Saving America's Horses on WFL Endangered Stream Live, Talk Radio for the Protection of Animals
The Hidden Cruelty of Horse Slaughter and the Fight for Federal Support to Make it Stop.
Host Katia Louise interviews an expert panel of guests on the continuing sordid practice of horse slaughter as currently sustained by the United States. Horses suffer unimaginable cruel treatment in the process of their transport out of the US to Mexico and Canada where they experience barbaric slaughter. Listeners will learn the truth about one of America's darkest secrets and how to take action to stop this cruel and rapidly growing business of exports through the support of current, yet disregarded bills lingering in Congress for the past 8 years.
Guests include Paula Bacon representing Americans Against Horse Slaughter and as former mayor of Kaufman TX, she helped to shut down the Dallas Crown, a US horse slaughter plant now operating in Mexico, among the worst malign abusers of cruelty in this brutal practice. Also joining us is the renown author on the issue of horse slaughter, John Holland; senior analyst for Americans Against Horse Slaughter. Holland has authored and coauthored studies on the relationship of horse slaughter to the rate of abuse and neglect in horses and has written dozens of articles on the subject of horse slaughter and its politics. Plus we have Animal Law Attorney, Laura Allen of the Animal Law Coalition who's been fiercely active in the support of getting legislature passed for the Prevention of the Equine Cruelty. These panelists are fighting to abolish horse slaughter and the export of horses for slaughter with support more stringent enforcement of laws to prevent abuse and neglect.
Call-in number: (646) 727- 2170. Calls will be accepted live during the show. The chat room at the show's WFL Endangered Stream Live Blog Talk Radio page will be open throughout the broadcast for simultaneous discussion and to help answer questions. Registered listeners may connect and talk straight from their computer from anywhere in the world. (learn more)
Listen live on Saturday, Feb 7th at 3pm (PST) at WFL Endangered Stream Live Blog Talk Radio.
Listen anytime on demand.
Links:
http://wflendangeredstreamlive.org/showlineup.html
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wflendangeredstreamlive/2009/02/07/Saving-Americas-Horses
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
LIVE FEED ON SATURDAY FEB. 7TH 3PM With John Holland (Senior Analyst for AAHS) and Paula Bacon and Laura Allen!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!
FROM: AWI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BILL TO END HORSE SLAUGHTER REINTRODUCED
Washington, DC (January 15, 2009) – The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503), was reintroduced yesterday by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Representative Dan Burton (R-IN). They first introduced the bill, which will ban horse slaughter, in the summer of 2008. It gained quick bipartisan support and passed out of the Judiciary Committee but did not move further as the legislative clock wound down. Committed to seeing the measure passed into law, Chairman Conyers has given the bill priority in his committee, as signaled by its reintroduction so early on the legislative calendar. With sixty-one original cosponsors, the bill already enjoys strong bipartisan support.
Although the few remaining horse slaughter plants operating in the US were shut down in 2007 under state law, the absence of a federal law banning the practice means that American horses are still at risk of being slaughtered for human consumption. In fact, more than 100,000 horses were exported to Mexico and Canada in 2008 for slaughter; In Canada horses are often shot to death while in Mexico some plants still use the “puntilla” knife to stab the horse into a state of paralysis prior to being slaughtered while still fully conscious. The meat is then sold to high-end consumers in Europe and Asia.
“There are naysayers who claim we should reopen the US plants rather than seek to ban all horse slaughter. Clearly, they’ve already forgotten how awful the plants here were,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of Government and Legal Affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute.
Documents recently released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal just how brutal conditions were at the US plants before they were shut down. Hundreds of graphic photographs taken by U.S. Department of Agriculture employees at one plant show live horses with missing legs, with eyeballs hanging out, with skin ripped from the body and the birth of foals at the plant. Other photos show horses dead on arrival, having succumbed to the miseries of transport.
“The suffering of hundreds of thousands of our horses rests solely on the shoulders of those blocking this bill. Were it not for their stalling tactics horse slaughter would have ceased years ago. Meanwhile an American horse is slaughtered every five minutes. We commend Chairman Conyers and Representative Burton for taking the lead once again to end this cruel practice through introduction of H.R. 503, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act,” said Heyde.
