3-PART ALERT:
1. SAMPLE LETTER: American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act
2. Strategies To Stop Horse Slaughter In Canada
3. Help Swiss Activist Show Diners The Pain On Their Plates
PHOTO: Horses at the Ciudad Juarez plant are stabbed in the back until the spinal cord is severed, then hoisted so their throats can be slit. JERRY LARA: SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
1. SAMPLE LETTER: American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act
STATUS ON AMERICAN HORSE SLAUGHTER PREVENTION ACT:
H.R.503: To amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing,
purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] (introduced 1/17/2007); Cosponsors (186)
Related Bills: S.311
Latest Major Action: 3/2/2007 Referred to House subcommittee.
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry.
See if your Rep is a cosponsor: http://
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00503:@@@P
S.311: A bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving,
possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other
purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] (introduced 1/17/2007); Cosponsors (31)
Related Bills: H.R.503
Latest Major Action: 4/25/2007 Senate committee/subcommittee actions.
Status: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be
reported without amendment favorably.
See if your Senators are cosponsors: http://
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN00311:@@@P
TO IDENTIFY YOUR FEDERAL LEGISLATORS AND FIND CONTACT INFO, TRY:
Congress.org: http://www.Congress.org
USA Senate: www.senate.gov
USA House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov
Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121
The Honorable Representative _________________________________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Senators ______________________________________
The U.S. Senate, U.S. Capitol Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Representative __________________________________ and
Senators _______________________________________________:
Though constituents have appealed to you before, we now urgently call for your support. Please advocate swift passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311) to ban horse export and slaughter for the purpose of human consumption.
Recent court rulings pronounced horse slaughter illegal in Texas and Illinois. With no legitimate equine processors left in the U.S., about 30,000 American horses were exported to Mexican slaughterhouses this year.
At the Ciudad Juarez plant, the Houston Chronicle reports, horses are restrained in kill boxes so workers can pierce their backs with a small knife "seven, eight, nine times." Fully alert, horses bob their heads as the blade stabs them around the withers. By the 10th puncture, one horse collapses in pools of her own blood. She is paralyzed, but not dead. After two more minutes, workers dangle her by a shackled rear leg and slit her throat. Some horses remain conscious as their bodies are dismembered.
American voters overwhelmingly oppose the export and brutal treatment of horses. Yet there is a 370 percent increase in the number of U.S. horses transported over our borders this year. By the time horses reach slaughterplants, they've traveled 700 or more miles stuffed inside double-deck livestock trucks or other vehicles built for smaller animals. Deprived of food, water or rest, most arrive weak, dehydrated and injured. Some are dead by journey's end.
Last year, hundreds of thousands of horses died for diners in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan and Russia. While fewer American horses have been killed since the closure of U.S. operations, those shipped to Mexico die even more violently than those in U.S. slaughterhouses. State-by-state bans are largely meaningless until a federal ban ends the export of American horses for human ingestion.
If you do not cosponsor H.R. 503/S. 311, I urge you to do so. Please help expedite passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and move this bill out of committee for a vote. The longer Congress wavers, the more American horses face agony inside foreign equine plants.
Please let me know your stance on this vital, but stalled legislation. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
2. STRATEGIES TO STOP HORSE SLAUGHTER IN CANADA
SOURCE: Sinikka Crosland, Executive Director, Canadian Horse Defense Coalition:
sinikka@defendhorsescanada.org
PHOTO: A mare and foal wait to die. SOURCE: www.atourhands.com/horse.html
9/18/07, from Canadian Horse Defense Coalition, sinikka@defendhorsescanada.org Abolish Horse Slaughter Canada has been launched. We have created a mail group that will enable horse defenders from around the world to share their information and strategies as we fight to achieve an end to equine slaughter in Canada. Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/abolishhorseslaughtercanada/. You will need to join the group in order to be able to post and receive messages to your email account.
Photos Required!
We are featuring 12 compelling photographs of horses in an upcoming calendar that will be distributed to Canadian legislators. Do you have a
favorite image that you would like to share for possible inclusion in a 2008 calendar? In particular, we will consider tasteful, unique photos
that portray the majesty, nobility, personality, and intelligence of the horse. Please include your horse's name and a brief description of how
he/she has impacted your life.
Please email your photographs and text to: info@defendhorsescanada.org
Note: Only 12 photos will be used in the calendar. However, images submitted to us and not chosen for this project may still be posted on our
website and please keep in mind that special rescue stories to accompany photographs are welcome anytime. Coming soon, we will
be featuring case histories on: http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/
For the horses, Sinikka Crosland, Executive Director, Canadian Horse Defense Coalition, http:// www.defendhorsescanada.org
3. HELP SWISS ACTIVIST SHOW DINERS THE PAIN ON THEIR PLATES
SOURCE: Diana, dhartig@arcor.de CC: info@pericles-pferdeschutz.ch
PHOTOS: Unloading at slaughterplant. SOURCE: www.atourhands.com/horse.html
10/4/07 from dhartig@arcor.de Regarding the Mexican horse issue, I have now established contact (and forwarded the information I sent you all recently the article, images and video links) with a Swiss horse protection organization, led my Mr. Hans Hunziker.
He informs me here Switzerland annually imports 4.7 million tons of horsemeat from approx. 12 countries. Most of it coming from Canada, before that: the US. Now Switzerland buys horsemeat from Mexico...Up to now in this year that would be about 500,000 kilos. Last year it was only 68,000 kilos.
He says he intends to travel to Mexico before the year is out to further document what is happening there (transport and slaughterhouses) in an attempt to inform the horsemeat-consuming public. Naturally, he says, the traders and importers tell all sorts of lies concerning the humane way the animals are treated.
Mr. Hunziker realizes it will not be easy to gain access to the relevant facilities, and asks me if I can put him in contact with people who might be able to help in his endeavor. I don't know if any of you can, or know people who might. But I'd be grateful if you could send my request on to those in your acquaintance who have such contacts on location particularly. Thanks and kind regards, Diana
ANYONE WITH LEADS OR CONTACTS, REPLY DIRECTLY TO: Diana Hartig, dhartig@arcor.de
Over 50 different 8.5 x 11" Fact Sheets for your advocacy materials.
Fact Sheets with high-resolution photos + timely information, stats and studies. Kinship Circle creates compelling literature for a logical argument on the animals' behalf.
THANK YOU for DONATING toward the printing of our educational literature.
DOWNLOAD FREE, HIGH RESOLUTION FACT SHEETS:
Use entire Fact Sheet
Or, crop out high-resolution photos + fact bites to make your own posters, flyers, etc.
