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Symbols of the American West end up as steaks
By DIANA MARRERO
Gannett News Service
Oct. 26, 2005 05:04 PM
WASHINGTON - Americans so cherish wild horses as symbols of the
American West that in 1971 Congress passed a law to protect them
from slaughter.
But last year, a Montana senator essentially reversed the measure
with a little-noticed provision in a larger spending bill. At least
41 wild horses have been killed since.
Outraged wild horse advocates have been trying to restore those
protections. The latest effort - an amendment that would essentially
ban horse slaughter of any kind - could be up for a vote this week.
"Not just wild horses end up being slaughtered," said Nancy Perry,
vice president of government affairs for the Humane Society of the
United States. "What's really going on is the use of American horses
to feed foreign diners."
Horsemeat is a delicacy in places like Japan and Europe. While the
killings of 41 wild horses at an Illinois slaughterhouse drew
attention to the issue, about 65,000 horses were quietly killed last
year. There are three slaughterhouses that butcher horses in the
country.
Ranchers say efforts to protect wild horses or ban horse slaughter
amount to "misguided compassion."
They complain wild horses compete with their cattle for grass,
typically on public lands. Many horses would starve to death if
their numbers became too large, they say. Often, ranchers must also
sell their old ranch horses to slaughterhouses because they can't
afford to keep them when they get too frail to work.
"Should we just turn them out and let them die a cruel death or
put them down," said Rachel Buzzetti, executive director of the
Nevada Cattlemen's Association, who represents ranchers in a state
that has the highest population of wild horses in the country.
There are about 32,000 wild horses and burros roaming lands
managed by the Bureau of Land Management in 10 Western states.
Because they have virtually no natural predators, their herd sizes
can double about every five years.
Both the House and Senate have voted to make horse slaughter
illegal in the United States. The provision, which would shut down
the three slaughterhouses that butcher horses by banning federal
funding for inspectors at the facilities, is in a massive
agriculture spending bill that Congress will likely vote on this
week.
Animal rights advocates have long tried to ban horse slaughter but
drew on the public backlash after the wild horses were killed this
year to push the legislation in Congress, said Chris Heyde, a
spokesman with the Society for Animal Protective Legislation.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., drew intense criticism from animal
lovers last year after he inserted a provision into a spending bill
that did away with certain protections for wild horses.
"What he did with the wild horses was a catalyst for an already
growing campaign," Heyde said.
Tom Gorey, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management, said his
agency was merely following the law when they sold the wild horses
that ended up at the slaughterhouse. The agency temporarily placed a
moratorium on sales until they could add measures to protect the
horses.
The agency resumed the sales in May after warning the three
slaughterhouses that they should not buy wild horses for meat and
informing potential buyers they could be fined or imprisoned if they
misrepresent their intentions for buying the horses. No additional
wild horses have been slaughtered since April, he said.
"Our bottom line is putting them in the hands of people with a
demonstrated interest in caring for them," Gorey said.
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