Court Rejects Appeal to Illinois Horse Slaughter Ban [link]
Associated Press | June 16 2008
The Supreme Court has declined an appeal from the owners of a horse slaughtering plant who challenged an Illinois law prohibiting the killing of horses for human consumption.
Cavel International Inc. closed its plant in DeKalb, Ill., last year after a federal appeals court upheld the ban. The company urged the justices to step in to allow the facility to reopen. The court did not comment on its order Monday.
The plant was the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States. About 40,000 to 60,000 horses were processed there annually, and most of the meat was shipped to be eaten by diners overseas.
Two other U.S. plants, both in Texas, also closed in 2007.
The case is Cavel International, Inc., v. Madigan, 07-962.
XP—I'd like to know why. Why is it illegal to kill a horse for human consumption? How long before focus is turned on other species that are commonly consumed around the world? Why does the U.S. feel it must legislate against a cultural choice?
Jun 16, 2008
Jun 11, 2008
Put HSUS millions to good use.
Horse slaughter ban causing problems, some owners say [link]
Carol Barrett | June 11, 2008
STERLING — While at the Washington, D.C., fly-in, the Livestock Marketing Association group met with the chair of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., to discuss the recent horse slaughter ban.
DeLauro’s subcommittee voted to end federal funding for the slaughter plant inspections, which meant U.S. plants could not stay open.
“We told the lawmakers that horse owners want and need a legitimate, practical and humane way to dispose of their horses that have come to the end of their useful life, but still have value as a slaughter animal,” he said.
Now that they do not have this option for disposing of horses they can no longer keep, many horse owners are taking desperate measures. With the current high price of hay and other feed, some horses are simply abandoned.
Some are left at auction markets or allowed to starve. Others are illegally released with wild horse herds on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grassland. Many of these lands are already stocked to capacity, so horses are routinely rounded up and taken off the land.
In February, LMA filed an “amicus curiae” (friend of the court) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to overturn an Illinois law that closed the last U.S. plant, Caval, as well as the federal appeals court decision upholding that law.
“(Government officials) are now starting to see the consequences of this,” Santomaso said. “I don’t think they really saw what was going to happen.”
The Humane Society of the U.S. (not the more familiar American Humane Society) was instrumental in pressing for the horse slaughter ban and takes credit for it. HSUS is a political activist group. It operates no animal shelters and does not perform animal rescues of any kind.
“When you look at the millions they have in their budget, I would question their real concern for animals,” Santomaso said.
XP—Good point. Let the millions in HSUS coffers buy these unwanted horses.
Carol Barrett | June 11, 2008
STERLING — While at the Washington, D.C., fly-in, the Livestock Marketing Association group met with the chair of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., to discuss the recent horse slaughter ban.
DeLauro’s subcommittee voted to end federal funding for the slaughter plant inspections, which meant U.S. plants could not stay open.
“We told the lawmakers that horse owners want and need a legitimate, practical and humane way to dispose of their horses that have come to the end of their useful life, but still have value as a slaughter animal,” he said.
Now that they do not have this option for disposing of horses they can no longer keep, many horse owners are taking desperate measures. With the current high price of hay and other feed, some horses are simply abandoned.
Some are left at auction markets or allowed to starve. Others are illegally released with wild horse herds on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grassland. Many of these lands are already stocked to capacity, so horses are routinely rounded up and taken off the land.
In February, LMA filed an “amicus curiae” (friend of the court) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to overturn an Illinois law that closed the last U.S. plant, Caval, as well as the federal appeals court decision upholding that law.
“(Government officials) are now starting to see the consequences of this,” Santomaso said. “I don’t think they really saw what was going to happen.”
The Humane Society of the U.S. (not the more familiar American Humane Society) was instrumental in pressing for the horse slaughter ban and takes credit for it. HSUS is a political activist group. It operates no animal shelters and does not perform animal rescues of any kind.
“When you look at the millions they have in their budget, I would question their real concern for animals,” Santomaso said.
XP—Good point. Let the millions in HSUS coffers buy these unwanted horses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
