Senator Landrieu Leads 'Horses on the Hill' Rally Against Horse Slaughter

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu led the annual "Horses on the Hill" event, rallying support to ban horse slaughterhouses and the export of horses for slaughter in the United States.

As a horse owner, Landrieu introduced an updated version of her Safeguard American Food Exports Act (SAFE Act) in March, aimed at stopping the "inhumane and absolutely disgusting" practice of horse slaughter.

"We've introduced this bill several times. This bill will pass this year," said Landrieu, D-La. "The American people are fed up."

She highlighted a recent incident where 30 horses were burned alive in a vehicle fire in New York while being transported across the border for slaughter. This bill also follows Europe's horsemeat scandal, which began earlier this year when testing in Ireland revealed some beef products contained equine DNA, shaking consumer confidence across the continent.

Landrieu emphasized that horses are often given performance-enhancing drugs, including painkillers harmful to humans, increasing the risks associated with consuming horse meat.

The new bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., among others.

In 2011, Congress did not renew a five-year ban on funding federal inspectors at horse slaughter plants in the U.S. Consequently, horses are exported to Mexico and Canada for slaughter, with the meat sent to countries where horsemeat is considered a delicacy. Approximately 150,000 horses are exported for slaughter annually, and some horse slaughterhouses are preparing to open in the U.S.

Proponents of horse slaughter argue it is a legitimate business and criticize the perceived hypocrisy of treating horses differently from cows, pigs, and sheep, which are also slaughtered for meat. They claim that banning slaughter harms the horse industry and leads to horses starving or dying painfully.

Landrieu countered that those who can afford to raise and maintain a horse can also afford to humanely euthanize it without resorting to slaughter.

"Horses are not raised for slaughter," Landrieu stated. "They're animals raised for sport, work, and companionship."

"The bond between a horse and a human is very different from that between a cow and a human, or a pig and a human, or a goat and a human," she added.

This article originally appeared in The Advocate.