The Amarillo Globe

Web posted Saturday, September 27, 2003
3:26 a.m. CT

Letters To The Editor: Lawsuit stalls ban on horse slaughtering

Opinion

Last May, the Texas Legislature rejected a bill to legalize the last two horse slaughter plants in the United States - both located in Texas, at Kaufman and Fort Worth.

So the foreign companies' owners filed a federal lawsuit to strike the part of the Texas Agriculture Code that has made slaughter of horses for human consumption illegal in Texas since 1949.

A federal judge is allowing the two plants to continue operating illegally until the lawsuit goes to trial.

Congress is considering a federal law that would negate the lawsuit. U.S. Reps. John Sweeny, R-N.Y., and John Spratt, D-S.C., have introduced House Resolution 857, titled The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

It would prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption and ban the import and export of horsemeat or live horses intended for human consumption.

If HR 857 passes, the two slaughterhouses in Texas will close, and no other will open.

Those against the cruelty that horses suffer during transport and during the slaughtering process should ask their congressmen to support HR 857.

Amarillo's U.S. congressman is Mac Thornberry, 371-8844.

Dorothy P. LaBorde
Amarillo