U.S. Senate To Decide Fate of American Horses

June 17, 2005

An estimated 90,000 American horses are slaughtered for human consumption every year. Now, animal protection advocates are pressing Congress to protect these animals.

On June 8, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 269-158 in a bipartisan effort to end federal funding for inspecting horse slaughterplants, effectively ending the slaughter. The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the issue soon.

Since Americans don't consume horses, the meat is shipped abroad. The HSUS has tracked this industry for years, documenting the cruelty in the slaughterhouse, pressing for state laws, and educating horse owners about the killer-buyers who frequent auctions and purchase discarded horses for a few hundred dollars, only to turn around and send them to slaughter.

Halting federal funding would result in closing the three horse slaughterplants in the U.S. - two in Texas and one in Illinois - and block shipments of horses to Mexican and Canadian slaughterplants.

Please contact Belinda Mager to request these video clips in Beta or via an FTP site.

	Horses are not livestock.
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	Horses in feedlot in Shelby, Montanta.
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	Transporting horses to slaughter involves long journeys on double-decker or "possum belly" trucks that were not designed for horses. The height of each floor is so low the horses can't hold their heads up and are transported in that position for up to 28 hours at a time.
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	Undercover footage obtained by HSUS investigators inside a horse slaughterplant. Horses are supposed to be rendered unconscious after being stunned with a captive bolt pistol, however, they are sometimes not properly stunned and are still conscious when hoisted and slaughtered.
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	Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, comments on horse slaughter.
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