Photo taken at RTF’s San Luis Obispo, Calif., satellite sanctuary by Cathy Wallace.
Good news! — The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today passed a surface transportation reauthorization bill that includes a bipartisan ban on transporting horses for slaughter.
The amendment mirrors the goals of two bills that RTF has long supported: the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, a horse slaughter ban bill with 229 House cosponsors, and the Horse Transportation Safety Act, which would prohibit the use of double-decker trailers to haul horses under any circumstances.
“Wild horses that once roamed freely on our public lands, pets, racehorses, work horses — no American horse deserves to be shipped to an inhumane death in a foreign slaughterhouse,” said Neda DeMayo, president of Return to Freedom, in a press release. “Horse slaughter is wholly un-American and needs to end once and for all.
“Thank you to Reps. Jeff Van Drew, Dina Titus, Tim Burchett, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and everyone on the committee who recognized the will of the American people, who overwhelmingly oppose horse slaughter, by voting for this important bipartisan amendment.”
We’re grateful for the work of RTF’s advocacy team, our coalition colleagues on Capitol Hill, and all who continue to contact Congress about the need for a slaughter ban.
What’s next:
The transportation bill moves to the floor for final passage. The Senate has not taken up action on its version, but we are working with Senate staff. Stay tuned to our social media for updates.
Why it matters:
Last year, a total of 25,050 American equines were shipped to their deaths in Mexico or Canada — the most in five years.
They included domestic horses, as well as an unknown number of once-wild and free horses and burros that fell through the cracks after being adopted or sold following government roundups.
Horses and other equines are subjected to long and dangerous transportation and brutal treatment at slaughterhouses, culminating in ineffective stunning methods that can leave them conscious during dismemberment.
A handful of kill buyers—individuals who purchase equines to turn a profit by selling them to slaughter— prey on healthy horses that could potentially find new homes, making rehoming and rescuing horses more difficult.