Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 4:43 PM
Subject: Legislation proposed to end horse slaughter
in Illinois
Thank you for your outstanding article on Bob Molaro's
legislation to end Illinois horse slaughter.
You wrote, "Texas, where the other two
slaughter facilities owned by Belgium and France are located, passed
legislation banning horse slaughter for consumption last year."
Actually, it has been illegal in Texas to possess,
transport, or sell horsemeat for human consumption since 1949. What
happened last year was, my Texas State Representative Betty Brown proposed a
bill that would have "legalized" the two Texas horse slaughter
plants. This came about after Texas Attorney General John Cornyn issued
an opinion letter (Aug 7, 2002) confirming that the two horse slaughter
plants were operating in criminal violation of Texas law. Ms. Brown's
bill was pooh-poohed by the Texas Lege.
However, on Sep 26, 2002, the two slaughter plants
sued in federal court to block prosecution, and that case is still pending.
That is why the two Texas plants are still in operation.
I own the land next to the Dallas Crown horse
slaughter plant in Kaufman, Texas. For over 20 years the owners of this
facility have lied about the horses they slaughter. They say they are
old, sick, crippled, or crazy (OSCC). The truth is, there are
killer-buyers who travel from auction to auction picking up any meaty horse at
a good price. They don't want old and sick and crippled horses.
They don't weigh enough. They don't want to waste their resources on a
horse weighing less than 1,100 pounds. See their price list for walk-ins
at http://kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/DCPriceList.htm
See their list of killer-buyers at http://kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/Suppliers.htm
Here's what the horses look like. Better
than any horse I ever rode as a kid growing up in Kaufman.
