Ag Weekly Online
Horse slaughterhouses begin paying for inspections
FORT WORTH, Texas --The nation's three horse-processing plants on
Friday began paying federal employees $43.64 an hour to conduct pre-slaughter
inspections as required in a new federal law, whose original intent was to end
commercial equine slaughter.
The resulting horse meat -- much of which will be exported to West Europe with
a small percentage shipped to U.S. zoos for large-cat rations -- will be
inspected by U.S. Department of Agriculture workers at government expense as
before.
The pre-slaughter inspections are expected to cost Beltex of Fort
Worth; Dallas Crown of Kaufman, Texas, and Cavel International of Dekalb, Ill.,
$22,000 to $36,000 each for the life of the law, about six months. With a
reported $29 million in annual foreign sales, the expense is seen as minimal
for the three companies, which are all Belgian-owned.
Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., who sponsored the original provision, was incensed
when congressional leaders rewrote his legislation, and he ended up voting
against the final bill, said spokeswoman Melissa Carlson.
The slaughter plants interpreted the new language as allowing fee-for-service
inspections, as has long been done for such exotic species as bison and
ostrich, and petitioned the Agriculture Department, which agreed to provide
them at the plants' expense.
Meanwhile, slaughter opponents sent 10 pickup trucks pulling empty horse
trailers -- symbolizing animals gone to slaughter -- from New Hampshire to
Washington.
They also requested that the U.S. District Court in the District
of Columbia issue a temporary restraining order preventing the fee-for-service
program, arguing that it was the intent of Congress to stop horse slaughter.
The court has yet to take any action.
"We are sitting around anxiously awaiting a decision from the judge,"
said Chris Heyde, a lobbyist with the Society for Animal Protective
Legislation. "We are obviously disappointed by the USDA's action. The
language was clear. But the amendment also was not the ultimate goal. It would
have stopped horse slaughter only a short time."
Anti-horse slaughter activists have long enjoyed the support of such
animal-welfare groups as the Humane Society of the United States and the
American Society for the Protection of Animals, and have garnered publicity by
enlisting such celebrities as Bo Derek, Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freeman, Viggo
Mortensen and Mira Sorvino.
But in the past month, the three outgunned horse-meat suppliers have ratcheted
up their low-key lobbying effort, hiring former Rep. Charles Stenholm, a Texas
Democrat had been a powerful member of the House Agriculture Committee, and
signing on a Washington-based public-relations and lobbying firm, SciWords.
"Many horse owners absolutely oppose horse slaughter," Stenholm said.
"And I agree with them -- on their horse. The fundamental issue involved
is that the horse owner makes the choice. It's always been a property-rights
issue."
SciWords stresses that 64 organizations, including the American Veterinary
Medical Association and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, support
horse slaughter as a practical option for unwanted horses.
They note that horses are processed in the same manner as cattle.
Sweeney will once again propose an outright ban on horse slaughter, Carlson
said. He will no longer try to get the bill through the House Agriculture
Committee, where past attempts failed, but will try another committee, she
said.
(c) 2006, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
http://www.agweekly.com/articles/2006/03/11/news/updates/update03.txt