U.S. Representatives Introduce American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011

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On September 19, 2011, Representatives Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced House Bill 2466, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, that would amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the "shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of any horse or other equine to be slaughtered for human consumption." The Bill would also grant the Secretary of Agriculture authority to detain any horse for examination, testing, or the taking of evidence at a show, exhibition, sale, or auction which the Secretary has probable cause to believe is "sore"; as well as any horse that the Secretary has probable cause to believe has been "shipped, transported, moved, delivered, received, possessed, purchased, sold, or donated" in violation of the Act. Finally, the Bill would increase the appropriations for the Horse Prevention Act by ten-fold: from $500,000 to $5,000,000.

Horse slaughter plants no longer operate within U.S borders; however, thousands of horses are still shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. This bi-partisan measure aims to end the export and slaughter of U.S. equines for human consumption. House Bill 2466 has been referred to both the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The comparable Senate Bill, SB 1176, was introduced in the Senate on June 9, 2011; has been read twice; and was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Read the Full Text of House Bill 2466 here.
Read the APHIS Fact Sheet on the Horse Protection Act here.

Posted by Tanya J. Cramoy, Research Assistant