The Washington Times reports:
A lawyer for a New Mexico meat plant says it is only three weeks from becoming the first in the United States since 2007 to slaughter horses.
“We’re getting ready to go,” A. Blair Dunn, attorney for Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, New Mexico, told Bloomberg News Friday. The plant may eventually process as many as 100 horses a day for export, he said.
The company is one of several that have applied to the Department of Agriculture to slaughter horses, a practice that ended in 2007 after Congress defunded government inspections at the facilities, Bloomberg reports.
Senators Mary Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, and Lindsay Graham, Republican of South Carolina, along with Representatives Patrick Meehan, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, sponsored legislation this week that would ban horse meat processing in the U.S. and prohibit transporting horses outside the country for slaughter, Bloomberg reports.
The USDA this month said it encouraged lawmakers to reinstate the ban on funding inspections.
Take Action
The reinstatement of de-funding for horse meat inspections is in limbo because Congress is delaying on budget bills.
Legislation has been introduced at the federal level. The Senate and House versions are in Committee and will take time and hard work to move out.
It appears the only quick and effective opportunity to stay the opening of a horse slaughter plant in New Mexico lays in the hands of Governor Susana Martinez who has stated publicly that she is opposed to horse slaughter and feels it would be bad for her State.
EMAIL THE GOVERNOR
Email Governor Martinez’s office at gloria.marquez@state.nm.us. Request that she sign an Executive Order banning horse slaughter for human consumption in the State of New Mexico in a succinct and professional manner.
PETITIONS
Daily Kos has links to both petition.
Petitions are great and have been effective for just about everything from stopping the use of styrofoam cups in restaurants to getting people off death row. But how effective have they been on horse issues?
The Change.org Petition has of this writing just 1,104 supporters. Not nearly enough! The Causes Petition has 3,482 which is better, but will not be delivered in time.
SOCIAL MEDIA TO THE RESCUE?
Not encouraging.
Governor Martinez has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SusanaMartinezFan. Account required. It appears however she does not allow visitors to post on her timeline but they are free to comment. Please be respectful and to the point should you choose to take this avenue.
The Governor’s office is not on Twitter.
Tuesday's Horse 
WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!!!!!!!!!! Does anyone think they will pass 1094 SAFE ACT of 2013 why are they waiting so long it is still in the committee’s oh gosh I am so sick in my heart that that is where it will stay what in hell is the matter with our GOV>>>>>> WHY What do they gain from this got to be something to line their pockets!!! Sorry but that is how I feel!!!!! :(
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Are the Swiss really concerned about the cruelty? Slaughter is inherently cruel. I can understand about the drug issue, after all they are companion animals not food animals.
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The EU is banning horsemeat from being exported other countries through them, information via press release via Equine Welfare Alliance. Please do NOT be remiss this will not stop these plans it will ONLY serve to keep them from making alot of money right now, however, we need to push to get the SAFE Act into place so there r no places for slaughter, please do not think this is the end to this….its is NOT. They will persist until legislation is appropriately banning it everyway in the US. Please keep in mind that Dave and Sue are posting that we give the same chemicals to cattle and sheep that we give to equine and vulnerable new horsepeople dont realize its not the same drugs, they are constantly spreading their propaganda. Example: cobra venom for racehorses do they give that to cattle, Bute for injuries in horses is it given to all the cattle and sheep we eat, if so, im done with all meats. Even the dewormer comparison is non-sense. A cow has four stomach to digest within, so when they give parasite control orally it goes through a five part screening within the cow breaking it down and dilutely it and they make sure its not right before they are butchered. In horses all owners give unregulated amounts any time they want even the day they sell the horses or the day a killer buyer gets them with only one stomach the parasite control is still in the horses bodies. As well the other drugs that horses receive are actually lethal to cattle-racehorse and performance drugs, as well anti biotics are BANNED from cattle but not horses. As a rule horses are not a food source in the US so we are able to do whats best in each horses body and lifestyle. So we are not up against the smartest tacks in the box but they are using political connections and positions to pursuade people in their direction. EU ban prevents them from selling to any one in Europe without the EU knowing of it and stopping it completely, however, there are other alterior ways to sell, even more shady that could wind up costing THEM millions is losses, however, not a single horse should die for finacial gains at this point. So do not mistake this as a long term win al beit a miracle from God, we need to keep pushing onward to save the horses as a whole. Please, these pro-slaughter people even said that we dont hit horses in the head with sledgehammers, did they not see the You Tube videos of this happening in Russia and some American backyards? WE need to retrain pro slaughter thinkers to allow them to make informed decisions. AND by all means tell these poor souls who want to slaughter their horses are worth money just bring their prices up it was killer buyers pushing them low-so that they could collect horses for the past few years for hardly anything and stockpile them to slaughter for big money! People get your senses together….Finally, keep this is mind the Famous Dave Duquette was quoted as saying that the drugs in our horses doesnt stay in them for years nor that they are in horse at the time of slaughter. For obvious reasons we know he has not been around the actual horse industry. People who have horses killer buyers buy get horses that were for sale not to killer but got tricked and just had the horses shots and medications yesterday, as well racehorses are pumped full of garbage daily to race or pre for race-so heres the deal, they dont binge the drugs and purge them out in the toilet before they are slaughtered. This guy is out of touch! So lets SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS! NO MORE SLAUGHTER!
