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Redford, Richardson Join Lawsuit against slaughterhouse

Posted by on July 25, 2013

Redford, Richardson Join Lawsuit

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, July 22, 2013

 

UnknownALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Robert Redford and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday joined the divisive debate against a return to domestic horse slaughter, announcing the formation of an animal protection foundation to fight the opening of plants in New Mexico and Iowa.

The Foundation to Protect New Mexico Wildlife’s first act was to join a federal lawsuit filed by The Humane Society of the United States and other groups to block the planned Aug. 5 opening of the first horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. to operate in more than six years.

On Friday, New Mexico Attorney General Gary King also filed a motion to intervene on behalf of horse slaughter opponents.

“Horse slaughter has no place in our culture,” Redford said in a statement. “It is cruel, inhumane, and perpetuates abuse and neglect of these beloved animals.”

A lifelong horse lover, Richardson said he is committed to do “whatever it takes to stop the return of horse slaughterhouses in this country and, in particular, my own state.”

“Congress was right to ban the inhumane practice years ago, and it is unfathomable that the federal government is now poised to let it resume,” he said.

Meat from the slaughterhouses would be shipped to some countries for human consumption and for use as zoo and other animal food.

After more than a year of delays and a lawsuit by Valley Meat Co. of Roswell, N.M., the Department of Agriculture in June gave Valley Meat the go-ahead to begin slaughtering horses. Officials said it was legally obligated to issue the permits, even though the Obama administration opposes horse slaughter and is seeking to reinstate a congressional ban that was lifted in 2011.

Another permit was approved a few days later for Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa.

The move has divided horse rescue and animal welfare groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes about what is the most humane way to deal with the country’s horse overpopulation and what rescue groups have said are a rising number of neglected and starving horses as the West deals with persistent drought.

King, in an opinion in June, said the slaughter of horses with certain drugs in their system would be a violation of the state’s adulterated food act. Those drugs, he says, would include an anti-inflammatory commonly found in racehorses, and medications used to treat bacterial, parasitic and viral infections.

An Aug. 2 hearing is set the request by animal protection groups for a temporary restraining order to prevent the plants from opening and becoming the first horse slaughterhouses to operate domestically since 2007.

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