UPDATE: Perhaps as early as TOMORROW, not next week, the US Senate will take up an issue dealt with by the House in the last session: the defunding of USDA inspectors at horse slaughter plants and at the border where horses are shipped for slaughter outside the US. The amendment in question is the Ensign/Byrd Amendment to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. It is the Senate version of the Sweeney/Spratt Amendment that was overwhelmingly passed by the House in the last session.
Anti-slaughter activists are asking that those of us who would like to see a horse slaughter ban in the US to contact their senators to ask them to vote yes on the Ensign Amendment:
Ensign/Byrd Amendment
Why is this amendment significant? It will put a stop to the horse slaughter industry for the 2006 fiscal year while anti-slaughter advocates work to get HR 503 and it's companion bill (Ensign/Landrieu's American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) passed.
More below the fold:
This is a significant step forward for the anti-slaughter movement, which has been working towards this goal for years. It has been a grassroots movement that has only recently gotten attention in DC. Last year's efforts came very close with HR 857. That bill had 228 co-sponsors in the House yet was buried in the Agriculture Committee by Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and never brought out of committee for a floor vote, where it would have been passed easily. One man was able to stop the bill in it's tracks.
Who is behind this grassroots movement? Many people, here are two groups out of many:
http://www.habitatforhorses.org/
http://www.horse-protection.org/
The meat industry has spent considerable money on stopping the anti slaughter movement. They fear that it will create a slippery slope that will lead to more regulation in their industry. It is also a very lucrative trade in Europe and Asia, as horse meat has always been considered fine cuisine and horse meat gets top dollar (particularly after the Mad Cow outbreak caused many to stop eating beef in reaction to the epidemic).
Anti slaughter advocates are generally those Americans who consider the horse a pet and object to the brutality of the horse slaughter industry that is set up using shipping equipment and machinery designed for the slaughter of cows, pigs, etc. that is inadequate (ie:brutal) when dealing with horses.
It is also driven by what can best be described as a general skeviness (sp?) associated with the horse slaughter industry best detailed in this article:
http://www.nuvo.net/archive/2005/08/03/dead_meat.html
Owners wishing to re-home their pets (for whatever reason) often fear what will happen to them once they are sold:
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/News/Apr-May05/HorseSaved.htm
I could go on forever to explain why so many Americans would like to see horse slaughter stopped. There just isn't room here, so I am letting those Kossacks who are interested in this campaign know that a significant vote is just days away. Please, if you are one of those Kossacks, let your Senator know how you feel.
Note: I know there are many, many people out there who don't get this campaign at all...why horses, why not all animals? It's just another animal to many people. And that's your right. I just want to try and reach those people who would like to know what's going on and let them know how to take action if they want to.