| SENATOR
FEINSTEIN'S HORSE SLAUGHTER BILL
A bill worthy of
support will be introduced soon in Congress by California's
Senator Dianne Feinstein to prohibit the slaughter of American horses
for
human consumption abroad.
The Bill will be
referred to as SB(number to come) Feinstein Bill and will
probably be referred to merely as the Horse Slaughter Bill.
As Americans, most
of us were shocked to learn that this odious, ugly and
gut-wrenching practice even exists. Why? The reason is simple. Horse
slaughter, or the slaughter of our pleasure, nonfood animals, is not and
never will be part of our culture
Horses developed
this great nation in partnership with people. We owe the
American horse. Let's save this most noble of creatures and part of our
American heritage from the cruelty of the foreign slaughter markets.
There was a previous
bill introduced by Rep. Morella which had inherent
problems. So when Rep. Morella was not reelected, HoofPAC
a coalition
of horse organizations including the California Equine Council, cosponsor
of Proposition 6 in California, felt it was appropriate protocol to approach
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a logical choice, to introduce and carry the
new bill.
Senator Feinstein
represents not only the largest State in the Nation, and
the nearly five million constituents who mandated that California horses
be
protected against the foreign-owned slaughter industry, but also the
largest horse-owning state (tied with Texas) in the Nation.
The Feinstein Bill
is a broad based and bipartisan effort. The successful
California campaign was endorsed by Olympic Medallists from our United
States Equestrian Team, California State Horsemen's Association, California
Law Enforcement, California's Leading Prosecutors, California Race Tracks,
California Thoroughbred Owners, California Firefighters, Mayors, City
Councils as well as a list of celebrities including Robert Redford, Paul
McCartney, Pierce Brosnan, Peter Falk and Stefanie Powers, among others.
The Feinstein Bill,
better and more stringent, has addressed problems
inherent in the Morella Bill such as:
1)
Enforcement has been opened up to include State and
Local Law Enforcement.
2)
The Enforcement clause,
"The Secretary (USDA) shall take into account the seriousness of
the violation,
the culpability of the violator, and the violator's record of cooperating
with the
Government in disclosing the violation when enforcing or imposing penalties.."
HAS BEEN DELETED.
3)
The Morella Bill and its sponsors staunchly supported the
shooting of 'Unplaceable Horses' and 'Horses Beyond Recovery'.
HoofPAC
would never support the unnecessary violent shooting of these horses.
In the Feinstein Bill, both 'Unplaceable Horses'
and 'Horses Beyond Recovery'
are, when necessary, humanely euthanized by veterinarian by lethal
injection only.
4)
Holding time for law enforcement to place a confiscated horse
has been extended
from 30 to 90 days.
5)
Findings have been expanded to include:
a)
food safety,
b) non compliance with conventional 'industry standards' for transportation,
c) non compliance with "Preferred" euthanasia for horses according
to
the AVMA Panel on Euthanasia '2000.
d) consumer fraud and theft
as well as:
e)
heritage
f) culture
g) cruelty
Please
e-mail, call and fax your Senators today
(Go to www.HoofPAC.com
Write to Congress and find out
who your representatives are) and respectfully request that
they be listed as a cosponsor on the Feinstein Bill to prohibit
the slaughter of American horses for human consumption.
Let
them know that Americans (88-93%) do not want their
pleasure, recreation and sporting horses... a non food animal...
cruelly slaughtered for gourmet export.
Keep America's
Horses In The Stable...And Off The Table!
For information please
contact: savethehorse@earthlink.net
Thank you for caring
about America's horses,
Cathleen Doyle, founder
HoofPAC
Join
us today at www.HoofPAC.com and
go to our HoofPAC
Store at www.HoofPAC.com and
purchase merchandising which will help support the campaign.
Thank You.
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