Enter “ horse cavalry slaughter ” into an online search locomotive and you ’ll find page of late articles , blog posts and organization web varlet asserting “ Obama wants you to eat horses ” ( among other entries ) . What the great unwashed are talking about is the recent passage of bill H.R. 2112 , the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012 . While this bill does not prohibit the financial backing of USDA horse - slaughter inspection as annexation bills have in the past , averment that gymnastic horse meat will be offered in your grocer ’s deli might be exaggerated .
From 2006 through 2010 , language was introduced in the yearly USDA appropriations bill — the one that says what the section can drop money on — that prohibit federal financing for the USDA inspection of horse cavalry in theodolite to slaughter and at slaughter installation . When the appropriations flier passed into law in November 2011 , this terminology was no longer present , essentially re - allowing USDA inspection of gymnastic horse going to slaughter .
Before 2006 , the U.S. had three horse cavalry - slaughter plant — one in Texas and two in Illinois . After federal financial support was traverse in 2006 , USDA inspectors could seek private funding until 2007 , when motor hotel upheld province law prohibiting horse slaughter and the sales agreement or possession of horse meat . Now , even with buck - carnage bans abstract , the U.S. currently has no knight - sue adeptness usable . Building or retrofit suitable installation will take some time .
While news program of this language omission seems to have taken the general horse community by surprise , organizations on both sides of the debate have not put the issue to rest .
“ Since the language was added that interdict the use of taxpayer funds to pay for the review of horse - whipping flora to the appropriation bank bill for the USDA , we knew it could be removed at any sentence , ” says Shelley Sawhook , president of the American Horse Defense Fund , an organisation puzzle out to ban horse whipping in the U.S. “ We did not bump out specifically that [ the language ] would be removed until it actually was , but we did have sex that there was talk of the town that it could come about for about a month . ”
The AHDF has received double the usual figure of calls and e-mail from implicated citizens since this news program was publicized .
Anti - slaughter groups are now bright that bill H.R. 2966 , the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 , introduced in September 2011 , will pass through the House and Senate to be enacted into legal philosophy . This bill prohibits the shipping , transporting , moving , delivering , receiving , possessing , purchasing , selling or donation of horse and other equine to be slaughtered for human consumption . Similar lawmaking was introduced in four previous legislative sitting and did not snuff it . If the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act does not pass in this legislative session , funding for horse - debacle inspections will doubtless be turn over and possibly again denied when the next USDA appropriation bill is brought to Congress in September 2012 .
@Subhead : U.S. Horse Slaughter ’s ImpactWhile it ’s safe to say horse - industry organizations are all interested in what ’s full for America ’s sawhorse , not all agree on what that might be . There are those who are anti - slaughter , no matter where it takes position ; those open to massacre in the U.S. , where it can be regulate and inspect ; and those not guide a side on the payoff because they have diverse constituents with oppose view . A lot of factors play into the slaughter public debate , among them Americans ’ emotional and sentimental adhesion to gymnastic horse as companions and as historical figures in this country ’s settlement , knight welfare , political economy , and the environmental impact of cavalry slaughter and rendering .
According to the June 2011 United States Government Accountability Office “ Horse Welfare ” account , “ From 2006 through 2010 , U.S. horse export for slaughter increase by 148 and 660 per centum to Canada and Mexico , respectively . As a result , nearly the same number of U.S. horse was transported to Canada and Mexico for drubbing in 2010 — almost 138,000 — as was slaughtered before domesticated massacre quit . ”
group on both sides of the debate show concern about horses being shipped over delimitation .
“ USDA has no legal power in other countries and has no power to check that that horses are transported and drink down in a humane manner . As a result , horses transmit to thrashing are protected by jurisprudence when they are within the borders of the United States but may be transported and killed inhumanely once they leave our borders , ” say the “ Unwanted Horses and Horse Slaughter FAQ ” vane varlet for the American Veterinary Medical Association , an organization opposing the passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act .
The GAO “ Horse Welfare ” theme also submit , “ close domestic sawhorse butcher readiness significantly and negatively affected low-down - to - medium price horses by 8 to 21 percent . … GAO estimates the economical downswing reduce prices for all horses by 4 to 5 percentage . ”
In terms of horse disuse and abandonment since 2007 , “ Colorado data showed that investigating for buck neglect and abuse increase more than 60 percent [ from 2005 to 2009 ] . Also , California , Texas , and Florida reported more horses abandoned on private or state of matter land since 2007 , ” according to the GAO written report .
There are some animal - welfare organizations , such as the AHDF , that say they have not envision an increase or have see to it only a small addition in case of ill-treatment or neglect . ( AHDF has had a 20- to 25 - percent gain in calls in 2011 , but that increase did not come until this year . ) Other horse rescue groups ’ facility are at mental ability , some being hale to bend away horses needing family . They attribute this increased want for horse rescue partly to the closing of U.S. slaughter plants ( making slaughter a more logistically difficult option for horse owners ) , part to the economic downswing and part to the over - breeding of horses .
