A bill to restore federal protections for wild horses and burros from the sale and subsequent slaughter for human consumption overseas overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives on April 26th by more than a two to one margin in a vote of 277 to 137. In considering today's bill, the House also defeated two "poison pill" amendments by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) which were designed to kill the legislation.
Sponsored by U.S. Reps. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), H.R. 249 restores a decades-old ban on the commercial sale and slaughter first enacted under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. The longstanding protections were removed by a controversial rider slipped into an omnibus spending bill in late 2004 by former U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, who was defeated in the 2006 elections.
"The slaughtering of America's horses is a betrayal of our responsibility to animals and a subversion of an anti-slaughter provision of law that had been in place for 34 years until it was covertly repealed just a couple of years ago," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization. "We're extremely pleased the House of Representatives voted to reflect the strong sentiments of the American public to end the barbaric slaughter of our wild horses."
"Horses are an integral part of the tapestry of this country, and Americans have always championed their survival and expect they will be protected," Rep. Rahall said. "The time has long since passed to restore the prohibition on the sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros, and I urge the Senate to heed the will of the American public and respond to common decency by supporting this legislation. We owe no less to these living symbols of the American West."
"We have a responsibility to protect wild mustangs and burros who are native to this country, who have been protected in this country," said Rep. Whitfield. "This bill simply reverses the Burns amendment and restores 34 years of public policy of protecting wild mustangs and burros."
Yesterday, a similar bill that would permanently ban the slaughter of all American horses passed the Senate Commerce Committee by a vote of 15-7. That bill, S. 311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, was authored by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.). The House companion bill, H.R. 503, also is co-sponsored by Reps. Rahall and Whitfield, along with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.).
Facts
- The number of wild horses in the US is dwindling. Down from more than 2 million in the 1800s and 56,000 in 1971, today's wild horse and burro population is approximately 31,000. The entire wild horse and burro populations of six western states have been completely eradicated.
- The Bureau of Land Management's current removal policy is costing more than $39 million tax dollars a year. According to the U.S. Geological Survey millions of dollars could be saved every year by using contraceptive measures. Since 1988, the wild horse population of Maryland's Assateague Island has been controlled using a contraceptive vaccine developed with the help of The HSUS.
- Private cattle outnumber wild horses and burros at least 200 to 1 on public lands. The BLM's private livestock grazing program encompasses 214 million acres of public lands and more than four million head of private cattle. A congressionally mandated study found that in one year, livestock consumed 70 percent of grazing resources on public lands, while wild horses and burros consumed less than 5 percent.
- Wild horses aren't the cause of rangeland degradation, according to a GAO study. The study determined the primary cause of the degradation is poorly managed domestic livestock grazing.
Timeline
- April 25, 2007: The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, S. 311/H.R. 503, advances in the Senate. This bill would ban the slaughter of all American horses.
- January 2007: H.R. 249 was introduced by Reps. Rahall and Whitfield
- May 2005: Legislation similar to H.R. 249 was passed unanimously as an amendment to the House Interior Appropriations bill. It was stripped from the final bill in a House-Senate conference committee.
- April 2005: Six horses purchased under the assumption they would be used for a church youth program instead were sent to slaughter in Illinois.
- April 2005: 35 of the 83 horses initially bought by a Sioux Indian group but later re-sold to a broker went to slaughter at the same Illinois plant. BLM has tried not to sell any horses to slaughter, but it is impossible to prevent once title has passed.
- November 2004: Sen. Burns slips rider into omnibus spending bill that strips wild horses and burros of federal protections from commercial sale and slaughter. The amendment passed with no hearings or public review.
- 1971: Congress passed the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act in response to enormous public outcry over the shootings of hundreds of thousands of horses and burros and the slaughter of horses for pet food and human consumption overseas.
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.