Guest Author - Samantha Black

On January 17th, 2007, Senator Mary Landrieu [LA] introduced a bill that could permanently end the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The bill has 31 cosponsors (see link below). The last action was on April 25th, 2007. S. 311 passed the Senate Conference Committee in a 15-7 vote.

Its not over.

Horses Deserve Better

Horses played a dynamic role in changing the course of the West and have been historically regarded as a critical component to that end. Horses are an important part of our heritage and the United States of American would have been a very different place without them.

The Mustang proved to be one of the best horses the U. S. Army ever encountered. They were sturdy enough to handle the rough terrain that larger horses could not handle. They could go without water longer than other horses. They were not skittish when it came to gunfire and battle and they did not know the meaning of the word, quit. They carried equipment, supplies, soldiers and our fallen home. They carried many a Calvary man to safety. They galloped fearlessly out onto the battlefield and took bullets. They sustained bayonet and knife wounds... and still, they charged on. They did what they were asked. They bled and died, alongside their riders. Surely these noble animals deserve no less respect than the soldiers they carried?



Horses have never been considered food animals in the minds of Americans. Italy, Belgium, France and Japan all consider horse meat a delicacy while Americans find it, for the most part, repugnant.

No horse is safe. Endurance horses, childrens ponies, trail horses, retired show horses and family horses whose owners can no longer afford to keep them end up on the killing floor headed for foreign dinner plates. Stolen horses rank high as prime targets. Thieves can make a quick $300-$700 and the evidence is destroyed in a matter of days. Sadly, the greatest percentage (upward of 85%) of horses who end up on the killing floor are young, sound and healthy. Europeans do not want old, tough horse meat-they want young, tender and tasty.

Ill-fated horses who find themselves the object of this nightmare (no pun intended) are forced to travel under great stress in both freezing and boiling temperatures, often for more than 24 hours without food, water or rest. Transport trucks are built for cattle and hogs so ceilings are too low for horses to stand with their heads in an upright position. They are crammed into the trucks like sardines subjected to being trampled and squashed. Babies are bruised, broken and smashed under the weight of older horses panicked by what is happening to them. Their not-yet formed bones cannot withstand the force of the blows so they slip and go down, their lifeless little bodies ground into the filth of the truck floor while they die slow, agonizing deaths, often drowning in their-own blood.

Undercover footage shows live horses being dragged, whipped, and crammed into trucks in 110 degrees on their way to a horrific form of slaughter in Mexico and Canada. These horses are stabbed multiple times in the neck with a puntilla knife to sever their spinal cords. This procedure does not render the horse unconscious, and is not a stunning method. Rather, it paralyzes the horse, leaving him/her twitching on the ground, unable to move or breathe, and then they die from suffocation (because their lungs stop working) or from blood loss and dismemberment. Conditions in the slaughterhouse (inside and outside of our borders)are stressful and extremely frightening for horses. HSUS Get the Facts on Horse Slaughter

Horses trucked across U. S. borders to Mexico suffer the worst of the worst; after they are stabbed repeatedly, the spine severs and they go down, terrified, paralyzed and in excruciating pain. They are left there till one hind leg is bound and chained and the horse is hoisted up to dangle helplessly in the air. And there, in an unregulated environment, their throats are slit and they bleed to death. Fully aware of whats happening, but unable to escape their torturers.

Contrary to what slaughterhouse owners and employees want you to believe, transported horses arrive with broken legs, backs, ribs and necks. They reach their final destination bruised, bloodied, battered and petrified. Their eyes are poked out, their teeth bashed in, ribs crushed, lungs collapsed and some, arrive dead, having been trampled by the throng. Injured and crippled horses are whipped, beaten, shoved and pulled by tractors out of transport trucks by their legs and ankles manacled to logging chains while they are painfully dragged across bloody floors, over gates then slammed to the ground. Calloused and emotionally detached workers kick them, stomp on them and beat them unmercifully in an effort to get them to move out of the way. Inside the plant it gets worse; they are shackled and dismembered while still conscious.

What has become of us as a race of beings? What has happened to our soul? What has damaged us so badly that we find this acceptable? That we turn our heads and pretend its not happening. They deserve better.



What You Can Do

Status of S. 311: In session.

Call, write and fax your state Senators (use the link below), Representatives and Congress members. Ask them to support S. 311, a bill that will stop horse slaughter for human consumption as well as the transport and sale of horses across our borders for human consumption. Ask them to become a cosponsor of this bill, helping to put a permanent end to the unnecessary suffering of American horses.

They trust us.