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Sunday, January 11, 2009
STOP INHUMANE HORSE TRANSPORT
Dear Americans Against Horse Slaughter Members,the following link will take you to an action alert from HSUS regarding new legislation that will stop the Inhuman Transport of Horses.Please click on the link and take action.
FROM HSUS:https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2009_horse_transport
Stop Inhumane Horse TransportDoubler decker trailers are designed for short-necked species, such as cattle and hogs, not horses. However, current federal law allows horses to be transported in these trailers to any destination other than slaughter plants. Since these trailers are not meant to carry horses, frequently the top deck of the trailer will collapse, resulting in horrific injuries and even death.
Just last year, a double decker trailer carrying 59 young Belgian horses overturned on an Illinois highway, killing 17 horses and injuring dozens of others.Fortunately, Representatives Kirk (R-IL) and Cohen (D-TN) introduced, H.R. 305, the Horse Transportation Safety Act, to ban the use of double decker trailers for all horse transport.
TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative to urge support for H.R. 305 to prohibit double decker trailers for horse transport. You can reach your Representative through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121
After making your call, fill in and submit the form on the right to automatically send an email to your U.S. Representative. Remember to personalize the email message by expressing your opinion in your own words; it's much more effective.
FROM HSUS:https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2009_horse_transport
Stop Inhumane Horse TransportDoubler decker trailers are designed for short-necked species, such as cattle and hogs, not horses. However, current federal law allows horses to be transported in these trailers to any destination other than slaughter plants. Since these trailers are not meant to carry horses, frequently the top deck of the trailer will collapse, resulting in horrific injuries and even death.
Just last year, a double decker trailer carrying 59 young Belgian horses overturned on an Illinois highway, killing 17 horses and injuring dozens of others.Fortunately, Representatives Kirk (R-IL) and Cohen (D-TN) introduced, H.R. 305, the Horse Transportation Safety Act, to ban the use of double decker trailers for all horse transport.
TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative to urge support for H.R. 305 to prohibit double decker trailers for horse transport. You can reach your Representative through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121
After making your call, fill in and submit the form on the right to automatically send an email to your U.S. Representative. Remember to personalize the email message by expressing your opinion in your own words; it's much more effective.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
SLAUGHTERGATE!! CONTINUED...
MESSAGE FROM JOHN HOLLAND:TV Station KHOU has done a powerful piece on the USDA cruelty documents that Julie Caramante and Animal's Angels received through her FOIA. It features Steve Long and Julie and it is both powerful and graphic.
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=315146
Here is a text version off of Texas Cable Newshttp://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou081219_jj_horse-slaughter-transportation.7b642747.htmlThousands of U.S. horses slaughtered in Mexico for food10:56 PM CST on Friday, December 19, 2008By Brad Woodard / 11 NewsSteve Long is a noted author as well as editor of Texas Horse Talk magazine.
You can say he knows horses.Thousands of U.S. horses slaughtered in MexicoDecember 19, 2008View largerE-mail ClipMore Video“They are the essence of beauty, everything about them, the way they move, the way they talk to each other, their personalities, they’re just magnificent,” he said.He says that horses are not only deeply woven into the fabric of Texas History, but they are also great icons of the American West. Still, despite that honor, records show that nearly 50,000 U.S. horses have been transported to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for slaughter and ultimately destined for the dinner tables in Europe and Japan.
“It’s an obscenity. It’s a horror. It’s something that makes me want to throw up,” said Long.
11 News photoRecords show that nearly 50,000 U.S. horses have been transported to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for slaughter and ultimately destined for the dinner tables in Europe and Japan.Believe it or not, Long isn’t talking about the slaughtering practices in Mexico, although he finds them disturbing.Long is talking about the horse slaughter industry, that until recently, thrived here in Texas and the United States.
