Wild horse waiting at auction house

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE)

Wild horse Orgs Urge Passage of SAFE.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, May 24, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Horse Slaughter Hearing Heads To House Subcommittee

The Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce (of the Committee on Energy and Commerce) will hold a  legislative hearing on Thursday, May 26, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

The SAFE Act will be heard in the committee. H.R. 3355, the “Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act of 2021,” introduced by Reps. Schakowsky (D-IL) and Buchanan (R-FL), prohibits the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation by a person of any horse or other equine that the person has reason to believe will be slaughtered for human consumption.

Federal law currently does not prohibit the transport of horses across the border for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. Between 2015, and 2019, over 350,000 horses were exported for slaughter from the United States to Mexico. Over 92,000 horses were imported to Canada for slaughter between 2015 and 2018.

“Slaughter of our wild horses is just not an option! Americans are firmly opposed to the slaughter of horses.” said Manda Kalimian, founder of CANA Foundation. “On U.S. soil horse slaughter inspection has been defunded since 2008 through the Appropriations process; essentially stopping slaughter in this country. Congress must engage that language in the yearly funding bill. It is long overdue to stop wasting time and money. The SAFE Act must make it out of this committee and to a floor vote. It is the only responsible action for the taxpayer and for America’s horses.”

Since horse slaughter on U.S. soil ended in 2007, equine welfare organizations nationwide have been working collectively to ban the transport for sale to slaughter. The first version of the SAFE Act was introduced in 2011 and has never been released out of the House committee for a floor vote. Organizations nationwide are raising collective voices through coalition after coalition to get this important bill to a vote.

Mares and foals being rescued at kill lot

“The passage of this legislation is critical for both domestic and wild horses,” said Clare Staples, founder of Skydog Sanctuary whose organization has rescued hundreds of wild horses and burros, many of them from slaughter auctions and brokers. “The slaughter bound horses we have rescued exhibit injury and trauma response from the brutal journey they experienced before they found safety in sanctuary. I have personally witnessed the brutality of the predatory horse slaughter industry. Every single year this important legislation gets caught in committee. SAFE needs to make it out of committee and to a vote, now.”

“Increasing numbers of wild horses are landing in danger of the slaughter pipeline since the ‘2020 plan’ began, in an unprecedented acceleration of removals to achieve population levels not seen since the passage of the 1971 Act. Oversight is abysmal and no real effort has been made to stop the flow into the slaughter pipeline of wild horses through the sale and adoption programs,” stated Laura Leigh, President of Wild Horse Education, “I have seen horses at auction and at packing plants. The terror is palpable, the treatment of horses was obscene. For all horses, wild and domestic, the SAFE Act must pass to stop feeding the gruesome horse slaughter pipeline with our beloved equines.”

This hearing will take place in the John D. Dingell Room, 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, as well as remotely using Cisco Webex online video conferencing. The hearing is entitled, “Legislative Hearing to Protect Consumers and Strengthen the Economy.” The hearing will be broadcast live on the subcommittee website.

Old mare rescued at kill lot

We ask all of you to take action this week on the SAFE Act. SAFE now has 215 co-sponsors in the House, 5 in the Senate, on both sides of the aisle. This could be the year we finally get a full vote on this bill and see it pass. Do not give up now! 

TAKE ACTION: Call the switchboard number (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative’s office or one of your senator’s offices. A staff member will answer the phone. Say  “I am a constituent and calling to urge the congressperson (or senator) to support H.R. 3355 (S. 2732 for your senators) the legislation to ban horse slaughter and transport for sale to slaughter, Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act of 2021.”

You can also use our fast click and send HERE. However, we urge you to call early next week.

We will provide you an update after the hearing.

If you have not had time to take action on the SAFE Act, to stop the slaughter of American domestic and wild horses, you can take action HERE.

Through June 6, all contributions to our work will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to 5K to help us expand our work thanks to a very generous supporter.

Thank you for keeping us in the fight!

If you are shopping online you can help Wild Horse Education by choosing us as your charity of choice on IGive or Amazonsmile.com