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SAFE Act Aims to Stop Transport of Horses to Foreign Slaughterhouses - National Humane Education Society

pawsupPaws Up!

To the U.S. legislators who introduced the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (H.R. 1942/S. 1214) which would prohibit the sale or transport of horses for human consumption.2horses

As a rule, most American consumers would not purchase or consume horse meat. However, foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses still existed in the U.S. until the Horse Slaughter Prohibition bill passed in 2006. This federal law banned horse slaughter for the purpose of human consumption and shut down horse slaughter houses in the United States. Several states, including Texas and Illinois, also passed state legislation to prohibit the practice of butchering horses for meat.

Unfortunately, while the 2006 ban effectively shut down horse slaughterhouses in the U.S., it failed to prohibit the sale or transport of U.S. horses to other countries for the purpose of human consumption. Recent estimates state that about 140,000 live horses are still being transported to Mexico and Canada for slaughter and consumption in foreign markets each year. To respond to this travesty, several U.S. legislators are working together to pass the SAFE Act, which would ban the export and sale of horses for the international meat market. The bill states that horses in the U.S. are routinely treated with an abundance of drugs not considered safe to humans, and that horse meat is thereby unsafe for human consumption.

Take action. Contact your legislators and urge them to pass the SAFE Act to prohibit U.S. trade in the slaughter of horses.

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13 responses to “SAFE Act Aims to Stop Transport of Horses to Foreign Slaughterhouses”

  1. Pat Butler says:

    Am I missing something here? Horses are perhaps the most beautiful, graceful animals to inhabit earth…yet we want to resort to the Neanderthal state where we rip them apart to chew on their flesh???

  2. lynn charrlin says:

    Please do not eat our best friends and do not allow it to be made easier for others in the world to do so.

    Horse slaughter is barbaric and horrific.

    • Toni Brightman says:

      I know this is old but…people don’t often keep their horses their entire lives. They get sold and re sold and many end up at auction. Horses who once knew love and care are at death’s door before they even get into the slaughter bound trucks. We have to stop this!!

  3. Mae Martini says:

    Hi Ok what I am looking for is the language in the bill stating that Mexico or Canada can not cross into US and transport the horses to their country for slaughter? Right now all I see is the US will no longer transport over the borders to SLAUGHTER?

  4. Cynthia Diez` says:

    What part of Congress needs to be contact to end the “reproduction” of horses. So that the surplus of horses are not sent to Mexico and brutally slaughtered. Or sent to Canada and slaughtered.

  5. Lisa Allen says:

    I can’t believe there are still slaughterhouses for horses. They are such friendly and beautiful animals, how can someone be so cruel? There needs to immediate action against this to stop the transport of horses to slaughterhouses.

  6. Lynette Parish says:

    So where are we at today with stopping this horrific treatment of horses? I still see “kill pens” in TX, OK, CO loading beautiful horses bound for Mexico or Canada….they die a horrible death. Anything being done? …If petitions need to be signed, I can help get sigs ….

  7. Toni Brightman says:

    We are still shipping them to Mexico and Canada. It’s horrific.

  8. Becky says:

    I have known for years that my neighbor buys and sells horses for slaughter, but I thought he had stopped and focused more on registered horses. I have just recently learned that he is buying riding horses, and he told me that if they don’t sell, he ships them to Mexico to the slaughterhouse there. He says he ships about 600 head a week. I couldn’t wrap my head around that. These are horses that people can’t afford to take care of, and they think they are going to someone as a riding horse. What can I do?

  9. Weezie Frame says:

    I have contacted my congressman many times and this still goes on. I have rescued a horse from the kill pen in NC however I put him down for many reasons. The main reason I put him down was because i did not want him to be put in the same situation. It was so more humane to have him to rest in peace. I have rescued many and some once I fixed them I’ve given them away. Now that I know what I do, the horses that I will acquire will remain with me. If I am unable to care for them they will be put to rest. If you acquire a horse it should be a commitment for life. Not only when it’s young and pretty, or suits your fancy. They are not things that are man made of steel or plastic, they are living and they do feel happiness and pain. Watch “The Kill Pen” documentary it will change your life and the horses in your [care . Write your congressman maybe if enough of us do this horrific situation of how we treat an \iconic animal ]that has transported us throughout this land in our early history will change

  10. gloria says:

    so true well said i want to start a fund to help owners do the same lay a loved horse to rest i think that might stop a little of the suffering

  11. PATRICIA LEE says:

    Must remember animals are souls. Each animal that is ingested bares a unhealthy effect on the human body. Humanity were not meant to consume any meat nor meat by- products at all. The soul of each animal always comes back with a vengeance. For instance these anima souls may come back in a form of Lipoma cysts that may out of hand all over human body, tumor growth, and glocoma. All just to name a few health issues. Flesh on top flesh is not a sound way to live. Humanity will have hell to pay!

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