“This is the biggest animal rights scandal since the Michael Vick case. This is slaughtergate,” said Long.In fact, records show that there are two Belgian owned horse slaughtering facilities in the state. He says one of the facilities, Dallas Crowe, is in Kaufman, Texas and that the other facility, Beltex, is located in Fort Worth.
In 2006, 11 News reported that employees at both facilities used captive bolt guns and air guns on the horses instead of knives. That technique involves driving a steel bolt into a the brain of a horse.Both Texas facilities were forced to close last year. Officials say that the closure came after a federal appeals court upheld a 1949 state law banning horse slaughter for human consumption.Despite that action the slaughter horse business continues.
Julie Caramante is an animal cruelty investigator for the organization called Animal’s Angels and she often works undercover.She said that it took her three years to obtain photos that document violations of the transportation of horses taken to Beltex between January and November of 2005.“I saw horses that were dead in trailers, with their legs ripped off, with their faces smashed in, eyeballs dangling, and these horses, some of them were still alive. They were just standing there,” said Caramante.Many of the injuries reportedly occurred when the horses were transported on double-decker trailers designed to haul cattle. The U.S. banned that type of action last year, but there’s a loophole, said Caramante. She says that the double-deckers can still be used to haul horses thousands of miles to feedlots, like the one in Morton, Texas. It’s owned by the Belgian company, Beltex.“They feed them and get them fattened up. The ones that live go to El Paso and then off to the plant in Mexico,” said Caramante.
While it’s currently illegal to slaughter horses for human consumption in Texas, 11 News has found that at least two states are considering measures that would make it legal.Those who support horse slaughter say they’d like to see it resume here in the U.S. because of laws that protect horses from cruelty. They say it is a well regulated industry that provided humane euthanasia.“Such things are laughable. And it would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. U.S. humane laws have done nothing for the horse,” said Long.
E-mail 11 News reporter Brad Woodard
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=315146
Here is a text version off of Texas Cable Newshttp://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou081219_jj_horse-slaughter-transportation.7b642747.htmlThousands of U.S. horses slaughtered in Mexico for food10:56 PM CST on Friday, December 19, 2008By Brad Woodard / 11 NewsSteve Long is a noted author as well as editor of Texas Horse Talk magazine.
You can say he knows horses.Thousands of U.S. horses slaughtered in MexicoDecember 19, 2008View largerE-mail ClipMore Video“They are the essence of beauty, everything about them, the way they move, the way they talk to each other, their personalities, they’re just magnificent,” he said.He says that horses are not only deeply woven into the fabric of Texas History, but they are also great icons of the American West. Still, despite that honor, records show that nearly 50,000 U.S. horses have been transported to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for slaughter and ultimately destined for the dinner tables in Europe and Japan.
“It’s an obscenity. It’s a horror. It’s something that makes me want to throw up,” said Long.
11 News photoRecords show that nearly 50,000 U.S. horses have been transported to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for slaughter and ultimately destined for the dinner tables in Europe and Japan.Believe it or not, Long isn’t talking about the slaughtering practices in Mexico, although he finds them disturbing.Long is talking about the horse slaughter industry, that until recently, thrived here in Texas and the United States.
“This is the biggest animal rights scandal since the Michael Vick case. This is slaughtergate,” said Long.In fact, records show that there are two Belgian owned horse slaughtering facilities in the state. He says one of the facilities, Dallas Crowe, is in Kaufman, Texas and that the other facility, Beltex, is located in Fort Worth.
In 2006, 11 News reported that employees at both facilities used captive bolt guns and air guns on the horses instead of knives. That technique involves driving a steel bolt into a the brain of a horse.Both Texas facilities were forced to close last year. Officials say that the closure came after a federal appeals court upheld a 1949 state law banning horse slaughter for human consumption.Despite that action the slaughter horse business continues.
