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Issues and
Concerns:
April 27, 2007 House Restores Ban on Wild Horse Sale and Slaughter, Congressional Quarterly, (April 26, 2007 – 2:05 p.m.) -- "Legislation the House passed today would restore a 1971 ban on selling and slaughtering thousands of free-roaming horses in the West..." The bill to restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros is H.R.249. Rep. Don Young (AK) voted against HR 249 in the roll call vote April 26, 2007. On 4/26/2007, H.R. 249 was received in the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. April 26, 2007 The archived audio of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee Executive Session markup hearing on April 25 which included S 311. -- rtsp://video.webcastcenter.com/srs_g2/commerce042507.rm -- Use realplayer (click link for FREE DOWNLOAD). Discussion of S.311 starts at 1:02:25; voted out of committee ayes 15 nayes 7. Executive Session agenda for Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation meeting for April 25, 2007. April 22, 2007 H.R. 249: Call your U.S. Representative (Rep. Don Young if you live in Alaska) and ask him or her to vote YES on H.R. 249. -- Thursday, April 26, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 249, which would restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros. S. 311: Wednesday, April 25, the Senate Commerce Committee will consider S. 311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Call or Fax Senate Commerce Committee members ---- It is critical that all Committee members, including cosponsors of the bill, hear from constituents urging them to vote in favor of S. 311. List of Commerce Committee members (Alaskans: Senator Ted Stevens is Vice Chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He is also a co-sponsor of S. 311.) April 2 , 2007 Even though, at the moment, all three U.S. horse slaughter plants have been shut down by court orders (see Humane Society summary), it is still crucial to get Federal legislation banning horse slaughter passed. The concern is that, without a Federal ban, that horses will be shipped to Canada and Texas for slaughter.
February 8, 2007 Senator Stevens signed on as a co-sponsor of SB 311 on Februrary 2, 2007. Please don't contact Senator Stevens except to thank him for his support of this crucial legislation. January 23, 2007 (revised Feb. 8) New bills to stop American horse slaughter introduced in the 110th Congress. January 17, 2007 H.R. 503 Rep. Don Young is not a co-sponsor. Please contact him at The Honorable Don Young Information link for Senate Bill 311 banning horse slaughter for human consumption. Please contact Senator Murkowski to ask her to co-sponsor this bill. The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
December 7, 2006 We're practically down to the end of the 109th Congress. Everyone expects them to adjourn in the next few days or next week. PLEASE ask Senator Stevens and Senator Murkowski to help get a vote on the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Since the House passed HR 503 in September, it only takes a Senate vote to stop the slaughter of American horses for human consumption. This will save about 2,000 horses a week who meet this horrendous fate. (Otherwise we start over with a new Congress next year.) It looks like there are two ways the Senate can get to vote on this legislation: 1. the Senate could vote on HR 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which was placed on the Senate Calendar 9/21/06. I have heard that it's a good idea to ask Senator Bill Frist to bring HR 503 to the Senate floor for a vote. 2. the Senate could vote on S. 1915, the Virgie S. Arden American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which is the Senate version of HR 503. However, it has been widely reported that a Senator(s), possibly Senator Cornyn of Texas*, has placed an anonymous 'hold' on S. 1915 so that it can not get to the floor. S. 1915 is currently in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee which is Chaired by Senator Stevens. Senator Stevens is one of 34 Senators co-sponsoring S. 1915. Things to do right
now: Fax or call Senator
Frist, or any other Senators, and ask that HR 503 get a Senate
Floor vote. Fax or call Senator Stevens and Senator Murkowski and ask them to help get a vote on HR 503 or S. 1915 before the Senate adjourns. * See articles about anonymous 'hold': Slaughter legislation winds up one to have and to hold (9/24/06) and Todd J. Gillman: Cornyn's move could stall slaughter ban vote (9/22/06) ******************** Should Congress care that Dallas
Crown, Inc., the slaughter plant in Kaufman, TX November 14, 2006 Please ask Senator Stevens and Senator Murkowski to help get S.B. 1915 a floor vote. (See the October 5 post below.) Both Alaska Senators voted for the Ensign Amendment (No 1753, Sept. 20, 2005) which was supposed to "prohibited the use of appropriated funds to pay for salaries or expenses of personnel to inspect horses under certain authority or guidelines," in other words, withdrawing funds for inspecting the horses so the slaughter would be illegal. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture made an end run around this legislation by creating a self-support system where the slaughterers would pay inspectors' costs. There is more information about this horrible problem on the Society for Animal Protective Legislation web site. October 5, 2006
Please contact your Senator and ask them to support S.B 1915, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Senator Ted Stevens is a co-sponsor of S.B. 1915, Senate Murkowski is not (as of 10/5/06). Please thank Senator Stevens for co-sponsoring S.B. 1915 and let him know it's important to you. Please ask Senator Murkowski to become a co-sponsor and tell her why it's important to you. AND be sure to ask them to support and vote for S.B. 1915 AS WRITTEN WITH NO AMENDMENTS. Information on how American horses end up being slaughtered. The Honorable Ted Stevens The Honorable Lisa Murkowski Who supports the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act! September 7, 2006 The House of Representatives passed H.R. 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, with a vote of 263 to 146. This act will ban horse slaughter for human consumption and transport of live horses or horseflesh for the same purpose (more on SAPL web site). Don Young did not vote on this legislation (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll433.xml#NV). July 22, 2006 The US House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection has scheduled a hearing on HR 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, July 25, 2006 at 2 PM. So, the plea now is, everyone, please write members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and ask them to support HR 503 as it is written (fax and phone numbers for Committee members). And please thank the co-sponsors for supporting the bill and ask them to attend the hearing and continue to support this important legislation!
