Horse Protection Act Amendment Co-Sponsored by Presidential Candidates

By Cindy Meyers, CEO Rodeo Attitude
Posted Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Wait a minute folks, got to get out my old soapbox again.

Something has been brought to my attention that I felt was very interesting. All of the top three candidates running for the Presidency of the United States are co-sponsors of S.311. What is S.311 you say? S.311 is a bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes. (Verification at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN00311:@@@P)

Most Americans will think this is a minor issue in the grand scope of the American economy or their lives. Sadly they would be wrong. Why?

• Over 100,000 horses must be disposed of each year in the United States. If we can no longer slaughter them for any purpose, what do we do with them and at what cost?
• Shipping unwanted horses to Mexico or Canada is not an answer. This is not only costly (most horse owners can’t afford this solution) but slaughter in these country is unregulated and inhumane. (Verification: http://prairiefarmer.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=30556&fpstid=2)
• Horse meat is a reality of life and in many countries considered a delicacy. Using this as an outlet for American horse meat has created jobs plus was a positive factor in our trade deficit. (Verification: http://www.foodreference.com/html/arthorsemeat.html)
• Transporting or exhibiting a horse for any purpose can be cause to have your horse confiscated. If S.311 passes the USDA can detain (read as take) any horse it feels is “sore” or could possibly end up at slaughter. (Verification (This is the actual amendment): http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp110:FLD010:@1(sr229)
• Amendment asks change from $500,000 to $5,000,000 in funding. Folks 5 million won’t touch the cost when the animal rights groups get a hold of this bill to stop rodeo, horse shows, trail rides and horse racing! (Verification: The bill)
• Transporting horses is dangerous. To prove their point animal fanatics point to one double-decker semi accident in particular along with other accidents involving horse trailers. Based on this logic we should stop flying because of the large number killed whenever there is a plane crash or maybe we should stop driving cars because of the number of people killed daily in auto accidents. The number of horses injured in transportation is extremely small in relationship to the number transported.
• Horses get sore when transported. Folks, I get sore when transported. When I reach my destination I recover. Dogs often take a day or two to get back on track after traveling. Maybe it should be against the law for anyone to allow their dogs to travel with them?

In reality S.311 is a veiled effort for a minority of people to play on the sentimentalities of lawmakers and uneducated individuals to believe they are protecting horses when in fact it dooms 100’s of thousands to less than merciful endings. S.311 has a long term economic impact on America that is inconceivable for all the reasons I have previously stated.

How in a country where there is wide spread hunger among families with low incomes or who are homeless can a politician support a bill that prohibits the use of this ready source of food is beyond common sense.

How anyone can speak about their foreign policy while co-sponsoring a bill that is a slap in the face to our allies that have been our largest customers of horse meat is beyond common sense.

How anyone can speak of economic impact and trade deficit and co-sponsor S.311 is beyond common sense.

Several groups are doing their best to educate the public to the true implications of S.311. One such group has started a petition to send to congress which you can find at this address: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/against-american-horse-slaughter-prevention-act.html.

Education is the only way we can protect the masses from the few who would use the Horse Protection Act and S.311 to end rodeo, horse shows, trail rides and horse racing.

As I get off my soapbox I will end with one final thought. If the top three candidates for the United States presidency think this a good bill we had better get to work educating our lawmakers or our future scares the life out of me!