Slaughterhouse Resumes Killing Horses After Court Upholds Ban on Sale of Horsemeat for Human Consump

[Solitaire]

This is the result of apathy. If we do not get S. 311 and H.R. 503 passed as soon as possible, more horses will be brutally killed.

Please, call your representatives and senators tomorrow! Please tell them that you want this barbarism to end.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Slaughterhouse Resumes Killing Horses After Court Upholds Ban on Sale of Horsemeat for Human Consumption

Belgian-Owned Dallas Crown Ignored HSUS Offer to Take Custody of Horses Stuck in Pipeline and Place them at Horse Sanctuaries

WASHINGTON (Feb. 5, 2007) – Despite an offer by The Humane Society of the United States to take custody of approximately 100 horses caught for up to two weeks in the slaughter pipeline after a federal court ruling upheld a Texas state law banning the sale of horsemeat for human consumption, Kaufman-based Dallas Crown, Inc. resumed slaughtering the animals this afternoon. A trailer from Cosco Container Lines Americas, Inc. was seen parked outside the plant, but it is unclear whether the horsemeat will be shipped overseas for human consumption, which is illegal in Texas.

The HSUS wrote to Cosco late Friday and informed the company that shipping horsemeat for human consumption is illegal in the state Texas. The HSUS also received a letter of confirmation today from Delta Air Lines that it has ceased the shipment of horse meat; American Airlines and Continental Airlines also have said they stopped their involvement in the horse slaughter industry.

Eyewitnesses at Dallas Crown said the horses were packed in the holding pen to overcapacity and had concerns they may have had little to no access to hay and water. In a letter sent on Jan. 31 to Michiel de Beukelaar’s, president of Belgian-owned Dallas Crown, Inc., HSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle wrote, “e are prepared to take custody of, provide care and transport and assume all legal responsibility immediately for the horses owned or in the custody of Dallas Crown.” The slaughter plant did not respond.

“Dallas Crown’s decision to allow these animals to languish for days while the company maneuvered to slaughter them is consistent with their absolute disregard for animal welfare. Unfortunately, this is what happens to so many horses -- tens of thousands a year routinely endure long-distance transport and holding prior to slaughter,” Pacelle said. “We’re hopeful that with Texas law on our side and a strong movement in Congress to ban horse slaughter nationwide and stop the export of American horses for slaughter, this grisly industry is in its last throes.”

Legislation to ban the slaughter of American horses nationwide was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate earlier this month by Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.), and Reps. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.) Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), John Spratt (D-S.C.), and Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) introduced a companion bill, H.R. 503.

The measure received tremendous bipartisan support in the 109th Congress, winning a vote of 263 to 146 in the House. It stalled in the Senate in late 2006, however, and was not brought up for a vote before Congress adjourned, even though a similar effort had been overwhelmingly approved by the Senate in 2005.



For more information on how you can help end this, please go to: http://horses.generitek.com and also, please sign a petitin at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/631181096?z00m=22788

[madrchsod]

1. i know how one slaughter house was stopped years ago....

let the europeans raise their own horse meat and see what happens...

[Solitaire]

2. and what's worse...

is that we Americans are allowing this to happen. These slaughter plants make millions of dollars, but because they take the profit in Europe (and spend it there too), they pay NO taxes!

We are being made fools of, on top of them killing our horses.

[lonestarnot]

3. Disgusting practices of American capitalists. How many bills

do we need to pass to stop this crap. I thought it was taken care of, but apparently greed overpowers the masses again.

[Solitaire]

4. it's not been taken care of...

please, call your reps and senators. It's the only way we will get this done!

This is going on in Barack Obama's own state! And he's not yet a co-sponsor.

To be honest, I'm becoming ashamed of everything that is going on.

You would think that since the slaughter houses pay no taxes, since they take their profits in Europe that at least this might be an incentive, but not even this!

:(

[lonestarnot]

5. I will be calling, count on it!

[michaz]

25. I sent him an email.

Let's all send him one.

