Subject: final version of my letter to the IL reps

Dear Representative and honorable staff,

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I am a proud resident of Illinois, and am writing to ask that you help keep it that way. Currently, Texas is the only state in the Union branded with the scarlet “S” around its neck as the state that slaughters America’s horses against her people’s will.

As our elected representative, I have no doubt that you and your staff are already well aware of this issue, so I will try not to waste your time. Please allow me to share just a few key points with you.

1) This bill opposes the LIVE slaughter of America’s horses for human consumption. I, and all of the other horsemen with whom I have spoken that support this bill, have no interest in ending rendering plants which process already deceased horse meat for animal feed, glues, etc.

2) Neither are we interested in ending slaughter of ANY livestock, as some opponents of this bill irrationally believe. Horses are companion animals, NOT livestock. They are NOT raised as food, nor are they medicated and treated with human consumption in mind. American horses are fed carcinogens such as Bute and Ivermectin every day for medical reasons. Ending the live slaughter of horses is the same as refusing to allow the live slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption. THIS is what we are asking for, nothing more.

3) The slaughter houses are NOT “providing a needed service”. They are not rendering plants where owners can be paid a few hundred dollars to dispose of unwanted horses, like the image they attempt to portray. Every day employees/contractors of the slaughter houses outbid families and farms for healthy, strong, often young, capable horses. And, if an owner wishes to dispose of an elderly/sick/thin horse, the owner must PAY the slaughter house $50 to do so.

b. Please allow me to share a story with you. This past Saturday I was at an auction attended by a slaughter buyer. The slaughter buyer left with an entire double decker trailer full of horses. I cannot list all that he purchased, but I know of 7 healthy capable riding horses under the age of ten, as well as numerous weanlings and yearlings, horses who have never yet had a chance to become anything. But what is key about this story is what was NOT on that trailer:

i. A mare so lame she could barely move and should have been humanely put down, but her owner wanted to make a few bucks instead of spend a few. The slaughter buyer refused to bid on her, apparently because she would be too much problem to handle and transport.

ii. A huge Clydesdale stallion, literally more than 2000 lbs of meat on the hoof, who had been fine breeding stock for years and his only mis-step was to somehow puncture his eye. His owner openly stated he didn’t want to pay the vet bills for him and intended him to go to slaughter. However, a stallion so big would be the ultimate terror in a slaughter truck and holding pen as he would attempt to kill off every rival male and mount every female in the rig, and so the slaughter buyer would not bid upon the massive horse.

Essentially, the two “unwanted horses”, the two horses who, if any should go through slaughter, should have been, did not. But numerous healthy, happy, normal horses did.

4) Texans have clearly spoken that they, too, do not want slaughter in their state. Slaughter is illegal there, and a lawsuit is currently tangled in federal court to bring those 2 foreign-owned plants to a close as well.

5) The people of DeKalb, and all of Illinois, do not want this atrocity back in our state. Please see the news reports of the vigil held in DeKalb a few weeks ago for more information on the specific outcry of the constituents to whom this matters most.

6) The human consumption of horse meat is not culturally acceptable in the US or particularly in Illinois. If other nations wish to eat horse meat, that certainly is not for us to agree or disagree; however, let them eat their own horses, and not America’s!

7) Cavel is NOT currently an employer in Illinois. This law, banishing this inhumane and terrible crime, will NOT cost Illinois jobs. It will prevent a small number of dirty, low paying, dangerous jobs from being added.

8) Cavel and the other European owned horse slaughter plants PAY NO TARIFFS ON HORSEMEAT! No income is generated for the United States resulting from the sale of this meat. Comparatively, the return of these horses to the American equine community WOULD result in additional revenue and income for Illinois/US.

9) EU has already banned large proportions of American beef due to chemicals and other issues in meat we specifically raise for food; American horses are fed carcinogens EVERY DAY as a part of our health care for these animals never intended for food. It is reasonable to assume that the next step is for EU to ban our horse meat as well.

11) Cavel has previously tried to leave DeKalb and build elsewhere, but other communities, other states would not have their plants. Please let Illinois be the next to say NOT HERE.