March 17, 2010

Update: Horse Slaughter Bill Passes House, Transmitted to Senate

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By KFBB News Team

Story Published: Feb 25, 2009 at 7:17 PM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 25, 2009 at 7:17 PM MDT

The last horse slaughterhouses in the United States were shut down in 2007 as a result of state-imposed bans. If this bill passes, it would make Montana the first state to allow them once again.

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The bill has received tremendous attention from Montanans on both sides of the argument, leading some to question whether or not the practical aspect of the bill should win over the moral aspect of choosing to slaughter animals that are considered by many to be American icons.

Now that the bill has successfully passed the House, it will be moving along to the Senate where there will be more debate on whether or not horse slaughterhouses should be allowed in the state.

Next article Great Falls Celebrates the Luck of the Irish for a Good Cause

View Oldest Comments First

Sunday, Mar 7 at 2:07 PM Concerned wrote ...

Slaughter Houses are a necessary evil. Have you ever seen a horse starved to death or one put down by euthanasia? It is not pretty. It is more humane in my opinion to put a steel rod through its brain killing the animal instantly. If I had to chose an end for a horse it is my personal opinion that slaughter would be best. Does that make me a horrible person to some people yes, but it would be more horrid to watch a animal that has been fed and cared for by those same humans, kill it slowly by starvation. I do love horses but in my opinion if you can not take care of them for the rest of their lives you should not own them.

Friday, Sep 18 at 4:35 PM Anonymous wrote ...

the horse market has bottomed out since there are no horse slaughter plants. carrying capacity for horses in the US has exceeded. with our economic circumstances having horses is EXPENSIVE. if you dont have the capability of keeping the horse people are letting them starve or turning them free and they are clueless how to defend for themselves. horse slaughter plants are not ideal but they are the only way to keep the horse population under control.

Tuesday, Jul 28 at 9:23 PM SJW wrote ...

The very thought of this is horrific. Once again humans have shown how selfish and ignorant we can be. These are God creatures and we have no right to kill them.

Tuesday, May 5 at 5:00 PM Anonymous wrote ...

Horse slaughter is a must!! Animal activists should take a look at what they have done! They have caused the most horrific life for unwanted horses, and they haven't even put a penny out of there own pocket to help them. The horses that come in with injury's have no where to go, and the unwanted well they have to starve to death. Can you imagine how long and painful it is to starve to death? Makes me sick!! I have been in the horse industry all my life. I have seen good horses and bad horse and

Saturday, Apr 18 at 5:31 PM carla mckizzick wrote ...

The raising horses for slaughter in montana is sick and to slaughter these beautiful animals if beyond sick. Montana you suck.

Monday, Mar 2 at 3:38 PM susan wrote ...

who is going to oversee the montana plant to enforce humane kill methods ? who will post info on the horses -photos-info on sellers-build pens for injured horses awaiting death? -i believe people need to know the slaughter has not slowed down-horses are transported to canada and mexico with no humane laws and horrendous suffering in transport with trampled horses and horrific kill methods. the USA should have enforced all this when the plants were here. "out of sight doesn't make it right"

Sunday, Mar 1 at 1:12 PM D Biegler wrote ...

What right does any American have to say what another eats? If Peta & their ilk get all these bills passed and they will be going after the cattle industry next. Those pushing these no slaughter bills are not horsemen or informed on the care of horses or cattle. Their time would better be spent helping the elderly across this country that are regularly abused & bilked of their meager funds. Get a life, take care of your own species & the livestock industry will take care of its own.

Saturday, Feb 28 at 4:19 PM LMatte wrote ...

The killer buyers that frequent auctions and free horse ads are not looking for old skinny horses. They are buying horses for their MEAT they want your 7 year old fat and sassy QH. Don't be fooled. Horse owner's that abuse and starve their horses will abuse and starve their horses with or without slaughter. Montana has one of the largest horse slaughter feedlots in the country. They have been gathering horses there and shipping them to Canada for YEARS.

Saturday, Feb 28 at 4:02 PM LMatte wrote ...

Call your state legislator and tell them to vote NO on the horse slaughter bill. Maybe you should take a look at the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) records received directly from the USDA that shows horses faces bashed in and bleeding, their eyeballs hanging from their sockets by strings of flesh and their legs broken off and gone. Why don't you take a look at that? Over 900 pages of photographs at www.kaufmanzoning.net take a look at what they call humane.

Saturday, Feb 28 at 11:02 AM Lisa wrote ...

I have questions: Gee, you live in a dream world. Do you really think the last domestic plant in Illinois let the public visit? Do you know what happened when that plant was shut down numerous times, either by court order or waste violations? Did they let rescue groups take those horses? No, those wonderful people at Cavel shipped those horses back across country where they came from. There was no concern for horse welfare, only $$$.

Friday, Feb 27 at 7:48 PM Chris wrote ...

to 'I have questions'. How is having a slaughter house designed by Temple Grandin going to fix the auction/feedlot/transportation problems?

Friday, Feb 27 at 4:11 PM CattleCo wrote ...

