Forty-one wild horses sold by the Bureau of Land Management under a new law allowing their sale at auction “without limitation” were slaughtered in Illinois at Cavel International horse slaughterhouse in two separate incidents showing how American wild horses are being slaughtered for human consumption abroad due the passage last December of an eleventh hour amendment removing federal protection to wild horses.

A first group of six wild horses were slaughtered on April 18. The horses, rounded up by the BLM from Antelope Hills Herd Management Area in Wyoming, were purchased on April 15 by Dustin Herbert, a former rodeo clown from Meeker, Oklahoma who, posing as a minister, told BLM officials he intended to use them in a church-run program for troubled youth. Three days after their sale, the mustangs were tragically killed at Belgian owned Cavel International horse slaughterhouse in DeKalb, Illinois. Mr. Herbert, who bought the horses for $50 each from the BLM holding facility in Canyon City, Colorado, resold them for slaughter immediately, obtaining an estimate $2,000 profit.

A week after this first incident, another group of 35 mustangs sold under the new law to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota were also slaughtered at Cavel International, elevating the total number of wild horses killed to 41. The tribe traded 87 of the 105 horses it bought from the BLM for younger ones. Officials from the agency recovered the remaining 52 wild horses from Cavel's pens and from Nebraska from where they were on route to the Cavel slaughter plant.

The deaths of the mustangs took place as consequence of the passage last December of a last minute amendment surreptitiously slipped into the 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Bill by Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) that undermined the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act by removing the ban on the commercial sale and processing of wild horses, allowing them to be sold at auction without limitation on the number of horses or the intentions of the buyer.

In spite of claims from Senator Burns saying that all wild horses affected by the new law would go to good homes, it was only a question of time before American wild horses, deprived from federal protection, started to be slaughtered for human consumption abroad.

Last year, more than 65,000 horses were killed in the three horse slaughterhouses, all foreign-owned, remaining in th United States to satisfy the demand of horse meat in certain European and Asian countries such as France, Belgium or Japan where it is considered a delicacy of up to $15 per pound.

On April 25, the BLM suspended the sale of wild horses under the Burns' Amendment due to the scandal caused by the slaughter of the mustangs. Although the suspension relieves temporarily the situation of the horses affected by the Burns' Amendment, the sales can start again at any time. Immediate action is needed in order to ensure no more American wild horses are slaughtered again.

What you can do
Fortunately we still can repeal the Burns Amendment and stop by once the slaughter of American horses, domestic or wild alike. Three bills have been introduced in Congress to achieve this goal:

H.R. 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, is a bill that would outlaw the practice of horse slaughter as well as the exportation of horses for the purpose of slaughter in foreign countries, ending once and for all the slaughter of American horses. more >>

H.R. 297. This legislation would repeal the Burns' Amendment, restoring the federal ban on the commercial sale and processing of wild horses Senator Burns removed from the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. more >>

S. 576. This legislation is the Senate companion bill of H.R. 297. Like it, S. 576 would restore the federal protection for wild horses removed from the WFHBA by the Burns' Amendment. more >>

Please contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 503 and H.R. 297. Also, contact your two US Senators and request them to cosponsor S. 576

The best way to contact Representatives is by writing or faxing their district or Washington, D.C. offices. Please, start today. We need your help to put an end to the unnecessary practice of horse slaughter in America.

To find out who your Congressman is, visit Contacting Congress.

Additional information on mustangs slaughtered
Wild Horses Rushed to the Slaughterhouse - SAPL Press Release
AWHPC Alerts

Background information on horse slaughter
http://www.horse-protection.org
http://www.saplonline.org/horses.htm
http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/index.htm
http://www.justsaywhoa.org

Take action to end horse slaughter
Join the Against Horse Slaughter Yahoo group to learn more about horse slaughter and how you can help.

You can also join us on the Habitat for Horses Members' Against Horse Slaughter forum.

Press articles about the mustangs slaughtered
San Diego Union-Tribune
Washington Post
Illinois Leader
USA Today

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