MORE FROM HUFFPOST
MORE FROM HUFFPOST
horse slaughter
While our historic milestone provides plenty of reasons to take pause and commemorate our past, the urgency of our cause demands that we continue to look ahead. To that end, the ASPCA is at the forefront of three relatively new areas of animal welfare concentration where the potential for saving lives is nearly limitless.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
WHAT'S HAPPENING
The federal spending omnibus package President Obama signed today represents months of negotiations by the House and Senate. And while some of the loudest and largest passengers on that omnibus include defense spending, tax reform, and homeland security, a number of critical animal causes fortunately found seats as well.
Horse slaughter for human consumption is, for the moment, effectively prohibited on U.S. soil. But this prohibition has to be renewed annually in the federal appropriations bill.
Prohibiting slaughterhouse inspections is a start, but more comprehensive equine protection is a necessary finish. Our horses deserve it, and our humanity should demand it.
The people of the United States do not see horses as a source of food, and despite all the scrutiny and pressure coming to bear on the horse slaughter industry, it has shown itself to be consistently reckless, unsafe and inhumane. There's no redeeming it.
The Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary has seen unspeakable cruelty. One horse arrived at the sanctuary with a fractured skull after being beaten with a two-by-four and dragged behind a truck. Another arrived with untreated third degree burns from a stable fire.
Horses helped settle the country, and we owe them more than to turn them into chopped patties.