Horse processing is needed and anyone that cannot understand that really does not have full knowledge of the equine industry and has no money invested. We regulate our cow and hog processing plants, horse processingplant are really cleaner, better inspected by government inspectors, and are really a humane way of ending a animals life. Unfortunately, the hidden agenda of HSUS and PETA is to destroy the food animal industry and the companion animal industry.(dogs and cats) Wake UP!

Friday, Feb 27 at 2:59 PM Kathy Baker wrote ...

Slaughter and euthanasia are completely different. One is a humane way to leave this world and the other,slaughter, is a terrifying and sad end to a noble animal.

Friday, Feb 27 at 1:51 PM Barbara wrote ...

Passing this bill would be an insult to the memory of Marine Sgt. Johnson . Horses were used at his funeral and at his memorail service. I do not think he would want this bill passed. Also it is NOT the old and thin horses that go to slaughter.

Friday, Feb 27 at 1:43 PM ihavequestions wrote ...

What seems to be overlooked is that a new plant could be designed from the ground up for *optimum* animal comfort and the staff could be trained to handle horses properly. A domestic plant would be a place the public could monitor. I would visit a plant near me and check to see if there were horses I would want to adopt for myself. I can't do that with plants in Mexico and Canada.

Friday, Feb 27 at 12:32 PM jrstark wrote ...

Bj Ribeiro, where did you come up with that $18 billion figure? Horsemeat exports were $40 million at their highest, and the slaughterhouses paid minimal income tax (Dallas Crown paid $5 the one year we have public records) and zero export tariffs. The entire horse industry accounts for $39 billion according to the American Horse Council's 2005 survey. Slaughter is the cheapest 1%, we don't need it.

Friday, Feb 27 at 11:51 AM PB wrote ...

What about the horses that are not taken care of or sick or injured? The owners have the choice of taking them to slaughter or putting them down and then trying to dispose of the carcass?? They are a livestock animal as well as our pets but the horse population is WAY out of hand with everyone thinking they can breed horses. What do we do with all these mistreated, neglected horses?? Part of life is there has to be a place for this also

Friday, Feb 27 at 11:46 AM SHS wrote ...

Jeff and JMB are right, I own horses and hate to see any of them die. The problem is if you stop the slaughter of horses they get neglected, because people cannot afford them. You cannot even give them away in this economy. The horses would suffer less if there were slaughtered. There needed to be provisions in the law to address the excess number of horses in the US, but they did not bother to research the consequences of their actions. It's a bad situation for all.

Friday, Feb 27 at 11:33 AM to wrote ...

If you had plants in the US, the farmer or the rancher who sold the horse would get the money not Belgium

Friday, Feb 27 at 8:53 AM Connie wrote ...

Do not pass this bill! do some research into horse slaughter, talk to the mayors of the IL & TX towns where plants were located. View the abuse pics from the TX plant taken by the USDA! the ranchers want this so that no-one stops cattle slaughter. Americans dont eat horse it goes to europe and the $$$ goes there too.

Friday, Feb 27 at 8:39 AM Bj Ribeiro wrote ...

Before the ban on horse slaughter in this country it was the 4th largest agricultural export. We are talking about an 18 Billion dollar industry that was wiped out by a bunch of bleeding hearts that didn't fully understand the impact to our economy.

Friday, Feb 27 at 8:34 AM JMB wrote ...

Horse slaughter is a decision that should be left up to the owner of the horse. If you own a horse and would rather pay to have it put down by injection, then go ahead. But the simple fact is that many horse owners will let a horse die a slow and painful death rather than pay to have it euthanized. In the last 2 years, there has been a TREMENDOUS increase in numbers of horses abused and neglected, because there is no longer a viable way to get rid of unwanted horses.

Thursday, Feb 26 at 8:32 PM Jeff wrote ...

Although not one of us as a horse owner wants to think about the killing of of horses at an industrial facility, the truth is that disposal of unwanted horses in this manner IS much more humane than them starving to death or suffering from chronic aliments like lamintis. Additionally, facilities like this are needed in the U.S. as it is far more humane to do this here than to ship them to different continents for them to meet the same fate. That is far more inhumane.

Thursday, Feb 26 at 5:51 PM Sue wrote ...

OMR, really? Are you that slow about the issue. This has nothing to do with euthanasia as you so eloquently stated (sarcasm). It has to do with brutally slaughter an animal. I am amazed that Montana seems to have this much time and money on their hands to be working on a bill that can never go into effect. There is a federal restricion already in place that would prevent the plants from selling horsemeat. Good use of time Montana!

Thursday, Feb 26 at 3:03 PM OMR wrote ...

We can kill people "assisted suicide" but not an animal??? Where is the logic?? Or does anyone have any logic anymore

Thursday, Feb 26 at 5:54 AM Patricia Bewley, Vice President the RACE Fund wrote ...

why Montana would want to open a slaughter house to kill Amerian horses and benefit the Belgians is a question to be asked. What is in this for the people of Montana? A few jobs for people who don't speak English? Who are Ed Butchers invertors and what is in this for ED? Seems like in these economic times , legislators could come up with a plan to help people in Montana ,not Belgium.

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