Julie Caramante is an animal cruelty investigator for the organization called Animal’s Angels and she often works undercover.She said that it took her three years to obtain photos that document violations of the transportation of horses taken to Beltex between January and November of 2005.“I saw horses that were dead in trailers, with their legs ripped off, with their faces smashed in, eyeballs dangling, and these horses, some of them were still alive. They were just standing there,” said Caramante.Many of the injuries reportedly occurred when the horses were transported on double-decker trailers designed to haul cattle. The U.S. banned that type of action last year, but there’s a loophole, said Caramante. She says that the double-deckers can still be used to haul horses thousands of miles to feedlots, like the one in Morton, Texas. It’s owned by the Belgian company, Beltex.“They feed them and get them fattened up. The ones that live go to El Paso and then off to the plant in Mexico,” said Caramante.
While it’s currently illegal to slaughter horses for human consumption in Texas, 11 News has found that at least two states are considering measures that would make it legal.Those who support horse slaughter say they’d like to see it resume here in the U.S. because of laws that protect horses from cruelty. They say it is a well regulated industry that provided humane euthanasia.“Such things are laughable. And it would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. U.S. humane laws have done nothing for the horse,” said Long.
E-mail 11 News reporter Brad Woodard
Thursday, December 11, 2008
AAHS in The Media - WTMJ 620 Talk Radio (WI)
Americans Against Horse Slaughter made the news in The Metro Milwaukee Market on the #1 Talk Radio Station WTMJ 620.George Mallet, former Philly, PA FOX TV personality and horse lover, plugged our cause loud and clear during evening drive time!
TMJ 620 also put a link to our site!! http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/greenhouse/7823287.html
It was awesome!!
Thanks George!
May the horse be with you!!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Take Action!
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE LEGISLATURES CONSIDERS PRO-HORSE SLAUGHTER RESOLUTION – AGAIN ACT TODAY TO DEFEAT THE MEASURE
Dear Humanitarian:
At its December 10-13 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) will once again consider a resolution designed to promote the cruel and foreign-driven horse slaughter industry. Similar to the resolution considered – and defeated by Agriculture, Environment & Energy Committee– at the NCSL summer meeting, this resolution paints horse slaughter as a humane and necessary industry and calls on Congress to oppose the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Here are the facts: ·
Horse slaughter is a cruel, predatory and profit-driven industry – not a humane service for ‘unwanted’ horses. · Unlike humane euthanasia, horse slaughter causes enormous animal suffering and results in a brutal death. · Most Americans oppose horse slaughter and the public has called on the United States Congress to ban the practice. ·
States that have played unwilling host to the foreign-owned slaughterhouses (Illinois and Texas) have made their opposition to the industry clear by passing laws to ban horse slaughter. · In addition, California voters passed a ballot measure against horse slaughter while Delaware passed a resolution in support of a federal ban. Last year, an attempt to promote horse slaughter in South Dakota was defeated in the state legislature. Should NCSL approve the pro-slaughter resolution it would be acting entirely out of step with current state actions. ·
Conditions in Mexican and Canadian horse slaughter houses, where American horses are still slaughtered, are horrific with some facilities stabbing horses in the spine multiple times to induce paralysis prior to slaughter. · The US-based plants, while still operational, were hardly better. Recent information obtained by Animals’ Angels (WARNING GRAPHIC) through FOIA show that horses at US plants regularly suffered horrific injuries and conditions including: o Bloody, battered faces o Legs missing or hanging off o Eye balls dangling from their sockets o Mares giving birth to their foals at the slaughterhouse o Horses dead on arrival · A federal ban on horse slaughter will end this cruelty and NCSL is out of step with the majority of American voters in opposing the measure. ·
Wild horses are not unwanted or in need of a home, there is more than enough public land for all wild horses to roam free. In addition, Madeleine Pickens has been working with the Bureau of Land Management to provide a home for every horse currently in BLM holding facilities.
What You Can Do: If you are from a state listed below please take a moment to call or email your legislator and urge them to oppose and speak out against this misguided resolution during the conference. Be sure to share the above mentioned facts with them so they are aware of how cruel this industry is and out of step the resolution is with current public opinion and legislative actions.
For more information on horse slaughter and how you can help make a difference please visit www.every5minutes.org.
