Mary S. Nash
104 S. Houston Street
Kaufman , Texas   75142
NashHulme@msn.com
972-962-7706
March 5, 2003

 Ms. Betty Brown
Representative, District 4
P. O. Box 2910
Austin , Tx 78768  

Dear Ms. Brown:

 I respectfully ask you to withdraw your HB 1324 which would repeal the Texas horse slaughter ban.  I understand some District 4 veterinarians have asked you to sponsor this bill because Dallas Crown provides a convenient disposal for sick and injured horses.  

There are only 2 horse slaughter plants in the United States – Beltex in Fort Worth and Dallas Crown in Kaufman.    These plants operate in violation of Ag Code Section 149, but your bill would grant them legal status.  I recognize that your bill would prohibit human consumption of horsemeat in the U.S. , but so what?  Everyone knows Dallas Crown and Beltex ship the meat overseas.  

I own property adjacent to Dallas Crown where I see cattle trucks loaded with beautiful young horses headed for slaughter.  I see them in their holding pens, milling about.  They don’t look sick or injured to me.    One day I found a horse’s leg in my yard – horseshoe still intact.  Why would anyone pay to shoe his horse then turn him over to the slaughter house?  Was he stolen?

 Contrary to what you may have been told, horsemeat consumers are not big cats.  The market for horsemeat, created by French and Belgian appetites, goes far, far beyond the slaughter of sick or lame horses to feed zoo animals.  Young and healthy horses are slaughtered for human consumption.

 When veterinarians tell you that horse owners need a way to dispose of their old and sick animals, ask them how horse owners in Washington State , Maine and Florida dispose of their horses.  Horse slaughter at Dallas Crown makes me embarrassed to say I live in Kaufman.  And what does it say about Texas , if we are the only state that allows our pets to be killed and shipped off for human consumption?

 Sincerely,

Mary S. Nash  

cc:        Mr. Rick Hardcastle, Chair, Ag & Livestock Committee
            Mr. Sid Miller, Vice Chair              
            Mr. Lon Burnham                                             Mr. Pete Laney
            Mr. Delwin Jones                                             Mr. David Swinford