A subject close to my heart and nick...

March 19, 2008 : 7:06 PM ET

Here’s something that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain all agree on: the need to protect horses from being slaughtered.

Although the last horse slaughter facility in the U.S. was closed several months ago, the horrific butchery has simply moved across our borders. But there is a solution at hand; it just needs one final boost to be put in place.

As one of the country’s top no-kill horse rescues, Best Friends has joined with other advocates to push for passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act currently under consideration by Congress.

The bill has 196 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 38 in the Senate, including presidential candidates Clinton, Obama and McCain. And those are just the numbers of cosponsors; many other legislators would no doubt vote for the bill if given the chance.

Unfortunately, there is no action on the bill right now, but Best Friends’ Laura Allen, who runs animallawcoalition.com, says, “If people start calling or writing, I think it would prompt a hearing in committee in the House or a floor vote in the Senate.”

To help, find out who your representative is, and the two U.S. senators from your state, then see if they are among the House cosponsors or on the list of Senate cosponsors. If not, drop them a line to let them know you support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and would like them to support it as well.

Jen Reid, manager of Horse Haven at the Best Friends sanctuary, says people shouldn’t be misled by the demise of slaughterhouses in the U.S. “Horses are now being subjected to longer and more inhumane transports to Mexico and Canada, where they face less regulated and even more inhumane methods of slaughter. The legislation would not only prohibit any future facilities from opening in the U.S., but also prohibit the transport of horses to other countries for the purpose of slaughter.

“We oppose horse slaughter because it is a brutal and inhumane practice. Horse slaughter isn't a necessary evil; it’s the lucrative and convenient result of over-breeding and the disposable mentality of our society.”

Best Friends took in two mares last year who were literally in line to be butchered when a judge ordered the country’s last slaughterhouse, Cavel International near Chicago, to suspend operations pending review of an Illinois law that prohibits killing horses for human consumption. A federal appeals court in October upheld the law, forcing Cavel to close.

The two horses were young and healthy, which contradicts the common misconception that only old and/or lame horses are slaughtered. In fact, the “kill buyers” prefer robust horses because there is more meat, which they sell to consumers overseas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that 92 percent of all horses slaughtered are healthy.

Best Friends is part of the Homes for Horses Coalition along with several other organizations, including national sponsors the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Welfare Institute.

Representatives from those two organizations offered lobbying tips to Allen earlier this month when she and Tamara Fleck, from the Best Friends Animal Help department, traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the bill.

Allen published an excellent first-person account of the two-day mission. She writes about the issues involved in horse slaughter and refutes the propaganda foisted upon the media by groups that support the slaughter.

Written by Michael Rinker
John Foxx stock photo