The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity. -George Bernard Shaw

Monday, March 13, 2006

Dallas Crown to Shut Doors...

Kaufman Residents Slam the Door on Horsemeat
by: Chad Mendell, Staff Writer
March 2006 Article # 6686

On March 3, the Kaufman, Texas, zoning board unanimously voted to close Dallas Crown Inc., one of three horsemeat processing plants in the United States. The board ordered the Kaufman-based plant to close its doors by Sept. 30, citing public health and safety concerns as reasons for their decision.

Don Feare, an attorney representing 15 area residents, told the Star-Telegram.com, "They (area residents) have been having to live a very long time with overwhelming noxious odor and dead animals parts being dragged around their yards."

In November, the board ruled that the plant was a nuisance to the community, but delayed decisions on what actions it would take. For more information see article www.TheHorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=6587...

Fee-for-Service Implemented...

Fee-For-Service Plan Implemented
by: Chad Mendell, Staff Writer
March 2006 Article # 6687,

The nation's three horsemeat-processing plants began paying USDA employees on March 10 to conduct pre-slaughter inspections of horses. The highly debated fee-for-service program allows the plants to continue processing despite the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations bill, which eliminated federal funding for the inspectors.

The plants will pay each inspector $43.64 an hour, plus overtime and holiday pay, as they already do under an existing pay system for exotic animals. The inspections are estimated to cost each plant from $22,000 to $36,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in October.

Slaughter opponents tried to prevent the USDA from providing the fee-for-service inspections by filing a lawsuit against the agency and filing for a temporary injunction to suspend horse slaughter until the suit could be settled. The courts have yet to rule on either case. For more information see http://www.TheHorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=6665.

Several animal rights groups protested the USDA's action by sending a convoy of 20 empty horse trailers to Washington, D.C., which they said represented horses going to slaughter...[read more]

Friday, March 10, 2006

Today is the last day to send comments to the USDA

Thankfully, Blogger unlocked me by the end of the day. Grrrr.
 
Anyway, click on the link to the right called "LATEST ACTION ALERT" to read how you can submit a comment to the most convoluted website ever produced for the web. Consider yourself a genius if you can actually navigate to where you need to be.
 
 


Read the Comments Submitted

Thursday, March 09, 2006

This blog has been locked for no reason...

The editor of this blog is writing this as a draft to be published at a later date because, for some reason, Stop Horse Slaughter was identified as a "spam blog." This writer finds it very interesting that posting has been halted one day before public comments are closed to the USDA.

This blog is a compilation of information I am constantly scanning for regarding the horse slaughter issue. I share it here. I do the work so you don't have to. But I don't know when this will be posted. This blog is "under review."

There's a problem. People see slaughter as the only alternative to "excess horses." But the horse slaughter industry isn't a disposal system, it's a business with SUPPLY and DEMAND. The horses, our companion animals, are slaughtered because there's a foreign market that wants that meat. They're not old, unwanted horses, but stolen horses, racing horses who are no longer taking the big purse, mustangs auctioned at low prices, and probably the worst--killer buyers posing as charities and do-gooders who will "give the horse a good home." Sometimes I wonder if those people wind up on this site as Site Meter shows search terms like "cheap horses"...

So what's the problem? The problem is that we slaughter as the answer to our irresponsibility--which is the real problem. Slaughtering horses is horrifying to most people and most Americans have no idea it's going on.

No one wants it here. It's an embarrassment that we can't get it stopped because the MAJORITY of Americans are disgusted by it. Poll after poll.

But it's a business with SUPPLY and DEMAND. As long as the slaughterhouses stand and the killer buyers make a buck, the embarrassment will continue.

THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO DEAL WITH OUR IRRESPONSIBLE TREATMENT OF COMPANION ANIMALS. We don't sell dog meat to the Vietnamese. We shouldn't sell horsemeat to Europe.

HSUS Files Lawsuit--Read Documents

Read the lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States Lawsuit

Monday, March 06, 2006

Public Comments Needed to Encourage Democratic Process on Horse Slaughter Issue

USDA Moves to Thwart Federal Law
Public Comments Needed to Encourage Democratic Process


March 6, 2006



Dear Humanitarian:

With the help of constituents like you, we convinced Congress to pass an amendment to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that prohibits your tax dollars from being used to fund the federally mandated inspection of horses slaughtered for human consumption-thereby protecting America's horses from slaughter. The measure was overwhelmingly approved in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and it was made official on Nov. 10, 2005 when the President signed the bill into law.

