Bill S.311 has the potential to prevent you from being able to haul your animal to compete, to rodeo, to breed, to sell at a sale or privately, to cross statelines and so on as it currently reads as it can be interpretted by those who would benefit or feel "rightous" in preventing rodeo competitors, barrel racers, 4-H competitors, breeders, sellers, from doing what they enjoy doing for sport or employment. It opens the equine world up to being told who, what, when and where you can do what you can do with your horses. What everyone also needs to realize is that this is NOT going to stop with horses...it is going to progress to every meat food source out there, sport, showing, ect.
Here is a copy of one of the e-mails I received on this subject today...now, they aren't just telling you that you can't slaughter a horse for any reason, it is set up so that it is possible that anyone can LEGALLY tell you that you can't do what you love....and they would have the standing to prosecute you for it....do you haul your barrel horse to arena's to compete?
"I just wanted to bring you up to date on a bill that makes me
sick to my stomach to think about and how it could cripple the
horse industry in America. This is S.311 pertaining to the
banning slaughter. I have copied and pasted the update from the
Library of Congress website below.
>
>S.311
>Title: A bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit
the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving,
possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and
other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for
other purposes.
>Sponsor: Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] (introduced
1/17/2007) Cosponsors (25)
>Related Bills: H.R.503
>Latest Major Action: 4/25/2007 Senate committee/subcommittee
actions. Status: Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment
favorably.
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------
>
>ALL ACTIONS:
> 1/17/2007:
> Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation.
> 4/25/2007:
> Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
>For those of you not in the know on this bill, here are some
concerns I have (although I could get really nasty about this,
I will try to contain myself):
>
>1. Though this bill is to ban the slaughter of horses in the
US for any purpose, it does not have any provision or intention
of a provision for what to do with unwanted horses. Although
there is a suggested appropriation of $5,000,000, nothing has
been suggested as to how to put this money into action - and we
all know how much of that money will be actually go to the
horses. Also - this bill only makes this provision one time,
not $5 million a year, just 5 million total. This bill will
effect approximately 90,000 horses each year - in three years
that is 270,000 horses and in 10 years, this number of unwanted
horses will grow to over 900,000 horses, not to mention the
number that will be reproduced within this group which would
have otherwise not been allowed to do so. None of us want our
performance horses, trail horses or back yard pets to be
slaughtered; but the fact is, not all horses are functional.
What are we to do with horses that are dangerous, injured or
born crippled. I just had a colt born a few weeks ago who is
blind as a bat...what use is anyone going to have for him. I
will give him to anyone who wants him.
>
>2. If you interpret this bill as read, with the current
punctuation, it reads that the bill is to prohibit the
shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving,
possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses for
slughter, or any other purposes. Read the exact bill statement
above. Because of the comma, the "or any other purposes" is a
phrase attached to the subject of the sentence...no shipping,
transporting, etc. What would that mean? No buying or selling,
no trailering your horses to pasture, no rodeos, shows or trail
riding in the badlands (or anywhere else where you transport
them to). Although I don't believe they intended it to read
that way - they intended to ban slaughter for any purpose (no
glue, zoo meat, dog food, etc) - it does read that way.
>
>3) Another piece of the bill that is not included in the
statement is a clause (see
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/query/z?c110:S.311: for full text), in section e that
says: "The secretary may detain for examination, testing, or
the taking of evidence A) any horse at any horse show, horse
exhibition, or horse sale or auction that is sore or that the
Secretary has probably cause to believe is sore: and B) any
horse or other equine that the secretary has probably cause to
believe is being shipped...in violation of section 5(8)"; but
it doesn't say what 5(8) is. So assuming they allow you to
trailer your horse to a show, if it gets hurt there, you may be
subject to investigation...for what? abuse, neglect? I am not
sure what they are exactly getting at there, but it scares me.
Those of us who show and rodeo or use our horses for any other
purpose are highly concerned with the condition of our animals.
>
>The slaughter market provides the basis for the value of all
horses. Without it, and with too many horses on the market, it
devalues all horses. Many of you would not consider eating
horse meat. I happen to have that kind of aversion to eating
tomatoes. But I don't expect the governement to tell all of you
that you can't eat them, just becuase I find it disgusting. It
floors me that we would allow this to happen in the U.S. I have
many more concerns about this bill, but will not continue
to "beat the (proverbial) dead horse".
>
>Yesterday the senate committee ordered this bill to be
reported without amendment favorably. Please contact your
legislators immediately and ask them to oppose this bill."
