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