U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) on Feb. 4 unveiled bipartisan legislation to prevent the human health threats posed by the consumption of horses raised in the United States by permanently banning their slaughter.
The Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, H.R. 961, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), also would prohibit the export of live horses to Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses to be sold overseas.
“The slaughter of horses for consumption is a barbaric practice that has no place in America,” said Rep. Buchanan, chairman of the Animal Protection Caucus in Congress. “I will continue to lead the effort with Congresswoman Schakowsky to ban domestic horse slaughter and end the export of horses abroad for the same purpose.”
Although currently illegal in the United States, the slaughter ban is temporary and subject to annual congressional review, according to information released by the congressman’s office, and no federal law exists to prohibit the transport of horses across America’s borders for slaughter in Canada or Mexico.
“Horses have a special place in our nation’s history, and these majestic creatures were not raised as food for humans,” Rep. Schakowsky said.
Roughly 100,000 American horses are exported annually to Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses, according to Rep. Buchanan, who cited U.S. Department of Agriculture data, and more than 90 percent of them were healthy.
H.R. 961 received endorsements from the Humane Society, the Animal Welfare Institute, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Return to Freedom, and Animal Wellness Action.
Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, commended the lawmakers for their leadership in introducing H.R. 961, which she said also would protect “unsuspecting consumers from horse meat tainted with dangerous drugs that are not fit for human consumption.”
Rep. Buchanan in January 2017 sponsored the same-named H.R. 113, which gained 218 cosponsors.
Nancy Perry, senior vice president of government relations for the ASPCA, said that membership is “grateful to Representatives Schakowsky and Buchanan for their steadfast commitment to ending this greed-driven cruelty to our horses.”
The reintroduced bill, H.R. 961, has been referred for consideration to both the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and the U.S. House Agriculture Committee.
Rep. Buchanan is the original cosponsor of H.R. 961, which already has garnered 10 other cosponsors since its introduction last week.