Congress Releases Details of 2014 Spending Bill, Includes Language That Would Reinstate U.S. Horse Slaughter Ban

Edited press release

Congress released the details of a FY 2014 spending bill, which includes language that halts any efforts to resume horse slaughter for human consumption on U.S. soil. The legislation will forbid spending by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on inspections at U.S. horse slaughter plants, reinstating a ban on domestic horse slaughter for the fiscal year. A similar spending prohibition had been put in place in 2005, but it was not renewed in 2011.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States gave the following statement. “Americans do not want to see scarce tax dollars used to oversee an inhumane, disreputable horse slaughter industry. We don’t have dog and cat slaughter plants in the U.S. catering to small markets overseas, and we shouldn’t have horse slaughter operations for that purpose, either.”

On the other side of the debate, other groups believe that a regulated form of horse slaughter is necessary to preserve the overall welfare of the horse population in the United States and deal with the continuing issue of unwanted animals.

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