[lonestarnot]

6. Kick

[robcon]

7. Who cares if we eat horses or cows or pigs?

I don't care which animal people eat. I've never had horse, and I probably never will. But I don't mind if others eat it.

[fidgeting wildly]

8. If you don't object to horse slaughter on principle, that's your prerogative.

But please educate yourself about the industry and what these plants do to their communities.

This is from an article that ran in the Dallas Observer about the goings-on at the Dallas Crown plant. WARNING--IT'S SOMEWHAT GRAPHIC.

At the Dallas Crown horse-slaughtering plant, located alongside a poor but friendly black neighborhood in nearby Kaufman, the specter of death spreads far past the guarded boundaries of the industrial facility. Horse hides flop off a rickety conveyor belt and lie for hours in an uncovered trailer, unleashing a vicious, far-reaching odor that swarms up and down the narrow residential streets. Discarded bones lie in an adjacent backyard, perhaps thrown over by Crown employees or licked dry and left by stray dogs that gnawed off the meat when no one was looking. Then there are the horses. You can hear them rustle and neigh nervously as they await a trip to a sterile pen to face the lethal bolt that will pound them in the skull.

Slaughtering around 300 horses a week, Dallas Crown has enraged animal lovers and local residents alike. The plant ships horsemeat overseas for human consumption and processes leftover parts for scraps. But the grim and unusual task of its business is only half the story. For at least five years, the plant 30 miles east of Dallas has frequently clogged the local sewer system with blood, grease, hay and manure and has failed to pay nearly 30 fines levied for alleged violations of city ordinances. Now, after years of apathy, angry city officials have taken steps to close the plant, belatedly fulfilling the dreams of the long-ignored African-American residents of the tiny Boggy Bottoms neighborhood, which takes its name after the mud that once gathered on top of their unpaved streets.

More at this link: All the Pretty Horses...Are Slaughtered at Dallas Crown.

Dallas Crown is not a nice place, for the horses or for the community.

[robcon]

9. I visited a pig slaughterhouse in WI, and a chicken slaughterhouse in NY

They were, as you wrote, not a nice place for pigs/chickens. Not meant to be. They converted living animals into meat products.

Why the outrage about horses, as compared to pigs, cows, chickens or turkeys?

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Such as providing jobs to the people in the community?

How much money will you be sending to help the former workers in these plants who will be unemployed?

[catgirl]

11. Work on a farm

There are plenty of small farms that are short of workers.

[Solitaire]

12. A few replies:

Firstly, Robcon there is a difference between cows and pigs. I don't eat either, but that's not the point here.

We interact with horses. They have and do carry our soldiers, our police and our children. Slaughtering horses is the same as slaughtering dogs and cats; they are our pets not our food. If it wasn't for horses, we would not have been able to settle this entire country in the time we did. In addition, horses are used in therapy programs which help handicapped children and even now our soldiers who have been wounded in battle. Would you slaughter your seeing eye dog?

Anyone who sends their horse to slaughter should be called "Judas", because instead of humanely euthanizing their animal for $200, they would prefer to gain $200 from the killer buyer.

If I haven't convinced you yet, please watch a video on how these foreigers are slaughtering our horses, but I warn you it is graphic: http://www.saplonline.org/slaughtervhumaneeuth.htm

And, if I still have not convinced you of this atrocity, then please watch here, because some of our horses are sent to Mexico, where they believe the more you torture the animal the more tender his meat is: http://www.hsus.org/video_clips/horse_slaughter_cruelty.html

This is the ultimate betrayal. We teach our horses to trust us, so that they will work with us and for us and then we send them to that death.

As for the workers, I'm sure they can find another job besides doing this heinous act. And a job is absolutely not a reason to support animal cruelty.

I hope that this will help answer your questions.

Sol

PS I forgot to mention that they killed the rest of the horses at Dallas Crown today.

