http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1218884,00.html
T. Boone Pickens Rides to the Rescue
The Texas oilman launches a campaign to stop slaughter of U.S. horses for diners in Europe and Japan
By CATHY BOOTH THOMAS
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Interview: 10 Questions for T. Boone Pickens
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Posted Tuesday, Jul. 25,
2006 Pickens, who owns a ranch in West Texas, says
more than 100,000 horses are slaughtered in the U.S. every year for consumption
as a "delicacy" by diners in Europe, mostly France and Belgium, as
well as Japan — an idea that repulses and outrages him. "I can't imagine
slaughtering a horse [to eat]," says Pickens, "It's absolutely
un-American." The horses are slaughtered at one of three plants, two in
Texas and one in Illinois, all owned by a Belgian entrepreneur. "We don't
eat horsemeat here, so it does seem peculiar that someone from Belgium owns the
kill plant and the meat is sent to Europe," he says. "Why not in
their own countries? Why come to America to do the dirty deal?" Pickens, best known as the founder of BP Capital
and Mesa Petroleum, admits horse slaughtering was not high on his agenda until
his wife, Madeleine, who raises thoroughbred horses, got involved. "My
wife is a great animal lover. I'm more passive. She's more aggressive," he
says, with a laugh. Paula Bacon, the mayor of Kaufman, Texas — where one of the
plants, Dallas Crown, is located — alerted them to the problem. "Paula
Bacon told me the kill plant had $12 million in gross revenues and only pays $5
in taxes but it clogs the sewage system up." A court ordered the plant to
shut down by Sept. 30 for failure to pay fines in the thousands of dollars.
Pickens is equally riled that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) oversees and
spends millions in taxpayer dollars supervising these plants — Dallas Crown in
Kaufman as well as Beltex Corporation in Fort Worth, and Cavel International in
DeKalb, Ill. — although selling horsemeat is banned in a lot of states. "It's
incredible to me that our money is wasted on meat being shipped out of the
country," he says. So what did Pickens, a major Republican
contributor, do? He picked up the phone and called his representative,
Republican Joe Barton of Texas, and alerted him to the issue — only to find out
that a number of old buddies were against banning the slaughter, including the
Texas Southwest Cattlemen's Association, the Texas A&M Extension Service
and former Democratic Congressman Charlie Stenholm, who was hired as a lobbyist
by slaughter proponents. "Somebody is putting money into this for a
lobbyist to be on it," says Pickens. He warned Barton that people were
getting worked up over the issue. "I told him when you get women like my
wife and Paula Bacon involved, you give ‘em an axe and they'll do some
chopping." So Barton called a hearing Tuesday before a House of
Representatives Energy & Commerce subcommittee. (A commerce subcommittee
since proponents contend that banning horse slaughtering for food sales
violates commerce laws.) The House Majority leader, John Boehner, has said the
House will vote on the bill after summer recess. Even more outrageous to Pickens is the fact that
many sellers have no idea that their horses are going to slaughter to become
food. "They're thinking their horse will go to some nice family. But those
killer buyers, when they buy at auction, it's just a matter of hours before the
horse is slaughtered," he says. Opponents of horse slaughtering claim that
many of the horses sold for consumption are young foals as well as old
racehorses and "summer camp" ponies. When California voted by
referendum in 1998 to ban the slaughter of horses for consumption, Pickens
notes that horse theft fell by 34%. "You know they are killing a lot of
stolen horses." Independent surveys done in years past indicate that a
majority of the public is against horse slaughtering. Because of the lack of
publicity the issue has attracted, Pickens calls it "America's dirty
little secret." The Texas oilman, 78, hopes his wife's passion
for saving horses turns out as well as her push to get animals out of New
Orleans after Katrina. Of the 800 animals airlifted out after the storm, he
says over 70% have since been reunited with their owners. If he had been told
to leave his dog, Murdock, behind in the storm waters, says Pickens, "I'd
yell at them to pitch me an inner tube, and I'd take my chances with
Murdock." Is this is a kinder, gentler Pickens than we're used to seeing?
He laughs and says, "That side has always been there. Just unrecognized by
some people." 
Texas oilman and rancher T. Boone Pickens grabbed a lot of sympathetic
headlines after Hurricane Katrina by airlifting 800 abandoned dogs and cats out
of the storm zone. Now he's gone to Capitol Hill to fight for another of man's
best friends — the horse. Lassoed by his wife, Madeleine, who owns a stable,
Pickens is pressing for passage of a national law banning the slaughter of
horses for human consumption in foreign countries. Surprisingly, he has plenty
of opposition to the bill — called the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act
— including some of his former buddies in the cattle business. "I don't
like it," says Pickens, "and I'm going to do everything I can to stop
it."