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge wild horse update: The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign has posted a copy of a letter written by Congressman Nick J Rahall, II to Dale Hall, Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service asking that all further removals of horses from the Sheldon Refuge be halted. According to an email (7/21/06) from the AWHPC, the September roundup at the Sheldon Refuge has been cancelled. (See my July 5 post for more information.)
July 17, 2006 US House of Representatives discussion of an amendment on 5/18/06: LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR SALE OR SLAUGHTER OF FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS, part of the DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 (use your browser search function to find "horse slaughter" in this page). July 13, 2006 So, now HR 503 is not immediately going to the House floor and instead was referred (on July 13, 2006) to Committee on Energy and Commerce and Committee on Agriculture ...more...
It seems that the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge wild horse roundup in June 2006 went badly for the horses. Read more at The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (warning: disturbing pictures). BLM is doing a roundup at the 12 million acre Buck & Bald Complex in Nevada starting July 7. I will post more information here when I find out anything. In the meantime, consider suggesting that CNN do a story on wild horse roundups and what happens to the horses during and after the roundup. [CNN story suggestion form] And, how safe is horsemeat? Read the Hoofpac article concerning horsemeat and "transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE), Hoof & Mouth, Aminogycoside Antibiotics, Anabolical Steroids, Streptococcus Equi, and Trichinosis" June 22, 2006
43,396 U.S. Horses were slaughtered in the U.S. from January 1 through June 10, 2006 - U.S. Horse Slaughter statistics as of June 10, 2006
HR 503 (American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) information page New co-sponsors of
H R 503 since June 2006:
In 2005, 94,037 US horses were slaughtered and nearly 40 million pounds of US horse meat worth over $63 million was exported to Albania, Belgium-Luxembourg, the Bahamas, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Switzerland, and Taiwan. Data Source: Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign
Trade Statistics ********************************************************** The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign News Brief, June 21, 2006 - http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/news_briefs.html - describes the situation with the wild horse roundup at the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge a couple days ago. This article says 70 horses were left with an agent said to be connected with the horse slaughter industry and that the minutes of a March 2006 meeting between FWS and the adopting agents says the intent is to remove all the horses by 2012. Please read this news brief. History of America's effort to end horse slaughter, including the Burns amendment: http://aowha.org/notices/slaughter01.html June 18, 2006 Please contact your Congress person, the director of the US Fish and Wildlife and the manager of the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon to object to the planned roundup and sale of wild horses. These horses will be sold en masse to "pre-screened" buyers and it appears that the intention is they will be sent to slaughter. More information at http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/latest_alerts.html, scroll down to the June 13, 2006 section. June 16, 2006 Please ask your Congressional representatives to support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.
More Information Billboard
to educate motorists about Texas slaughterhouses - KVII-TV,
Amarillo, Texas |
NEWS ITEMS Slaughter legislation winds up one to have and to hold (9/24/06) Todd J. Gillman: Cornyn's move could stall slaughter ban vote (9/22/06) Texas oilman kicks up dust over horse slaughter, Star-Telegram.com, by Suzanne Gamboa (AP, 7/21/06) -- "[Boone] Pickens, founder of BP Capital and Mesa Petroleum, issued a news release Friday saying he was launching an attack against "foreign-owned horse killing plants." Slaughter Legislation Could Be Put To Vote, TheHorse.com (July 2006) Anti-Slaughter Bill May Have to Wait Until After Break, BloodHorse, KY (6/29/2006) Horses
offset beef shortage in Juárez MOUNTAIN VIEWS: NEEDLESS EQUINE SLAUGHTER CONTINUES, John Hanchette, Niagara Falls Reporter (june 27, 2006) IS HORSE MEAT SAFE? (from University of Delaware, Food Safety Virtual Farm)
HORSE RACING Slaughtering not food for thought, JAY HEATER, Contra Costs Times (6/16/06)
The Killing Floor, Josh Harkinson, Emagazine.com American horse meat coveted in Europe, Tom Lochner CONTRA COSTA TIMES (1/25/2005) |
page updated April 27, 2007
© 1997-2007 Kathryn Eberhart
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