[robcon]

14. I disagree.

You wrote, Solitaire: "Slaughtering horses is the same as slaughtering dogs and cats; they are our pets not our food."

Unless they are our food.

Your perspective is ok - but I disagree. Horses can be food. It's unlikely they will ever be MY food, but why would I care if a horse is slaughtered instead of a cow? I don't object to your 'sensitivity' about horses, but please don't object if I have no 'sensitivity' at all whether horses, cows, chicken, turkeys, rabbits, deer or goats are turned into food. Humans are omnivores - they'll eat a lot of things.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. That's a very Anglo-Saxon perspective.

Horses are eaten regularly in most of continental Europe; it's only in the UK and countries with culture influenced by that of Britain that there's a taboo on eating horsemeat. Nothing more than a culturally biased perspective.

[aaronbees]

13. Great article....

Last year a trailer full of horses stopped in my city and I believe they were headed to a similar plant in or near Fort Worth. The driver was questioned by the cops after the trailer had a blowout and was being repaired at a local business. I believe the driver was charged a few weeks later with animal abuse. I'll never forget the look of those injured horses huddled up and bloody in that trailer on the way to an even grimmer fate. :(

[AngryAmish]

18. Dekalb likes their horse slaughterhouse

Real low-key, pays their taxes and gives folks jobs.

[michaz]

19. And really sick!

Just can't imagine liking the killing of horses in such a barbaric way.

[michaz]

16. My suggestion is

that every Senator and Representative take a trip to one of these slaughter houses. After they see the barbaric way they are killed and the horrendous way they are kept till they are killed they will understand. It is quite simple and a common sense thing to me: If it is illegal to eat horse meat in the US then ya just don't allow slaughterhouses for horses here either. It shouldn't be allowed both ways! If it is okay in Europe then keep it all there. Enough is enough! Please don't give me the line that we eat pigs, cows and turkeys. Show me where these animals were a major part of our history and how we interact with them.

[Rosemary2205]

17. I am a total hypocrite on this

I don't see the moral difference between slaughtering a horse or a pig or a cat for that matter - just as long as people know what they are eating. Quite frankly I'm grateful someone on this planet is willing to do the job of slaughtering an animal for me. I admit it. I like a little animal protein in my diet and I just lack the fortitude to turn an animal into supper. If I gave up animals tomorrow I'd be dead of malnutrition within a year. My injured body has additional protein and nutritional requirements and I have proven in the past that I am incapable of supplying those nutrients on a vegetarian basis.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

20. whats the difference between a horse/cow/pig?

i think cows and pigs are pretty cute too.

[michaz]

23. This doesn't have anything to do with cute!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. well so what does it have to do with?

how are horses so different from cows?

[michaz]

26. Horses are pets and an integral part of our history.

We do not allow them for consumption in the US so why would we allow slaughter houses to kill them and send them overseas. It seems rather hypocritical to me.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

27. we should allow them for consumption here.

its hypocritical not to when we allow cows/dear/pigs.

[michaz]

28. Gee, maybe we should eat dogs and cats too!

Sarcasm for sure.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. i think its hypocritical to hold one animal over others. cats/dogs are omniverous

most cultures do not eat omnivores but so long as they are not specifically stealing my pet i honestly dont get the difference.

[semillama]

21. Where are these horses coming from?

Are they feral horses, or horses from farms and ranches that were seen as disposable?

Actually, I guess it doesn't matter, since that wouldn't change the conditions. But there's a good argument for the eradication of feral horses in the wild - just make sure it's done as humanely as possible.

[flvegan]

22. Thanks, Solitaire.

You've been all over this topic for a long time. Good to see this getting around.

Ignore the folks that make this about "why is this different than a pig slaughterhouse?" as they don't get it. These animals were abused, the trade is illegal and the majority of our congressional leaders are obviously for the banning of the practice.

It is a brutal practice, and I'm glad that HSUS is (as usual) leading the way on this initiative. Pacelle is the man!