The issue of horse slaughter in America ignites the passions of those on both sides of the issue. A recent statement regarding the AVMA executives, “They are despicable and it’s no wonder so many vets are fed up with them.” is uninformed.
For any organization to announce that they are against senate bill S 311, known as “The Horse Slaughter Prevention Act”, people immediately assume that they are do not care about the welfare of horses in America. If you read the AVMA’s position statement at:
http://www.avma.org/advocacy/federal/legislative/issue_briefs/ahspa.asp, you will see the opposite is true.
The facts:
The main opposition to S 311 is that it does not provide funding or solutions addressing the welfare of the unwanted horses in the United States.
Both the AVMA and the AAEP are working hard to decrease the number of unwanted horses and improve their quality of life in the US as members of the Unwanted Horse Coalition.
Closing down the US slaughter plants has had a negative effect. Excerpt from the AVMA article:
"The reality is, proponents of this legislation have done nothing to address the real issue here, and, in fact, by seeking to ban horse slaughter, they have made things significantly worse," said Dr. Mark Lutschaunig, director of the AVMA Governmental Relations Division. Opponents of the federal ban say its supporters should instead focus their energies on addressing what to do with the some 100,000 horses relinquished by their owners each year to slaughter.”
With the increasing number of abused, neglected and unwanted horses there has come an increase in rescue organizations unable to properly care for these horses.
How each individual can make a difference:
Do not breed horses.
Educate potential horse owners on the expense and time commit required to care for these magnificent animals.
Donate your time and money to organizations that are working to find solutions to the problem of unwanted animals.
Useful Links
The AVMA position statement on S311
http://www.avma.org/advocacy/federal/legislative/issue_briefs/ahspa.asp
The Unwanted Horse Coalition website http://www.unwantedhorsecoalition.org
The Unwanted Horse Coalition brochure
http://www.unwantedhorsecoalition.org/resources/UHC_brochure.pdf
Common Horse Sense website
