Cavel International has submitted plans to the Community Development
Center for permits to rebuild the horse slaughter facility at 108
Harvestore Drive, DeKalb, Illinois.
Please contact the elected officials and tell them NO - we don't want
that business. It is cruel and inhumane for the horses.
Some say, it is no different than the slaughtering of other types of
animals. Horses are not bred for slaughter. Horses are bred to be
intuitive, to respond to our slightest touch and to trust us
implicitly - we put our lives on their backs. They have a very keen
sense of fight or flight which makes the entire slaughter system
especially cruel and inhumane. They sense fear and smell blood and
death as they enter the "knock box" at the slaughterhouses. Horses ARE
held in a higher reguard in this country than other animals. We as
Americans surely wouldn't set up a cattle slaughtering facility in the
heart of the Hindus.
Background:
There are only two horse slaughter facilities in the United States.
Both are in Texas. There is a law in Texas that makes possession of
horse meat for human consumption illegal in Texas and pending
litigation to close those two plants. If they rebuild Cavel in DeKalb,
it may very well be the only horse slaughter facility in the United
States. DeKalb may become known as the horse killing capital of the
United States.
Some interesting statistics - There are 6.9 million horses in the US.
7.1 million people are involved in the horse industry as owners,
service providers, employees and volunteers. 43,000 horse were
slaughtered in the US last year.
These foreign owned horse slaughter facilities ONLY accept live horses
for human consumption overseas. Too many people confuse rendering with
slaughter. Rendering companies only accept dead horses and therefore
they cannot be used for human consumption. Horse slaughter facilities
exist solely to export for human consumption. Every poll taken has
shown that approximately 70% of the population is opposed to horse
slaughter.
There is a bill in congress – HR857 – to end horse slaughter in this
country and to prohibit exportation for slaughter. HR857 has 63
congressional co-sponsers. Last year a bill was passed to "Enforce the
Humane Slaughter Act of 1958". Who are they kidding? It won't ever
happen. Three separate bills were introduced to enforce the humane
slaughter act because of an article in the Washington Post entitled
"They Die Piece by Piece" which told of animals being slaughtered
alive. We can't legislate "people" in the slaughter system to
"care".
It is a gruesome business. The degree of accuracy of the bolt gun
depends on how good the person handling it can hit a moving target and
how much sleep they had the night before, not to mention if it is ever
maintained. There was a very recent article in a Montana paper about a
slaughterhouse owned "feedlot" – a place where they gather horses
before taking them to the slaughterhouses. The records indicated some
of the following conditions:
*At times, as many as 2,200 horses were squeezed into exposed pens on
three dusty acres.
* Instead of sorting horses by gender, they corralled mares and studs
together, prompting frequent fights and resulting in numerous injuries.
* Pregnant horses were forced to give birth in pens where they were
unprotected from bigger horses. Newborn colts and foals often were
trampled to death.
* They failed repeatedly to brand incoming horses as a way of
signifying that they had not been tested for Equine Infectious Anemia,
a contagious and incurable disease, and needed to be kept in
a quarantine facility.
2200 horses on three acres? Most county restrictions for three acres
would limit the number of horses to THREE (3).
The whole system is inhumane for the horses, from the trucking and
holding pens up to the actual bolt.
Horses going to slaughter do not have to be tested for EIA (Equine
Infectious Anemia) which puts our local horses at risk. Almost
everything we use on our horses is NOT intended for human consumption.
We also believe local horse theft will rise so the shippers can meet
their quotas.
Please contact your elected officials and tell them Cavel has no
future in American horses and tell them to deny their permit to
rebuild this facility that will be a constant source of "grief"
for
the people of DeKalb, Illinois and the United States.
Then please contact your congressional representative and urge their
support of bill HR857 to End Horse Slaughter in the United States.
There is so much information to share – there is contact information
on the back of this page. You can also go to the following website for
more information. If you don't have a computer, please visit the
library computer.