URGENT ! HOOFPAC ACTION ALERT TEXAS HB 1324

Horse Slaughter Bill Sneaks out of Calendars
And Heads to the House for a Vote !

HB 1324 - The bill to legalize Horse Slaughter in Texas has PASSED out of Calendars, and is set for a vote in the House Tuesday, April 22!

The timing could not be worse and probably deliberately planned, because legislators will be out of their offices for the Easter Holiday Friday through Monday..... with the vote planned Tuesday morning.

If we are to defeat this bill on the House floor, all Texans must FAX and CALL your individual state representatives and Governor Perry Tuesday morning beginning at 8:30 a.m. The House members will go into session at 10:00 a.m.

To learn who your State Representative is, visit www.thln.com and click on "Links" and click on "Find Your Legislative Incumbent", or you may call your local county elections department.

Your message can simply be that you want your representative to VOTE AGAINST HB 1324.

If you are not from Texas, FAX and CALL the list below and politely remind them that this is not exclusively a Texas issue as horses transported to these two plants to be slaughtered come from all over the nation. Texas is slaughtering your state's horses. This involves you.

Top twelve legislators in the Texas House with over twenty years seniority:

512-463-1000 Tom Craddick, Speaker of the House
512-463-0638 Paul Moreno
512-463-0604 James Laney
512-463-0720 Senfronia Thompson
512-463-0744 Ron Wilson
512-463-0518 Al Edwards
512-463-0542 Delwin Jones
512-463-0746 Stevens Wolens
512-463-0568 Talmadge Heflin
512-463-0602 Edmund Kuempel
512-463-0510 Harold Dutton
512-463-0702 John Smithee

512-463-1782 Governor Rick Perry
512-463-2000 Governor Rick Perry
512-463-1849 Governor Rick Perry (FAX)

Two ads will be coming out (Saturday and Monday) in the Houston Chronicle asking that "H.B. 1324 be killed....not our horses."

Please go to www.HoofPAC.com and make a donation today that will help us place a series of ads in major Texas newspapers to stop H.B. 1324.

Talking points are below.

• H.B. 1324 was introduced by Rep Betty Brown (R-Kaufman) in response to a recent Texas Attorney General Opinion (No. JC-0539) ruling that the two horse slaughter plants in Texas – one in Kaufman and one in Ft. Worth – are operating in violation of Sections 149.002 and 149.003 of the Agriculture Code which make it a criminal offense to sell, possess or transfer horsemeat for human consumption.

• These two Texas plants slaughter live horses, process their meat, and ship it to France, Belgium, Germany and Japan for human consumption. Prior to the Attorney General Opinion, the plants had avoided prosecution under these sections based on the mistaken belief that these sections did not apply if the human consumption took place outside the United States. The Attorney General Opinion ruled that those sections did apply even if the human consumption took place outside the U.S. Rep. Brown's bill, HB 1324, amends the current law to make the criminal offenses in Sections 149.002 and 149.003 applicable only if the human consumption occurs in the United States; thus, legalizing the activities of these horse slaughter plants.

• Beltex, the Ft. Worth plant, is owned by a Belgium company; Dallas Crown, the Kaufman plant, is owned by a French company. Thus, all profits from horse slaughter in Texas go to those foreign companies. In 2002, these plants slaughtered over 42,000 U.S. horses and shipped their meat to France, Belgium, Germany and Japan resulting in gross sales to these countries of over of $40 million. Simply put, they are killing U.S. horses to feed the French and Belgians; and, the French and Belgians are making millions doing it! And, ACCORDING TO THE A.G., IT IS ILLEGAL!!

• The majority of horses slaughtered in these Texas plants are not old, sick or lame but instead are young, healthy horses bought by "killer buyers" who attend horse auctions where they compete with families and other horse brokers looking for good, sound horses.

• The transportation of horses to slaughter houses is cruel and inhumane. Horses are often transported in overcrowded double decked cattle trailers which prevent them from standing upright which causes severe head, back and neck injuries. Horses are often trucked for days with no food, water or rest. Fighting is a major cause of injuries during transportation because no consideration is given to mixing stallions with geldings, mares and foals.

• The slaughter method used to kill these horses is anything but humane. The 2002 report of the American Veterinarian Medical Association Panel on Euthanasia states "adequate restraint is important to ensure proper placement of the penetrating captive volt" when used for euthanasia of horses. Adequate head restraint on a fractious, frightened horse in a slaughter plant killing 160 horses a day is virtually impossible. These horses often endure repeated stuns or blows and remain conscious during their own slaughter. The methods used are contrary to the American Veterinarian Medical Association's "Preferable" methods of euthanasia for equines.

• Ninety percent (90%) of the horses slaughtered in these plants are transported from other parts of the United States and the money paid by these plants for those horses to out-of-state killer buyers does not stay in Texas.

• Proponents of HB 1324 point to the economic impact of closing these slaughter plants. According to court records, Beltex employs approximately 90 and Dallas Crown approximately 40, minimum wage, high turn over, migrant workers. These jobs can easily be absorbed. Also, the "lost profits" to the Texas economy will be minimal since all profits are siphoned overseas. Further, a live horse is worth much more to the Texas economy than a dead horse. The direct annual impact on the gross domestic product is approximately $4,200 per horse. This is the direct cost of food, vet, transportation, shoeing, etc.; not to mention the indirect cost of tack, gasoline, uniforms, entry fees, breeding fees, etc. It also does not take into consideration the capital cost of land, barns, fences, equipment, etc.

• As mentioned above, the Texas horse slaughter plants are foreign owned and the horse meat they produce is sold and consumed overseas. If HB 1324 becomes law and allows this practice to continue, it will be a law that specifically protects a foreign company's right to produce a product (horse meat) in Texas, using U.S. resources, (our horses) while at the same time making it illegal for residents of this state and the United States to purchase or eat that product. To our knowledge, there is no other Texas or U.S. statute that does this and we would challenge the proponents of this bill to identify one. How then can this result be justified only for the production and sale of horse meat? If HB 1324 passes, how will Texans argue against a law permitting the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption if the dog and cat meat is consumed in Korea, China and other countries where people eat dogs and cats?

Although slightly edited, this action alert was drafted by the: Texas Humane Legislation Network
1-888-548-6263 Alert Date: April 17, 2003.