Horse slaughter ban gets nod
By NOELLE STRAUB
Star-Tribune Washington bureau
with wire reports
[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/wyoming:Middle1]
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin voted against a bill Thursday to ban the slaughter of horses for meat, saying it was an attempt by urban and Eastern members of Congress to tell Westerners how to manage their livestock.
Still, the measure was approved 263-146.
"Unfortunately what's going on here is an attempt by well-intentioned members of Congress from the East Coast to dictate how Wyoming ranchers care for their horses," said Cubin, R-Wyo.
Instead of outright banning the slaughter of horses for meat, Congress last year yanked the salaries and expenses of federal inspectors of horse slaughter operations. But the Bush administration simply started charging slaughter plants for inspections, and the slaughter has continued.
Opponents of the practice showed photographs of horses with bloodied and lacerated faces, the result of being crammed into trailers that would carry the animals to slaughterhouses.
"It is one of the most inhumane, brutal, shady practices going on in the U.S. today," said Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., a sponsor of the ban.
Cubin disagreed.
''The slaughter industry is a very heavily regulated system, it's very closely watched by the USDA,'' she said. ''That argument has no merit whatsoever.''
Wyoming ranchers know their animals and know how to take care of them, she said. ''For someone to tie their hands with what they do with their own private property is just plain ridiculous,'' she said.
The Bush administration also contended a ban would do more harm than good for horses.
"We have serious concerns that the welfare of these horses would be negatively impacted by a ban on slaughter," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in a letter released Thursday.
Defenders of horse slaughter said it offers a cheap and humane way to end a horse's life when the animal no longer is useful. They say many owners cannot afford to care for an unproductive horse.
Cubin said the bill offers ''absolutely no solutions'' for ranchers looking to manage their horses. If the horses get too old to do their job, the bill would prevent them from being sold for consumption, she said. ''They're not useful horses any more, and it's very expensive to maintain a horse,'' she said.
The approximately 90,000 horses slaughtered for consumption each year would be added to the national herd, which would soon become a ''crisis situation'' with no one to pay for the horses' care, she said.
Supporters of the bill say the horses could be adopted or euthanized. But Cubin said the country's rescue facilities don't have the capacity for that many horses each year.
''Not to mention the fact that I think it costs from $250 to $325 per horse to have a horse euthanized,'' she said. ''That's not a nominal fee to a lot of people, especially small business people, small ranchers and farmers."
Sweeney argued that the slaughter of horses is different from the slaughter of cattle and chickens because horses are American icons.
"They're as close to human as any animal you can get," said Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C.
Asked about those who say horse meat should not be sold for human consumption, Cubin said, ''Those are the very same people that idolize the Native American culture, and the Native American culture is one where historically all the tribes have eaten horse meat. That just doesn't make any sense to me at all, that argument that you shouldn't eat horse meat.''
She added that both American Indians and whites ate meat in the early days of Wyoming to survive.
''This is about taking the best care you can of the horses,'' she said. ''The way you can take the best care of horses is let the people who own them what should be done with them.''
American horse meat is sold mostly for people to eat in Europe and Asia; some goes to U.S. zoos.
If the slaughter ended in the U.S., plants in Canada and Mexico probably would take over some of the business, supporters say. Unlike other countries, U.S. law requires that horses and other livestock be unable to feel pain before they are killed.
Horse slaughter is a tiny business in the United States when compared with the beef, poultry and pork processing industries. Horses are slaughtered at three foreign-owned plants -- two in Texas and one in Illinois. In all, about 88,000 horses, mules and other equines were slaughtered last year, according to the Agriculture Department.
Opponents of horse slaughter include oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, country singer Willie Nelson and actress Bo Derek, who watched Thursday's debate from the House gallery. Supporters include former University of Wyoming and Dallas Cowboys tight end Jay Novacek, who is now a rancher.
Opponents also include the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the Humane Society of the United States. Proponents include the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the biggest horse doctors' group.
The bill's future is uncertain. The Senate has not acted on a similar bill, and Congress intends to finish its current session by the end of the month.
