| Moran Amendment Will Not Stand. Horse Industry Will Continue to Build a Better Future for Horse and Horse PeopleThe amendment accepted by the House Appropriations Committee isn’t much of a surprise, it’s just a bump in the road to reestablishing humane, government-regulated equine processing in the United States. The Senate has wisely refused to include such language in its Ag spending bill, or the Farm Bill, so we’ll do what we did a year ago: remove the short-sighted language in conference committee should it come to that. Bottom Line – We are confident wiser heads will ultimately prevail.
The Moran amendment does NOT deal with the real issues of starving horses, or the demise of the horse as a valued domestic animal as indicated by the more than 70% drop in numbers of horses available for pleasure, sport, and work, nor does it deal with all of the problems that have happened to the horse world as a direct result of HSUS action since 2007.
The Moran amendment would, in fact, increase and exacerbate these problems by rendering literally worthless hundreds of thousands of valuable horses as completely unmarketable…undoubtedly increasing the burden on local agencies and taxpayers to deal with them…a loss and a cost, including thousands of equine jobs, that would far exceed the potential revenue to every level of government generated by normal commerce and a free market.
It is sad that opponents of equine processing contend it’s okay to euthanize an unwanted horse, but it’s not okay to use exactly the same methods to do so under a USDA-regulated, modern and humane system that allows the horse to provide economic value to the farmer/owner and high grade protein to the ultimate purchaser of horse meat, whether here or abroad.
Jim Moran of Virginia is an “inside the beltway congressman” doing the bidding of the largest, most aggressive political animal rights organization-yet another Washington D.C. special interest group raising money by vilifying the hard-working, honest, taxpaying agricultural people of America. While it is clear that Jim Moran, HSUS, and a few urban members do not understand the welfare of horses or the economics of rural America, we are confident that the Senate will stand firm for horse owners.
Already there are plans in 18 states and 12 tribal nations to build modern processing plants; USDA has already received applications for slaughter certification and more are in the pipeline.
What You Can Do…
Continue to contact your Senators and U.S. Representatives. Attend their campaign events and town hall meetings. Meet with them in person whenever you can. Call their offices and talk to their Agricultural staffers. Be polite. Be concise. Tell them your story, and why this is so important to protect the overall welfare of horses, and to ensure the sustainability of our horseback culture. Talk about the loss of private property rights, jobs and livelihoods lost, and the sad and totally unnecessary and wasteful loss of valuable animals. Talk about your hope for a better future and what real compassion means.
Here is a link to contact information for every member of Congress – http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ |
