Mary S. Nash
104 S. Houston Street
Kaufman , Texas 75142
NashHulme@msn.com
972-962-7706
April 29, 2003

RE: Opposition to HB 1324 – Texas Horse Slaughter Bill

Dear Senator _________:

On August 7, 2002 , then Attorney General John Cornyn ruled that the two horse slaughter plants in Texas were operating in violation of Chapter 149 of the Texas Agriculture Code which makes it a criminal offense to sell, offer for sale, exhibit for sale, possess or transfer for sale horsemeat for human consumption. The two Texas plants are the only horse slaughter plants remaining in the United States and are both foreign owned: Beltex, out of Fort Worth is owned by Multi-Meat, NV, a Belgian company, and Dallas Crown, out of Kaufman is owned by Chevideco, a French company. These plants slaughter live horses, process their meat and ship it to France , Belgium , Germany and Japan for human consumption in those countries.

In response to Attorney General Cornyn’s Opinion, HB 1324 was introduced to de-criminalize the activity of these horse slaughter plants by making the criminal offenses in Chapter 149 applicable only if the human consumption occurs within the United States . These two slaughter houses slaughter over 42,000 American horses per year and export in excess of $40 million of horsemeat.

No doubt some Korean and Chinese businessmen will be interested in the sort of legal precedent set by this bill, knowing Koreans and Chinese eat dogs and cats, and knowing we euthanize thousands of stray dogs and cats each day, and knowing North Koreans are starving.

Horse slaughter also promotes horse theft – horse theft decreased by over 50% in California after California banned horse slaughter in 1998.

These plants do little or nothing for the Texas economy since all profits are siphoned to the foreign parent companies in

France

and

Belgium

and since 90% of the horses bought for slaughter come from other states. “Killer buyers” drive from auction to auction picking up any horse over 1,100 pounds that they can get for a good price. Enclosed is the Dallas Crown “killer buyer” list.

The 40 acre farm next to the Dallas Crown horse slaughter plant in Kaufman has been in my family for 150 years. Contrary to what proponents of HB 1324 contend, the majority of the slaughtered horses are not old, sick or crippled. They are young and meaty and healthy like the ones in the photo below. In fact, a French butcher was recently quoted in an international food magazine saying: “I only buy American meat which is red and firm. In butchering terms we call it ‘well structured’, the best you can buy.” This type of meat doesn’t come from old, sick or injured horses.

photo taken at Dallas Crown on Sep 1, 2002

Please reject HB 1324 and keep Texas from continuing as the horse slaughter capital of the

U.S.