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Tell Congress to Ban Horse Slaughter Once and for All!

Posted by on June 28, 2013

Tell Congress to Ban Horse Slaughter Once and for All!

Please Support the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (S. 541/H.R. 1094)

As several states (New Mexico, Oklahoma, etc.) move closer to opening horse slaughter plants on U.S. soil for the first time in six years, federal legislation to ban the horrific practice of horse slaughter is needed NOW! 

Revelations this year that horsemeat accidentally entered the food chain overseas have put a media spotlight on the issue of horse slaughter. It seems that horse slaughterers are incapable of preventing horsemeat from mingling with their other products. If it can happen there, it can happen here. Fortunately, Congress is responding.

Introduced in both chambers of Congress, The Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (S. 541 and H.R. 1094) will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the U.S. and ban their export abroad for that purpose. This bill will protect our nation’s horses from the predatory horse slaughter industry and protect the public from toxic horsemeat. The SAFE Act is sponsored by  Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Representatives Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Your action could mean the difference between life and horrible death for more than 100,000 U.S. horses — both wild and domestic — each year. So please take these two easy steps today:

1. Call your Senators and Representative and ask them to co-sponsor this critically important bill. Your legislators’ telephone numbers will appear under their pictures below. It’s simple and only takes a minute. All you have to say is this:

“Hello, I am a constituent of Sen./Representative ___, and I am calling to ask that he/she co-sponsor the Safeguard American Food Exports Act, S541/HR 1094. Horse slaughter is a cruel and unacceptable practice opposed by the vast majority of Americans. Since horses are not raised for food in the U.S. and are commonly given a variety of drugs, the product produced is unsafe for human consumption.”  If your Senator or Representative is already a sponsor of the bill, please thank him/her very much.

2. Follow up your telephone call by personalizing and sending the sample email below.  Please note that you may be asked to choose a subject or topic area: choose or fill in “Agriculture.”

Thank you very much for your support. And thanks to our coalition partners, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the U.S., and the Animal Welfare Institute for their hard work on Capitol Hill to pass this bill.

In order to address your message to the appropriate recipient, we need to identify where you are.
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 Background Information (Courtesy of the ASPCA)

The cruelties associated with horse slaughter are well documented. Passage of the SAFE Act will not only ensure that predatory horse slaughterers cannot reopen their doors here in the U.S.—it will also stop the trafficking of horses to slaughterhouses over our borders.

As you know, horse slaughter isn’t a humane end for horses. There is no such thing as a commercial horse slaughter plant that does not inflict cruelty on horses. And horse slaughter is not only bad for horses, it’s also bad for people. Meat from American horses is unsafe for human consumption. Our horses are not raised as food animals; they are raised to be companions, sport competitors or work partners. Horses are routinely given medications and other substances that are toxic to humans and are expressly forbidden by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in animals intended for human consumption.

Enacting a ban on horse slaughter has never been more urgent! The USDA has announced its intention to approve a permit allowing a New Mexico slaughterhouse to begin slaughtering horses. Help us prevent this and any other slaughterhouses from butchering even a single American horse.

The majority of Americans oppose horse slaughter. Americans don’t eat horses and we don’t want our tax dollars spent to subsidize this cruel industry that subjects American horses to terror, trauma and a horrific death in order to supply foreign markets for horse meat. Please act today!

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