The United States is poised to effectively ban horse
slaughter again.
It’s done by refusing to provide funds to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture to provide meat inspection at horse-slaughter plants.
That’s been the case since 2007 when plants were shut down,
but there was a funding reprieve last year when politicians failed to include
the ban in legislation that provided emergency funding for overall government
programs.
This January the House of Representatives bill for funding
government operations once again includes a ban on horse slaughter.
It goes to the Senate now which is expected to pass the
bill, then to President Barrack Obama who is expected to sign it into law.
“Slaughtering horses is inhumane, disgusting and
unnecessary, and there is no place for it in the United States,” said Senator
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.
The legislation comes as a New Mexico slaughterhouse
seeks to become the first to operate in the United States since 2007, a move
the state’s attorney general, Gary King, has sued to block.
Natives on reserves in New Mexico want a horse slaughter
plant to open so they can cull herds that have grown so large they threaten the
viability of the areas they graze.
I guess those who oppose horse slaughter think it's ok to let them ruin natural pastures and to suffer starvation.
Canada has horse slaughter plants in Alberta and Quebec
that market most of the meat to Europe and Japan.