Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010 4:03 PM
Idaho Legislature considers horse slaughter bill
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
A joint memorial to Congress to oppose federal legislation that interferes with a state's ability to direct the transport and processing of horses for human consumption is afloat in the Idaho Legislature.
The bill also urges Congress to discontinue language in the yearly appropriation bills that prohibits funding for federal inspectors and prohibits USDA from issuing rules that provide for a user fee system for inspections.
The bill passed unanimously out of the Idaho Senate Ag Affairs Committee on Feb. 18, said sponsor Sen. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson. The House passed a similar bill last year.
Brackett is "hopeful and fairly confident" the bill will be approved and sent to Congress and the president.
"I had expected some negative comments and negative questions," in committee, he said. "But there were no negative comments; it went really well."
Since 2007, all U.S. facilities that process horse meat for human consumption have been closed. Critics of the closures say that has led to an increase in abandoned horses and hardships for those forced to feed older or useless horses or have them euthanized.
In 2007, United Horse Coalition, a broad alliance of equine organizations and the American Horse Council estimate there are 170,000 unwanted horses in the United States each year. The perception is that number is growing, according to the coalition, which surveyed more than 23,000 horse owners in 2008 and 2009.
Brackett praised people involved in horse rescue, but said "there's a hell of a lot of horses starving, being abandoned," he said. "They're private property; you should be able to do what you want with them."
The cost of feed and veterinary care for unwanted horse came to a head last year when hay costs were least $200 a ton and the economic downturn left horse owners with less expendable income, he said.
United Horse Coalition estimates the cost of providing basic care for a horse at $1,800 to $2,400 annually. With no place in the United States to process unwanted horses and existing horse rescue facilities full or struggling, owners are left with shipping them to Canada or Mexico, or abandoning or euthanizing them. In its survey, the coalition found the average cost paid for euthanasia and carcass removal was $385 per horse.
"The more common thing is just abandonment, some starve," Brackett said.
With the cost of owning a horse and the economic downturn, the secondary market has been destroyed and the salvage market is nonexistent, he said. The salvage market used to bring 30 cents to 60 cents a hundredweight. Today, it's down to 10 cents to 12 cents. So a 1,000 lb. horse that used to bring about $500 now brings about $100.
Brackett, a rancher, said his operation raises horses for its own use, but there's some surplus. Horses get older and some are unmanageable. He said there needs to be an affordable way to dispose of them.
He is optimistic Congress will listen if enough states weigh in on "what's going on in the real world," Brackett said.
To learn more
Senate Joint Memorial 104: www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2010/SJM104.htm
Unwanted Horse Coalition: www.unwantedhorsecoalition.org
In Congress
Federal legislation has been introduced to amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code to make it illegal to knowingly possess, ship, transport, purchase, sell, deliver, or receive any horse intended for human consumption.
Comments made about this article
Posted By: Birdie Johns On: 2/21/2010
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I am very happy that my Home State is doing this. Yes i know that some people use drugs that cant not be used in horses going to slaughter. I also fill that in the years to come the drugs used now will be replaced, just like cattle.
There are many people in the world that eat horse meat. That I am sure will not change.. I would rather see the horse be used for something other then just tossed away in a dump.
If we do not get the slaughter houses back up and running there soon will be no horses left.. breeding will stop.. horses will die.. and there will be no horses to take the place of the dead.
I have 30 horses right now.. only two of them can not be killed for food..
I have found other ways to doctor a horse for whatever.. and i am sure that many other people do the same thing and in time more and more people will do the same thing.
Thank you Idaho for all your doing.... Please keep up the good work.
Posted By: On: 2/20/2010
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This predatory business won't come to America again, we ran them out and now they can stay out. Just got the stats for 09, horses slaughtered for human consumption down 20 percent, and it will continue to go down as the economy is killing the irresponsible over-breeders, ie., AQHA, and the TB breeders. They would like people to believe that it's because the horse slaughterhouses in the US were closed but it 's not, even cattle are being left to starve. And the old argument that horses are personal property and we can do what we want with them is crazy, so I can start killing my dogs and cats and selling them to the Asian's? My car is my personal property, can I drive it into a lake and walk away? People have to be responsible for their breeding, if there's no market due to the economy, then stop breeding. And what about the drugs not allowed in food animals, horses being companion animals per our FDA, get drugs that are harmful to humans and yet these yay hoos want to continue to sell tainted meat to unsuspecting foreigners? Our EPA will come down on anyone that tries to open a horse slaughterhouse in the US as there's toxins to be dealt with and excess blood and tissue that has no place to go. And what about the stolen horses, remember this is a predatory business, hundreds of our horses are stolen every year but when there was horse slaughter in the US it increased 50 percent. And what about the new EU rules, no drugs in horses slaughtered for human consumption, good luck with that one.