Support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act!
America's wild horses and burros may seem to enjoy a carefree life, munching on grasses and running free across huge open plains. In fact, thanks to a 2004 law that amended Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the BLM must now round up horses that are ten years or older and sell them at auctions, where many are sold for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.
These animals are an important part of the American success story, allowing early European explorers and settlers to range as far as they did. As horrific as it is, these national treasures are now rounded up in the tens of thousands, subjected to cramped and deprived traveling methods, and shipped to slaughter plants in Canada and Mexico. There, they are brutally dismembered while still conscious.
These national treasures deserve to be treated humanely. Sign this petition to show your support for the passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act!
I am writing out of grave concern regarding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-sanctioned roundups of America's wild horses and burros. These intelligent animals have historically worked our fields, pulled our families in wagons, and carried us across continents; now, we reward such fidelity by rounding them up, brutally slaughtering them, and selling their meat abroad.
Tens of thousands of these unfortunate America horses are shipped to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada each year, where they face painful, protracted deaths. Typically, the frightened creatures are herded through narrow alleys into "kill chutes," where they are shot in the head or neck with bolt gun. In Mexico, knives are used. Either way, this practice paralyzes but does not kill the animal so that they are then hung and dismembered while still conscious and blinking.
I am writing, therefore, to show my deep support for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, which will end the export of horses for the purpose of slaughter. Protect our national treasure and end decades of cruelty!
Sincerely,
[your name here]
