Tribes call for restoration of humane horse processing in the United States

The closure of horse-processing facilities in Texas and Illinois has had a far-reaching effect on the horse industry throughout the country. Without the slaughter option, the horse market has been flooded, the prices for all horses have dropped dramatically, and the livelihood of horse ranchers-tribal and otherwise-has been severely jeopardized. A collateral economic effect of the glut of horses is the devastating impact their populations are making on the environment. Forage depredation is only part of the picture. Plants important in tribal spiritual practices and medicine are being destroyed. Vegetation needed for big and small game has disappeared. Streams important to sport and Indian subsistence fisheries are degraded by silty topsoil rolling off denuded slopes. Katherine Minthorn Good Luck, spokesperson for the Northwest Tribal Horse Coalition, noting that a historic meeting of tribes from across the Nation was held in Fort Hall, Idaho last year, and that as a result strong policy resolutions have now been passed by the National Congress of American Indians. "The tribes stand shoulder to shoulder with the United Organizations of the Horse to call for the return of humane and regulated processing of horses in the U.S.," says Good Luck, "and for the ability to manage feral horses in a sensible way that will actually protect our precious lands, maintain our sacred horses at sustainable levels, and provide much needed jobs for our depressed economy."...read more