Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2008 12:22:39 GMT -5
Horse slaughter plant idea in SD withdrawn
The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, January 29, 2008
www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=30468&freebie_check&CFID=88340947&CFTOKEN=21623699&jsessionid=883018a3bf7f7d53507c
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Flooded with messages from across the nation by people against the consumption of horse meat, a South Dakota legislative committee killed a bill Tuesday that would have provided a $1 million state loan to construct a plant to slaughter horses.
Before SB170 was killed 7-1, it was changed to call for a study of horse processing. But that, too, was rejected.
RELATED CONTENT
Article comments (6)
Sen. Frank Kloucek, D-Scotland, said the nation needs such a plant so horses can be humanely disposed of when people no longer want them or cannot afford to feed them.
There are no plants in the United States that currently slaughter horses, and Kloucek said South Dakota could gain a lucrative business. He noted that American soldiers who served in World War I and World War II ate horse meat, and there's a market for it in Europe.
"There's a need for it," he said. "Here is an industry that we would have the corner on the market for."
Legislators on the Senate Agriculture Committee said they received thousands of e-mail messages and phone calls from people who opposed the measure to construct a slaughter plant for horses. Most of the opponents said only that the consumption of horses is distasteful to Americans, lawmakers said.
Sen. Tom Hansen, R-Huron, said the barrage of messages offered no solutions to the problem of unwanted horses and old horses.
"They almost act like they think a horse is going to stay 20 years old forever and is always going to be out in the pasture to eat sugar cubes," he said.
Hansen and other committee members said they were not swayed by the overflow of messages from nonresidents.
"We love to hear from our constituents but we don't especially take kindly from hearing from people who don't even understand the situation, who live in California, Pennsylvania, New York," Hansen said.
Among the few who testified against the bill was state Sen. Theresa Two Bulls. The Pine Ridge Democrat, who is an American Indian, said horses hold a place of honor in Indian society.
"The Lakota people view the horse as a sacred animal," she said.
Legislators who voted against the bill said they opposed the idea of a state loan for a horse slaughter plant because the issue of consuming horses is the subject of pending legislation in Congress. There's no point in the state doing anything until Congress acts, they said.
Congress is considering legislation to prohibit killing and processing horses for human consumption or transporting them across international boundaries for that purpose.
The nation's last horse slaughter plant at DeKalb, Ill., closed in September. Two Texas plants closed in 2006. The three plants had exported meat to Europe and elsewhere for human consumption.
Kloucek said horses that once went to those plants now are sent to slaughter in Canada and Mexico. He said many horses are being abandoned or being sent to ranches and animal shelters that already have too many of the animals.
Dick Gregerson, a lobbyist for the Humane Society of the United States, said after the meeting that it would have been a waste of time for the Legislature to study the issue when federal legislation is pending on horse slaughter.
Gregerson said the society opposes processing horses for table fare.
"There's something repulsive about slaughtering horses for human consumption because horses aren't raised for that purpose," he said. "It just goes against the American grain."
Amber Brady, a state Agriculture Department official, said Kloucek's legislation is premature until Congress decides the fate of horse processing. The department opposes a ban on horse slaughter, she said.
"The closing of the three horse slaughter facilities in the United States has been a blow to the agricultural industry and has created many unintended consequences, I think, about the true welfare of those animals," Brady said
The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, January 29, 2008
www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=30468&freebie_check&CFID=88340947&CFTOKEN=21623699&jsessionid=883018a3bf7f7d53507c
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Flooded with messages from across the nation by people against the consumption of horse meat, a South Dakota legislative committee killed a bill Tuesday that would have provided a $1 million state loan to construct a plant to slaughter horses.
Before SB170 was killed 7-1, it was changed to call for a study of horse processing. But that, too, was rejected.
RELATED CONTENT
Article comments (6)
Sen. Frank Kloucek, D-Scotland, said the nation needs such a plant so horses can be humanely disposed of when people no longer want them or cannot afford to feed them.
There are no plants in the United States that currently slaughter horses, and Kloucek said South Dakota could gain a lucrative business. He noted that American soldiers who served in World War I and World War II ate horse meat, and there's a market for it in Europe.
"There's a need for it," he said. "Here is an industry that we would have the corner on the market for."
Legislators on the Senate Agriculture Committee said they received thousands of e-mail messages and phone calls from people who opposed the measure to construct a slaughter plant for horses. Most of the opponents said only that the consumption of horses is distasteful to Americans, lawmakers said.
Sen. Tom Hansen, R-Huron, said the barrage of messages offered no solutions to the problem of unwanted horses and old horses.
"They almost act like they think a horse is going to stay 20 years old forever and is always going to be out in the pasture to eat sugar cubes," he said.
Hansen and other committee members said they were not swayed by the overflow of messages from nonresidents.
"We love to hear from our constituents but we don't especially take kindly from hearing from people who don't even understand the situation, who live in California, Pennsylvania, New York," Hansen said.
Among the few who testified against the bill was state Sen. Theresa Two Bulls. The Pine Ridge Democrat, who is an American Indian, said horses hold a place of honor in Indian society.
"The Lakota people view the horse as a sacred animal," she said.
Legislators who voted against the bill said they opposed the idea of a state loan for a horse slaughter plant because the issue of consuming horses is the subject of pending legislation in Congress. There's no point in the state doing anything until Congress acts, they said.
Congress is considering legislation to prohibit killing and processing horses for human consumption or transporting them across international boundaries for that purpose.
The nation's last horse slaughter plant at DeKalb, Ill., closed in September. Two Texas plants closed in 2006. The three plants had exported meat to Europe and elsewhere for human consumption.
Kloucek said horses that once went to those plants now are sent to slaughter in Canada and Mexico. He said many horses are being abandoned or being sent to ranches and animal shelters that already have too many of the animals.
Dick Gregerson, a lobbyist for the Humane Society of the United States, said after the meeting that it would have been a waste of time for the Legislature to study the issue when federal legislation is pending on horse slaughter.
Gregerson said the society opposes processing horses for table fare.
"There's something repulsive about slaughtering horses for human consumption because horses aren't raised for that purpose," he said. "It just goes against the American grain."
Amber Brady, a state Agriculture Department official, said Kloucek's legislation is premature until Congress decides the fate of horse processing. The department opposes a ban on horse slaughter, she said.
"The closing of the three horse slaughter facilities in the United States has been a blow to the agricultural industry and has created many unintended consequences, I think, about the true welfare of those animals," Brady said
