Apparently, this is a substantial, well financed lobbying source, particularly in the western states.

These interest groups use the same lobbyists as other similarly situated interest groups (i.e. Chamber of Commerce, Business groups and associations, advocacy groups, etc…,) and the lobbyists then bundle all of the constituent concerns to present a homogeneous front to legislators.

That being the case, for the sake of expediency, I’m sure that more than a few lawmakers simply consult the “bundled concerns of the most vocal of particular interest groups”, rather than scrutinize the substance of the legislation or analyze the impact on the broader citizenry.

Big money interest groups, with paid lobbyists always beats the concerns of we, the rabble!

On Friday, Jan19,after years of litigation,the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit finally upheld a 1949 Texas law banning the sale of horsemeat for human consumption. The Humane Society of the United States had filed an amicus brief in the case in March 2006, arguing in favor of the state law banning horse slaughter.Two of the three existing horse slaughter facilities in the United States are located in Texas, and as soon as the rueling goes into effect, Illinois will stand alone as the last state where American horses are slaughtered for foreign diners.

Last week, U.S. Reps. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), John Spratt (D-SC), and Nick Rahall (D-WV), and U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and JohnEnsign (R-NV0 Introduced H.R. 503/S.311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This legislation would ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and stop the export of horses for slaughter across our borders. Take action to help protect American horses forever!

iNTHE 109TH cONGRESS, THE U.S. House voted five times and the U.S. Senate voted once to stop horse slaughter, but time ran out before legislation crossed the finish line. Now, at the beginning of the 110th Congress and with this major Texas court ruling, we are poised for a big push to protect all American horses from this horrable fate. We are coming at the horse slaughter industry from all directions, and they are operating on borrowed time.

We want to shutter these plants for good but we dannot do it without your pledge to be involved every step of the way. We’ll need your action, so please be on the lookout for our updates. With your continued phone calls and emails, Congress will get the job done and save 100,000 horses per year from this grim and painful end. Let’s start now by encouraging lawmakers to cosponsor H.R. 503/S. 311 to build support for a permanent ban. With your help, we can make this a historic year for horse protection.

And don’t forget to tell your friends and family to let their legislators know that it’s time to end the brutal slaughter of America’s horses.

actions will not only make a difference, they will help make history. Help us end horse slaughter in the United States forever.

The Dallas Morning News Sunday January 21 2007 had a excellent coverage by Jim Getz Staff Writer on who did what, when, where, why and to who it’s worth looking up he covers it very well.

Suggested reading BEAUTIFUL JIM KEY The Lost History of A HORSE and A MAN Who Changed the World by MIMI EICHLER RIVAS IBSN 0-06-056703-1 Copyright 2005, well worth reading it tells the sory of a horse and a man that started a dramatic shift in the public mind that made kindness to animals a cornerstone of mordern civilization and helped launch the animal rights movement this was a century ago… my don’t we just keep backsliding…

Texas Monthly the December issue just hit the book stands, very good read by Karen Olson, They Slaughter Horses, Don’t They? The Humane Socity has a wealth of information on the subject.

Do some research and if it doesn’t get you off the fence then by all means go get your horse burger and by all means slaughter it yourself…

His Vote agianst H.R. 503 does not surprise me.

I found this bit of info that shows graphic videos of what goes on inside Dallas Crown. The horses are lead through cattle chutes, which MOST are not used to. They are spooked and scared right off the bat.

Once they are in line, they can see what is going on with the horses in front of them. I don’t know if a horse can put two and two together that if the 3 horses in front of them are getting killed… “Hey, I’m next!”

So basically, if these horses were treated with respect, and killed in an appropriate matter – I think we’d be looking at a totally different animal here (pun intended).

The legislation that Erik was talking about in the third post is very key to this issue. Now that legislation is at the federal level. A level that we only have a handful of accountable representatives and senators. The battle does NOT have to stop there. We can pass legislation here in Texas.

As it stands now, there is NO LEGISLATION IN THE STATE slated for debate. If we can organize, plan, and activate our numbers we can make change.

The way I see it, we can start by asking for legislation for better treatment of these animals by doing research and talking to veterinary medicine folks. I live in College Station, home of a very nice vet school.

Once we decide as a group what needs to be done next, we can band together and start to move forward.

Ideas?

A bunch of city folks complaining about horses being slaughtered and sold to foreign countries isn’t going to amount to a lot of pressure on them to stop, nor are congressional representatives going to be swayed when the ranching lobby is so deeply entrenched in Texas political culture. How many people who are opposed to the concept of horse slaughter in 2006 have ever even ridden a horse? Or been to a rodeo or horse show? We need to enlist horse-loving ranchers and those who raise horses for pleasure or porfit (non-slaughter profit)to join the fight against an industry that lines the pockets of politicians. We need to involve the horse assosiations, like the American Quarter Horse Association, American Paint Horses Association, National Cutting Horse Association, Appaloosa Pleasure Horse Association, etc. All these organizations have Texas chapters. Then there is the Texas Equestrian Trail Riders Association. Let’s get these people involved and vocal and organized and then maybe, we will have a serious constituent base from which to get someone’s attention. You have to have stakeholders involved or else no one will listen.

Support your local public horse stables with your patronage if you can. Ride a horse. Take riding lessons. Attend a rodeo or horse show. The more we show we value horses alive, the less value they will have dead.

I’m a bit confused by this. We kill 94,000 horses per year. Is the myth of the surplus population taking that into account? Do we know what the horse population would look like and how we would handle it if we were to not kill those 94,000 horses that we now kill yearly?

There were two amendments to the legislation in congress that would have made my previous point moot (one of the amendments would, at least.).

“Amendment sought to provide that the Secretary of Agriculture must certify that sufficient horse sanctuaries exist to care for unwanted horses before the law will take effect.” — REJECTED

The bill has been set up for failure now because if the legislation passes, there will be no provision to make sure sufficient horse sanctuaries and the surplus population will be a fact.

Good job, congress. You had a wonderful opportunity to do a good thing, but now you set it up so that you can vote against this bill saying, “Well, I would have voted for it, but there was no provision for handling the horses!”

You just set yourself up for success by setting up a GOOD piece of legislation for failure.

Bravo.

Bravo.

Fact is, folks in third world countries (and I include France and Japan on the list) have to develop a culture of conservation or there will be nothing left,
no fish,
no sharks,
no whales,
and probably in our lifetime …
no wild horses.