Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have reintroduced a bill to ban horse slaughter. The “American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011” (S. 1176) would end the slaughter of American horses here and, more urgently, stop the export of these horses for slaughter abroad. The bill has 23 cosponsors to date.
Horse slaughter currently does not occur on US soil; the last plants closed in 2007 under state laws. But without a federal ban, there is nothing to stop plants from opening elsewhere, and efforts to reestablish horse slaughter in the US continue to surface. Moreover, each year approximately 100,000 American horses are hauled to Canada, Mexico, and beyond, traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to slaughterhouses on double-deck cattle trucks without food, water, or rest. A federal law is needed to put an end to this abuse as well.