slaughterhouses to re-write the law, the USDA is thumbing its nose at Congress and trying to substitute the judgment of foreign gourmands for the judgment of our elected lawmakers."
In its letter to Secretary Johanns, animal welfare groups pointed out that the fee-for-service proposal "would not only thwart an unequivocally expressed Congressional directive, it would also violate the Federal Meat Inspection Act's requirement that the United States Department of Agriculture, not private facilities, fund horse slaughter inspection." The groups have called on the USDA to deny petitioners' request for expedited rulemaking and implement Congress' clear mandate to halt the slaughter of horses for human consumption.
"Granting this petition would set a damning precedent," said Holly Hazard, executive director of the Doris Day Animal League. "In circumventing the clear intent of our legislators to cease certain federal programs and simply buying the services of the executive branch without any policy directive from Congress, special interests will thwart democracy."
"Why is the USDA acting in defense of three foreign-owned horse slaughter plants engaged in a brutal trade?" asked Chris Heyde, policy analyst for the Society for Animal Protective Legislation. "The barbarity America's horses currently endure must be stopped as Congress has stated loud and clear. Congress sought to shut down the slaughter of American horses, not merely change the method by which inspections are funded."
While Congress has voted to end horse slaughter for most of one fiscal year, animal protection groups are lobbying for the passage of H.R. 503 and S. 1915, a permanent ban on horse slaughter for food, introduced by U.S. Reps. John Sweeney (R-NY), John Spratt (D-SC), and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) in the House, and U.S. Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) in the Senate.
The organizations are represented by Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, a Washington, DC, public interest law firm.
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The HSUS is the nation's largest animal protection organization with more than 9.5 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animals and sustainable agriculture. The HSUS protects all animals through education, advocacy, litigation, investigation, legislation and fieldwork. The non-profit organization is based in Washington, DC and has regional offices across the country.
Founded by Doris Day in 1987, the Doris Day Animal League is America's leading lobbying organization dedicated to focusing attention on legislative issues involving the humane treatment of animals. For more information on the Doris Day Animal League and its work to end horse slaughter, please visit www.ddal.org.
The Society for Animal Protective Legislation, a division of the Animal Welfare Institute, is devoted to passage of animal welfare laws. The Society, founded in 1955 and based in Washington, DC, has substantially aided the passage of more than 15 federal laws including the Animal Welfare Act, the Humane Slaughter Act and the Horse Protection Act.
