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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The link below gives information on recent legislation on horse slaughter in the United States. The issue of the “Unwanted Horse” and Slaughter regulation is becoming a very complicated and emergency issue in the United States. Michigan Equine Partnership has formed a committee to address this issue. Stay tuned and visit our web site for more information. http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/sep08/080915t_pf.asp
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Calling All Horse Enthusiasts to Take Action
Attached is a data base for the Congressional Members of the Judiciary Committee in Washington DC that will be hearing HR 6598 tomorrow in committee. Also included in the data base is the Michigan Delegation to Congress. We would recommend that you send comments to each of them via email, if available or by FAX.
The following comments are furnished by the MEP Committee on the “Unwanted Horse” and provide very good points on the legislation for the congressman to consider.
Suggested language of letter or email to each Congressman is as follows:
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Dear Honorable Congressman Conyers,
I write to you today with my concerns for HR 6598 of which a marked up version will be considered in Judiciary Committee on September 10, 2008. I would request that you read the following comments as to why I feel that this is bad legislation.
Funding of care for unwanted horses. HR 6598 does not address the funding required to care for or disposal of an additional 90,000+ horses per year. Inadequate funding often creates inadequate care, which is a significant welfare concern for unwanted horses. At approximately $1,900 per horse each year, the total cost of HR 6598 could be $127 million in the first year alone.
Ambiguous language of the bill itself. HR 6598 seeks to prohibit the shipping, transportation, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered, and for other purposes. “Other purposes” is not defined and, if taken literally, could mean the transportation of horses for any reason, including sporting events, sales, recreation or transportation for medical care. This language is detrimental to the equine industry as a whole and if not addressed, could have unintended consequences.
Standards of Care. Currently, there are no uniform national guidelines to authenticate or regulate the ability of equine rescue or retirement facilities to provide appropriate care for the horses they receive. Also, the U.S. would need an additional 2,700 rescue shelters in order to care for the increased numbers of horses. Even if standards of care were imposed on these facilities, enforcement at such a large number of facilities would require a serious additional financial and human resources commitment for the appropriate government oversight agency.
Long-term placement of affected horses. HR 6598 fails to address how and where unwanted horses will be placed if horse processing is banned. The major breed organizations already are hearing cases of horses abandoned at auction facilities
Reclassification of Equine to Companion Animals. Changing the legal status of horses to companion animal could, in effect, have several potentially negative ramifications to add to an already suffering horse industry. These include, but are not limited to:
- Risks to federal and state funding of the tracking and containment of equine diseases
- Certain Tax classifications
- Equine limited-liability laws
- Anti-Cruelty laws
- State/Local zoning ordinances
- Availability of emergency disaster relief funds
I appreciate the opportunity to address this issue with you and ask you to consider not supporting this effort or at the very least delay voting on the issue until all sides of the discussion are completely understood.
Sincerely,
Your Name Here
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Click below to get a Microsoft Word document containing all the text of the letter given above and an Excel Spreadsheet containing the Congessional Contacts to send the letter to.