Sincerely,
Chris Heyde
Agriculture, Environment & Energy Committee
Chair: Senator Harris B. McDowell III, Delaware Harris.McDowell@state.de.us Main office: 302-744-4147 District office: 302-577-8744
Chair: Senator Stephen R. Morris, Kansas morris@senate.state.ks.us Main office: (785) 296-2419
Vice Chair: Senator Brian Bingman, Oklahoma bingman@oksenate.gov Main office: (405) 521-5528 District office: (918) 227-1856
Vice Chair: Representative John A. Heaton, New Mexico jheaton@caverns.com Main office: (575) 887-5983
Vice Chair: Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi chydesmith@senate.ms.gov Main office: (601)359-3246
Vice Chair: Representative Thomas E. Jackson, Alabama Main office: (334) 242-7738 Office: (334) 246-3597
Immediate Past Chair: Senator Beverly Gard, Indiana http://www.in.gov/legislative/senate_republicans/5315.htm Main office: (800) 832-9467
Dear Humanitarian:
At its December 10-13 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) will once again consider a resolution designed to promote the cruel and foreign-driven horse slaughter industry. Similar to the resolution considered – and defeated by Agriculture, Environment & Energy Committee– at the NCSL summer meeting, this resolution paints horse slaughter as a humane and necessary industry and calls on Congress to oppose the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Here are the facts: ·
Horse slaughter is a cruel, predatory and profit-driven industry – not a humane service for ‘unwanted’ horses. · Unlike humane euthanasia, horse slaughter causes enormous animal suffering and results in a brutal death. · Most Americans oppose horse slaughter and the public has called on the United States Congress to ban the practice. ·
States that have played unwilling host to the foreign-owned slaughterhouses (Illinois and Texas) have made their opposition to the industry clear by passing laws to ban horse slaughter. · In addition, California voters passed a ballot measure against horse slaughter while Delaware passed a resolution in support of a federal ban. Last year, an attempt to promote horse slaughter in South Dakota was defeated in the state legislature. Should NCSL approve the pro-slaughter resolution it would be acting entirely out of step with current state actions. ·
Conditions in Mexican and Canadian horse slaughter houses, where American horses are still slaughtered, are horrific with some facilities stabbing horses in the spine multiple times to induce paralysis prior to slaughter. · The US-based plants, while still operational, were hardly better. Recent information obtained by Animals’ Angels (WARNING GRAPHIC) through FOIA show that horses at US plants regularly suffered horrific injuries and conditions including: o Bloody, battered faces o Legs missing or hanging off o Eye balls dangling from their sockets o Mares giving birth to their foals at the slaughterhouse o Horses dead on arrival · A federal ban on horse slaughter will end this cruelty and NCSL is out of step with the majority of American voters in opposing the measure. ·
Wild horses are not unwanted or in need of a home, there is more than enough public land for all wild horses to roam free. In addition, Madeleine Pickens has been working with the Bureau of Land Management to provide a home for every horse currently in BLM holding facilities.
What You Can Do: If you are from a state listed below please take a moment to call or email your legislator and urge them to oppose and speak out against this misguided resolution during the conference. Be sure to share the above mentioned facts with them so they are aware of how cruel this industry is and out of step the resolution is with current public opinion and legislative actions.
For more information on horse slaughter and how you can help make a difference please visit www.every5minutes.org.
Sincerely,
Chris Heyde
Agriculture, Environment & Energy Committee
Chair: Senator Harris B. McDowell III, Delaware Harris.McDowell@state.de.us Main office: 302-744-4147 District office: 302-577-8744
Chair: Senator Stephen R. Morris, Kansas morris@senate.state.ks.us Main office: (785) 296-2419
Vice Chair: Senator Brian Bingman, Oklahoma bingman@oksenate.gov Main office: (405) 521-5528 District office: (918) 227-1856
Vice Chair: Representative John A. Heaton, New Mexico jheaton@caverns.com Main office: (575) 887-5983
Vice Chair: Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi chydesmith@senate.ms.gov Main office: (601)359-3246
Vice Chair: Representative Thomas E. Jackson, Alabama Main office: (334) 242-7738 Office: (334) 246-3597
Immediate Past Chair: Senator Beverly Gard, Indiana http://www.in.gov/legislative/
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