It
is with tremendous pleasure and pride that I can report to you that as of
midnight
last
night, the Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption issue in the state
legislature is DEAD. On behalf of the Network, I wish to extend a HUGE
'thank you' to everyone that worked so hard during this legislative session to
defeat this measure.
Although
proponents of horse slaughter fought hard and used every political tactic
possible to decriminalize horse slaughter in
Texas
, the
citizens of
Texas
prevailed in their efforts to defeat the issue. To
accomplish this, we had to outwork well-paid lobbyists, educate
legislators to the fallacies circulated regarding the 'humaneness and
necessity' of horse slaughter, AND convince legislators that Texans don't
support horse slaughter for human consumption in
Texas
or
anywhere else!
The
grassroots effort by individuals from all over
Texas
and
the rest of the Nation has set an all time high. Individuals joined
the Network's efforts at the Capitol and worked all 150 House and 31
Senate members. Others flooded the Capitol offices with thousands
of calls, letters and faxes. Many legislators reported receiving more
calls on the Horse Slaughter issue than ALL OTHER LEGISLATIVE ISSUES COMBINED
! Anti-Horse Slaughter rallies were held in major cities throughout
Texas
.
In addition, the tremendous support from national and state animal protection
organizations has been stronger than anytime in the history of this
organization. Also, national and state horse organizations
joined the effort bringing the total number of people contacting the
Texas
legislators to well over 1,000,000 !
It
is without question, this victory is one that will send a strong message to
Congressmen presently considering the Federal Anti-Horse Slaughter bill (H.R.
857) pending in Congress. We urge
you to contact the National organizations working on this federal legislation
to offer your help. For the horses, we must accomplish at the
Federal level what we have achieved at the State level.
Thank
you again for joining forces to create a voice of reason and compassion that
legislators could not ignore.
Forthcoming
will be another report outlining the results of the rest of the animal bills
this session. I hope to have final news for you today or tomorrow. Thank
you again for all your help.........
Cile
Holloway, President
and all Network directors
Texas
Humane Legislation Network
nikemudge@advantexmail.net