SUPPORT BILL HR 857
June 14,  2003
Attn: The Honorable E. Clay Shaw Jr., U. S. Representative.
U.S. House of Representatives,  Washington DC 20515
Dear Representative Shaw: 

      As a concerned horse lover, I urge you to SUPPORT and VOTE FOR bill HR 857, The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This important bill would PROHIBIT the slaughter of horses in the United States , the sale, the offering to sale, and the transfer of horse meat as well as the exportation of horses to foreign countries´ slaughterhouses. It is without saying that I SUPPORT this bill, because of:

       1. : In the last 15-20 years the FOREING OWNED horse slaughter industry has killed over 3.000.000 American horses. These number is the HALF OF THE POPULATION OF UNITED STATES HORSES!. This is INTOLERABLE and HAS TO STOP.

       2. : The ‘slaughter methods’ used to murder (torture and exterminate) these horses are anything BUT painless. The 2000 Report of the American Veterinary Medical Association Panel on Euthanasia has ruled that the methods used by murder, kill them are ANYTHING BUT ‘PAINLESS’. Many horses are even LIVE AND CONSCIOUS WHEN THEY ARE  DISMEMBERED.

       3. :  The transportation of these horses is cruel and painful. Horses are often hauled in double deck cattle trailers designed for pigs, sheeps and cattle, which prevent them from standing upright and causes SEVERE head, back, and neck INJURIES even DEAD. Horses are TRUCKED FOR DAYS AND THOUSANDS OF MILES WITH NO FOOD, WATER, REST OR MEDICAL ATTENTION.

        4. : The only two remaining slaughterhouses are in Texas,  both are FOREING OWNED (French and Belgian owned) and are operating ILLEGALY due to a recent TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION RULING THAT THE SALE OF HORSE MEAT FOR HUMAN CONSUPTION IS ILLEGAL WHEREEVER IT TAKES PLACE.

        5. : Horses are not mere animals. Horses are a symbol of freedom for many Americans and, for  many people –like me- , they are like people but in the ‘right way’ (there are only good and kind horses, despite their condition, not ‘evil horses’, the only ‘evil’ here is the human being and it´s overwhelmingly cruel behaviour toward these lovely creatures, who haven´t got hurt anybody or anything). Please, think in all the things that horses have done for humans and specially for the United States , think that horses are your far cousins. Horses are part of the American Heritage,  and as such, they MUST BE PROTECTED FROM SLAUGHTER .

        6. : The majority of horses slaughtered in these plants are NOT old, sick, or lame, but instead, are YOUNG, HEALTHY American horses, including FEDERALLY PROTECTED WILD HORSES, PREGNANT MARES AND MARES WITH FOALS AT THEIR SIDE, bought by killer buyers who attend horse auctions where they compete with families and horse brokers looking for good, sound horses. In  this way, killing, murdering horses by sending them to the slaughter´s nightmare because they are old, sick or lame is also a CRIME: Horses are NOT paper-hankies that humans can ‘use’ and then throw away like garbage when they are ‘useless’. Also I urge you to REJECT BLM´S AND USDA´S “ROUND-UP” AND “ZEROING-OUT” (extermination of the herds) POLICIES SUCH AS THE  “ SONORA WILD HORSE REPATRIATION PROJECT” .

        7. : Horse slaughter PROMOTES horse thiefing. Since California banned horse slaugher in 1998, horse thiefing has DECREASED A 50%. Also,  the most part of the public opinion is AGAINST HORSE SLAUGHTER:   A  recent scientific poll showed that over of the 80% of those polled support a ban on horse slaughter. Non-scientific polls show up to 90% in favor of banning horse slaughter.

         So,  please,  I urge you, I implore you  to SUPPORT BILL HR 857 and to VOTE  FOR IT. I look forward to receiving a response from you regarding your position on this issue, which is of importance to me. Thank you for your time and consideration of my letter.

Sincerely,        

Daniel Cordero Fernández, a  Horse Lover.