However, the horse slaughter industry refuses to give up-and the ban on horse slaughter is at risk as a result. They have found an ally in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) who is willing to manipulate a very clear federal law to allow the foreign-owned slaughterhouses to continue operating.

The USDA has issued regulations approving a petition submitted surreptitiously by the three foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses in the United States that would enable the horse slaughter industry to fund its own inspections. This crooked plot will allow the slaughter of tens of thousands of horses for human consumption in 2006-circumventing Congressional intent and flying in the face of the will of the American
people.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please send comments via mail, email or the USDA website before March 9, urging the USDA to withdraw the regulations that would allow the horse slaughterhouses to keep operating. It is very important that the agency hears from as many concerned Americans as possible.

Here are some issues you should include in your letter:

1. The USDA should not be considering any proposal that will allow the slaughterhouses to continue operating. Such an action is a clear violation of Congressional intent and federal law.
2. President Bush signed into law the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which Congress amended to prohibit horse slaughter by removing funds required to inspect horses intended for slaughter. This was NOT simply a way to alter how inspections are funded.

Docket Clerk
Docket Number 05-036IF
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Food Safety and Inspection Service
300 12th Street, SW
Room 102 Cotton Annex
Washington, DC 20250

E-mail: fsis.regulationscomments@fsis.usda.gov

Online (very confusing): Go to http://www.regulations.gov, and in the "Search for Open Regulations" box, select "Food Safety and Inspection
Service" from the agency drop-down menu, then click on "Submit." In
the Docket ID column, select the Docket ID (FSIS-2005-0040) to submit
public comments. For step by step instructions on using this service
click here.

In all comments be sure to reference Docket Number 05-036IF in subject line.

Additionally, please write your Members of Congress to urge their support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, H.R. 503 and S. 1915, if you have not already done so. A permanent ban on horse slaughter is the only way we can ensure that America's horses will truly be safe. To find out more about these bills and what you can do to help please click here.

Please share our "Dear Humanitarian" eAlert with family, friends and co-workers, and encourage them to submit comments and write their Members of Congress, too. As always, thank you very much for your help!

Sincerely,
Christopher J. Heyde*
Deputy Legislative Director

*Chris Heyde is the executive director of the National Horse Protection
Coalition, which was co-founded by SAPL.


Sign up for SAPL eAlerts to receive the latest legislative news on what
you can do to help us protect all animals.
http://www.saplonline.org/action.htm

Friday, March 03, 2006

Is it true that there are too many horses in the US?

(posted with permission...thanks, John!)

Is it true that there are too many horses in the US?

What you are really asking is if there are unwanted horses in the US. The answer is yes, there are. There are Quarter Horses whose joints have been damaged in performing for their owners to the point that they cannot compete. The same is true of race horses. There are old, lame, and blind horses of all kinds, horses from the PMU industry, and horses that have been used by medical schools.

But this is a trick question because it presupposes that slaughter helps eliminate them, thus preventing abuse and neglect. This is not true. I have done a detailed study of the relationship between abuse and neglect and slaughter, and found that the effect of slaughter is, if anything, to increase abuse and neglect. There are many reasons for this, but fundamentally it boils down to the fact that they are slaughtering the wrong horses. The horses that make the best meat are those in the prime of life with the most potential.

I have posted links to my statistical study and those of others below. Happy reading!

John Holland


  • A Study of the Relationship between Horse Slaughter and Reported Cases of Abuse and Neglect
    John M. Holland
    A mathematical study of the relationship of abuse to slaughter based on USDA and Illinois DA statistics.
    http://www.horse-protection.org/info.php?id=81

  • Horse slaughter: An unnecessary evil
    Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation
    http://www.trfinc.org/news/TRF_WhitePaper.pdf


  • Analysis of the constitutional issues raised by a proposed congressional ban on horse slaughter
    University of Chicago Law School
    http://www.horse-protection.org/info.php?id=55


  • Survey of Trucking Practices and Injury to Slaughter Horses
    Temple Grandin, Kasie McGee and Jennifer Lanier
    Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University
    (Excellent rebuttal to arguments that only old, mean and useless horses are slaughtered)
    http://www.grandin.com/references/horse.transport.html

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