Act today, West Virginia Residents:

For over ten years, Safe Food Advocates, as well as Horse Advocates, have been able to work to assure Horse Slaughter has not re-opened in America by working yearly to secure the De-Funding of Horse Slaughter Inspections.

No USDA Inspectors means no plants in operation. Slaughter isn’t illegal in the USA. We simply simply secured the votes needed to not spend American Tax Dollars to fund this industry.

The De-funding of Inspections in Horse Slaughter plants is an issue the horse community must work on each year, though. We need YOUR Voice each year, and we need it in West Virginia more than anywhere.

We should never use American TAX dollars to re-open an unethical industry in the USA which kills companion horses with the knowledge almost all have received medications that makes their bodies entirely dangerous for human consumption. And we certainly should never slaughter and ship unsafe food overseas to people.

We should never process an animal in our county that we know has a high chance of being grossly unsafe for export for human consumption. Regardless of feelings on eating horses from a stand point of the “Companion” animal standpoint, supporting a process where the USA exports of toxic meat to people is unfathomable. The vast majority of horses being slaughtered from the USA continually test positive for carcinogens (from Bute, for instance, which is given to most horses at least once in their lives and is illegal in food production animals).

“Taking funding from agricultural industries that feed and employ Americans to reopen inherently cruel, foreign-demand-driven horse slaughter plants puts American agricultural industries at risk and long-term food safety, environment and community health in peril.”

While horses are still shipped over our borders, de-funding slaughter inspections here remains an excellent step toward ending export of US horses for meat, help. Now is not the time to backtrack.

Less than 2% of American Horses face slaughter yearly. A few small industry changes would reduce this number. Slaughter has never been a viable answer to any equine challenges we face.

If you are in West Virginia, I am asking you to PLEASE act now. Today.

Our Senators are on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Representative Evan Jenkins is on the House Appropriations Committee, and We haven’t found these representatives to be supportive of Anti-Horse Slaughter efforts in the past.

They need to hear from the people of West Virginia to know we support DE-FUNDING HORSE SLAUGHTER Inspections.

Feel free to use your own words or those below, but regardless, please call or email today.

"Senator or Congressman ______________,

I am one of your constituents in West Virginia. 
I am calling/emailing to request you vote in favor of continued 
defunding of horse slaughter plant inspections in the United States. 
Slaughter costs tax payers money, provide toxic food to 
people overseas and isn't humane to American Horses."

It can be THAT SIMPLE , so Call and Email each representative today

Sen. Capito: https://www.capito.senate.gov/contact/contact-shelley or call 202-224-6472
Sen. Manchin: https://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form or call 202-224-3954
Congressman Jenkins: https://evanjenkins.house.gov/contact or call (202) 225-3452

 

More Talking Points Prepared by Advocates for your use when emailing:
Forcing American Taxpayers to Pay for Horse Slaughter is Fiscally Irresponsible
• The federal government could spend millions of taxpayer dollars to open new horse slaughter plants.
• The budget of the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service is already stretched thin, and the USDA should not extend funding for a new program to slaughter horses — a practice that 80% of Americans oppose.
• The proposed FY 2018 budget by the Trump administration calls for a 21% cut in the USDA budget. Money for horse slaughter plant inspectors from the USDA would come from this diminished budget to inspect meat that neither Americans nor their pets consume.
Drugs and Substances Routinely Given to Horses are Dangerous to Humans.
• Due to serious food safety concerns, the European Union suspended horsemeat imports from Mexico – where 87% of horses slaughtered for export to the EU are of U.S. origin.
• Horses are not raised for human consumption in this country. They are gathered from random sources and routinely receive drugs and other substances, both illegal and legal, that can be toxic to humans.
Having Horsemeat in the U.S. Risks the Reputation of Our Food Industry.
• When horsemeat was discovered in meat products in Europe, frozen burger sales in the U.K. dropped by 43%, and sales of frozen-meat dishes in France dropped by 30%. When the USDA was asked if this contamination could happen here, their only reassurance was that horses aren’t slaughtered in the U.S.
Horse Slaughter Cannot Be Made Humane for Horses.
• Due to their biology, the methods used to kill horses—even in the last slaughter plants that operated in the U.S.—rarely result in quick, painless deaths, as the horses often endure repeated stuns or blows and sometimes remain conscious during slaughter and dismemberment.
• When plants previously operated in the U.S., the USDA documented rampant cruelty violations and severe injuries to horses in the slaughter pipeline, including broken bones, horrific wounds, and eyeballs hanging from their eye sockets. Horses were still transported long distances to slaughter plants, and tens of thousands were still exported to Mexico and Canada for slaughter.