Spending Bill Would Effectively Ban Horse Slaughterhouses

State and federal lawsuits that have repeatedly delayed the opening of horse slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Missouri could be moot if the budget bill up for a vote in Congress this week passes without changes. The spending bill released Monday night would effectively reinstate a federal ban on horse slaughter by cutting funding for inspections at equine facilities. Opponents of attempts to resume domestic horse slaughter applauded the measure. Proponents, however, contend domestic slaughter is the most humane way to deal with a rising number of abused and abandoned horses. Currently, unwanted horses are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. Some Indian tribes support a return to slaughter, saying exploding feral horse populations are destroying their rangelands. "It is certainly disappointing that Congress is returning to a failed policy at the urging of special interest groups while failing to provide for an alternative," said Blair Dunn, an attorney for Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, N.M., and Rains Natural Meats in Gallatin, Mo. " The result is more waste and devastation of the range and the denial of access to an export market that would have created jobs and positive economic impacts to rural agriculture communities that desperately need these opportunities." Animal rights groups and the Obama administration have been lobbying for the funding cut, as well as outright bans on horse slaughter in the United States. Congress cut funding for inspections at horse slaughterhouses in 2006, but reinstated the funding in 2011, four years after the last of the domestic plants closed...more