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The EWA press release is misleading many people. I was confused by it myself.
I think the point they are trying to make is this:
1. US horse meat is not being accepted directly from the US as an import to EU countries.
But no horses are being killed for their meat on US soil at the moment (except in NJ for zoos).
2. If a horse slaughter plant were to open on US soil they would have no direct market to the EU, nor would the plant be able to send the processed horse meat to Mexico or Canada for them to export to the EU along with their product.
US horse meat is of course still entering the human food chain in Europe because thousands of horses are exported from the US to Canada and Mexico for slaughter.
Both countries have useless, easily forged paperwork systems for reporting medication history of the horses. Hence Bute resides are showing up just about everywhere horse meat is tested.
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The EU knows where a large portion of the contaminated horse meat is coming from and they also know the US has no horse slaughter plants. I believe the Swiss government has banned horse meat from Canada not only because of the cruelty they saw on video but also the drugs they found in some of the meat. Since the US has not put in place any residue control program in all of this time it was decided in 2011 to ban US horse meat. We will just have to wait and see just what happens about this ban. The Canadian horses also get the drugs and I don’t believe the meat from US horses is kept separate from the Canadian horses. It’s all mixed together.
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Wrote Governor Martinez today. Also, Sec. Vilsack asked Congress to reinstate the ban on horse meat inspections. He said these horses can be retrained as therapy horses or be useful in some other way. Being that the ban has to be restated with every budget appripriations, we the SAFE Act to be law of the land. Hope this does happen.
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Radio program today in Wichita area. Roy Blunt of MO. was mentioned for his amendment to ag approp. bill to have furloughs for usda inspections. We cant get our own food inspected, let alone foreigners horse meat.
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Re-blogged now is the time for people to speak up and Stop this horrific abuse of greed and power in America. Americans do not eat horses, donkeys and mules we eat burgers from cows but not equine. How long before we are told that fast food chains have eqiune meat in them? Time is running out!
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[…] Tuesdays Horse […]
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So Wrong, the horses or a Pet, not Food, why is this even considered? I don’t eat Cat or Dogs, so why would I eat a Horse, sad that our Gov. allows this!
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Please do NOT sign the ban. Just make the laws stricter like it is for the slaughter of other animals. Stopping the slaughter has done nothing but hurt the horse industry. Horses can’t be given away at times due to the cost of feed and care. I have seen first hand the effects of this ban. It has made many horses die a slow and painful death by starving due to owners not being able to get rid of the animal and not being able to afford food for it. Do Not Ban Horse Slaughter Just Make Better Laws For Slaughter!!!!
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Kay, with due respect, no law has ever had an impact on how humane an animal is slaughtered. Slaughter is a violent, horrific death.
What has hurt the horse industry is overbreeding.
Plus slaughter has not stopped for US horses. All of it simply moved across US borders. The same number are being killed for their meat as ever. So, how exactly can more horse slaughter help?
To get better informed, perhaps our Fact Sheet will help. http://www.horsefund.org/horse-slaughter-fact-sheet.php
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I am in agreement this nasty slaughter is only going to make it worse with people not being held accountable owners & BREEDERS!!! Watch a video folks of a horse at slaughter then say it is humane, what will we be doing this to dogs and cats too oh of course not cause there is no money in that!!! GREED AND MONEY that is ALL that the interest party’s have in common!!! Our horses in this country deserve better they have earned that through out the history of this Nation!! Come on people our tax dollar spent for what FOREIGN COUNTRIES I think NOT, educate yourself on the big picture of HORSE SLAUGHTER business, it is torture, and sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(
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Please No Slaughter ……….PLEASE Let’s speak out and be heard…We as Americans love our horses and don’t want to see them sent to foreigners dinner tables…….I have two beautiful TN.Walking Horses bought before kill buyers got them ….Young , beautiful and loving companion animals………Please vot NO , NO, NO….Horses don’t have a voice it’s up to us to protect them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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