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Animal Welfare Groups Commend Members of Congress for Reintroducing Legislation to End Horse Slaughter

ByMay 18th 2023May 31st, 2023No Comments

Document type: Press release from the Animal Welfare Institute

Author: Animal Welfare Institute

 

Preview: A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers has reintroduced the Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act-federal legislation that would permanently protect American horses from commercial slaughter. This legislation would expand the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act-which passed as part of the 2018 Farm Bill-to include equines, and prohibit the commercial slaughter of horses in the United States and end their export for that purpose abroad.
Sponsored in the US House of Representatives by Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), the SAFE Act is supported by leading animal welfare groups, including the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®), the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund, and Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation.
The SAFE Act has also received strong support from industry groups [..]. Last year, all these organizations partnered with animal welfare groups to form the "Final Stretch Alliance to End Horse Slaughter," a collaborative effort urging federal lawmakers to pass a permanent ban on slaughter. [...]"More than 80% of Americans oppose horse slaughter for human consumption, and despite robust partnerships between the equine industry and animal welfare groups to support rehoming horses, a legal loophole still allows tens of thousands of American horses to be shipped to other countries for slaughter each year," said Nancy Perry, senior vice president of government relations for the ASPCA. [...]Research shows that 2.3 million Americans have the interest and resources to adopt a horse, demonstrating that there are more than enough homes for the approximately 203,000 American horses who were exported for slaughter last year. America's equine adoption community is working swiftly to match the horses in their care with foster and adoptive families, increasing the number of adoptions every year. [...] As long as the financial incentive for slaughter exists, it will continue to hamper the lifesaving efforts of rescue and welfare groups to provide humane care to equines.

 

 

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