June 6, 2014, California auctioneer
charged for sending horse to slaughter.
Madera County Sherriff
and KPIX Channel 5 News reports auctioneer Billy Ray Brown Jr., was arrested and
charged in a case involving professional rodeo horses and CA auction records
traced to a slaughterhouse in Canada.
Many California (CA) residents are
shocked by the news which broke yesterday on the heels of an
The average American doesn’t
realize that America's wild and domestic horses and burros are being sold in a seedy
underground market for their meat at auction and shipped to slaughter in Mexico
and Canada for human consumption abroad. Polls indicate of those Americans who
are aware, 80% are opposed to these insidious activities.
The 1998 CA 'Prohibition on
Slaughter of Horses and Sale of Horsemeat for Human Consumption' prohibits any
person from possessing, transferring, receiving or holding any horse, pony,
burro or mule with intent to kill it or have
it killed, where the person knows or should know that any part of the animal
will be used for human consumption, and provides that a violation constitutes a
felony offense. “But horses are virtually
being laundered through auction, trade and backyard barn sales, adds Ms Louise.
“The total lack of enforcement is fueled
by an absence of appropriated funds which enables the transfer and transport of
equines without regulatory inspections or paper trails.” Yesterday’s summer camp ponies, today’s racehorses
and tomorrow’s family pet ponies whose boarding contracts go unpaid, are disappearing
across CA state borders into neighboring states where no protective laws exist.
Just last month, the 2015 Agriculture Appropriations bill
was approved by the Senate with defunding language intact, which prohibits
federally required inspections of horse slaughter facilities in the United
States. Without funding for USDA inspections of horsemeat, horse slaughter
plants cannot re-open in the U.S. However, there are no federal laws
prohibiting the sale or transport of horses across federal borders to be slaughtered
outside of the states.
Due to the absence of this federal
protection, over 100,000 American horses are shipped across federal borders to
slaughter plants in Mexico and Canada each year. What most people don't realize
is that 92% of the horses sent to slaughter are sound, young and healthy. These
are among America’s finest and brightest horses; champion show horses,
Thoroughbred racehorses, professional rodeo horses and even wild horses taken
from their native lands.
What can people do to help the horses?
Get the true facts and help raise awareness. Support Wild For Life Foundation and other reputable anti-slaughter equine rescues and sanctuaries. Ask your state representatives to support the currently pending federal legislation; HR 1094 and SB 541, (the Safeguard American Food
Exports Act of 2013), which would prohibit the sale or transport of equines and
equine parts in interstate or foreign commerce for human consumption. Talk to others in your local horse
communities and encourage them to implement protective
measures to keep horses from being sold, given away or auctioned for slaughter. Enforceable safety provisions can help assure
their horses' safety and welfare for the lifetime of each horse.
Learn more and share: www.SavingAmericasHorses.org
http://www.lifetimeequinerefuge.org/adoption.html
Watch Saving America's Horses trailer: http://youtu.be/7Qb68DTz5RQ
Read the June 5th article about the arrest of the CA auctioneer: http://tinyurl.com/lvbbgj5
Learn more and share: www.SavingAmericasHorses.org
http://www.lifetimeequinerefuge.org/adoption.html
Watch Saving America's Horses trailer: http://youtu.be/7Qb68DTz5RQ
Read the June 5th article about the arrest of the CA auctioneer: http://tinyurl.com/lvbbgj5
