Blog By: Eddie Beusch
Thousands of equines are slaughtered every year, counting nearly 21,000 in 2022.[i] Contrary to common opinion, many of these are “young, healthy, and adoptable” and the majority may still be “working, performance, racing, and companion horses.”[ii] Mexico and Canada are the most frequent locations for export from the United States, where the horses are slaughtered and their meat is shipped abroad, likely to Japan or Europe, for consumption.[iii] Despite purported oversight regulations, horse trading at auctions is wrought with illegality, fraud, and misrepresentation because “there is no enforcement structure to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, with the intermediate players in the industry having no rules and no government oversight.”[iv] These auctions take place in states across the country, such as Montana, Arizona, Tennessee, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and California.[v]
Colloquially referred to as the “slaughter pipeline,” equines face countless atrocities from the time they are sold to “kill buyers” until they are eventually slaughtered.[vi] They suffer severe physical injuries, infections, disease, malnourishment, and even death.[vii] Reports of “dismemberment, compound fractured limbs and backs, crushed skulls, and being trampled to death while in transit” are not rare.[viii] Further, due to a horse’s physiology, “it is impossible to slaughter horses humanely without sedatives; they are often still conscious when hoisted, cut, and slaughtered.”[ix] Thankfully, the number of horses slaughtered in Mexico and Canada has dropped in recent decades, but it still remains a pervasive problem in our country.[x]
“Over 80% of Americans are against horse slaughter and the majority of Americans overwhelmingly view horses as companion and performance animals—not as livestock.”[xi] This is why the passage of the SAFE Act is absolutely vital to protect our beloved equines. The SAFE Act stands for the Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act.[xii] The Act is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), that “permanently bans horse slaughter in the United States and prohibits the exportation of horses for slaughter.”[xiii] Specifically, the SAFE Act amends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 by adding “equines” to the list of animals prohibited for consumption, putting them on the same level as cats and dogs.[xiv] The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) put it well by stating, “[t]he SAFE Act of 2023 would simply add equines (horses, donkeys, mules, ponies) to an existing, uncontroversial law banning the slaughter of dogs and cats for meat.”[xv]
Introduced in May of 2023, the SAFE Act still needs to be passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.[xvi] However, with both bipartisan and public support, it seems possible, if not likely. To conclude, I will include a quote from Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, one of the sponsoring legislators, who summarized this issue far better than I ever could:
Horses have a special place in our nation's history and in many Americans' hearts. They embody the spirit of America, and it is time to end the brutal and dangerous practice of slaughtering these creatures for human consumption. […] Horses are not raised for human consumption. As a proud animal lover, we owe it to our horse companions to protect their welfare.[xvii]
[i] The SAFE Act, Horse Welfare Collective, https://www.safe-act.org/ (last viewed Sept. 27, 2023) [https://perma.cc/SJ8V-C68Z].
[ii] Id.
[iii] Id.; Live Horses Shipped from Canadian Airports to Japan for Slaughter, American Wild Horse Campaign, https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/media/live-horses-shipped-canadian-airports-japan-slaughter (last viewed Sept. 27, 2023) [https://perma.cc/385H-YCF5].
[iv] Animal Wellness Action, et al., Horse Slaughter in North America: U.S. Live Exports Fade as Foreign Demand Abates 4 (2023), https://centerforahumaneeconomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Horse-Slaughter-Report.pdf [https://perma.cc/EK3Z-WLG6].
[v] See Id.
[vi] Supra note i.
[vii] See supra note v.
[viii] Supra note i.
[ix] Id.
[x] See supra note v.
[xi] Supra note i.
[xii] Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act. H.R. 3475, 118th Cong. (2023).
[xiii] Supra note i.
[xiv] Supra note xiii.
[xv] USA: Cats & Dogs Are Protected, Why Aren’t Horses?, ASPCA (May 18, 2023), https://www.aspca.org/news/usa-cats-dogs-are-protected-why-arent-horses [https://perma.cc/XDJ4-GVL8].
[xvi] Supra note i.
[xvii] Press Release, Vern Buchanan, House of Representatives, Buchanan, Schakowsky Introduce Bill to Ban Horse Slaughter (May 18, 2023), https://buchanan.house.gov/2023/5/buchanan-schakowsky-introduce-bill-to-ban-horse-slaughter [https://perma.cc/L6UC-5V2K].