Stop Funding for Horse Slaughter Inspections

For the past few years the Agriculture Appropriations bill has had a provision that prohibited the use of federal funds for USDA inspections of horse slaughter facilities. However, while no one was looking, President Obama signed the bill last November without that provision, despite a 2008 campaign promise to end horse slaughter cruelty.

Since then, industry lobbyists have been working hard to reopen slaughterhouses on U.S. soil, despite opposition from a vast majority of Americans. 

On June 19, Rep. Jim Moran introduced an amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would once again block the use of federal funds for USDA inspections, which was passed by the House Appropriations Committee and will now move on to the House of Representatives for a vote on June 26.

Not only are the transport and slaughter procedures used for horses considered inhumane by citizens, industry professionals, animal protection groups and a number of professional organizations, including Veterinarians for Equine Welfare, but allocating an estimated $5 million to fund USDA inspections of horse meat and perpetuating this cruelty at the expense of the taxpayer, which will only benefit a greedy few kill buyers and foreign owned businesses during an economic downturn, is reprehensible.

Please sign and share this petition asking your representative to support language in the FY2013 Agriculture Appropriations bill that will defund horse slaughter inspections and oppose any attempt to remove it.

As someone who cares about the welfare of animals, I am writing to ask you to support Representative Jim Moran's amendment to the FY2013 Agriculture Appropriations bill that will block the use of federal funds for USDA inspections of horse slaughter facilities in the U.S.

Not only are the transport and slaughter procedures used for horses considered inhumane by citizens, industry professionals, animal protection groups and a number of professional organizations, including Veterinarians for Equine Welfare, but allocating an estimated $5 million to fund USDA inspections of horse meat and perpetuating this cruelty at the expense of the taxpayer, which will only benefit foreign owned businesses during an economic downturn, is reprehensible.

Additionally, as horses are not raised for human consumption, they are regularly given a host of drugs and medications that pose a serious risk to human health and are clearly labeled that they are not to be used in animals that will be eaten. A study published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology highlights the fact that at least one of the drugs regularly given to horses, Phenylbutazone (bute), is not only toxic to humans, but a known carcinogen. There is currently no way to trace whether or not horses that end up in the slaughter pipeline have been given these drugs.


Until last year, an amendment was in place that prevented the use of federal funds for USDA inspections of horse slaughter facilities and despite claims from industry lobbyists, no more horses are being slaughtered now than they were then.

I sincerely hope that you represent the vast majority of Americans who oppose this cruel business and again support language in the Agriculture Appropriations bill to defund horse slaughter inspections and oppose any attempts to remove it.

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