The U.S. House of Representatives on September 7 approved, by a vote of 263 – 146, H.R. 503 which would prohibit the shipping, transporting or selling of horses for humane slaughter for human consumption.
Passage of the bill was somewhat of a surprise given that the House Agriculture Committee recommended that no action be taken on it and the Energy and Commerce Committee discharged the measure without a recommendation.
Most livestock organizations as well as the veterinary professional associations (including AVMA and AASV among others) opposed the bill which provides no funding for alternative methods of disposal of unwanted horses. As a result, a method to safely dispose of nearly 80,000 additional horse carcasses annually must be developed. In addition, the opposition expressed concern over the limitations this bill would place on the property rights of horse owners to recover some value from their animals following disposal. The Humane Society of the US (HSUS) and other animal rights organizations actively supported passage of the bill.
Congress had initially attempted to ban horse slaughter last year when it approved an amendment forbidding the use of taxpayer funds to inspect horse processing plants. The foreign owners of the three remaining horse slaughter facilities were able to continue operations after negotiating with USDA to pay for their own inspections.
The legislation still must pass the Senate before it becomes law. Animal agriculture proponents have expressed concern that should this bill become law it could be used as a precedent to argue against the slaughter of other livestock species since horse slaughter was also subject to the same humane slaughter regulations that govern all livestock processing facilities.