The Issues
Horse Slaughter : What You Can Do
The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, which includes both the House and Senate versions, H.R. 503 and S.727, respectively, needs to pass before the end of the current 111th Congress, which means it must pass before the end of 2010. A major drive on the part of all Americans who want to permanently stop the slaughter of America's horses here and abroad need to become very pro-active in order for it to reach President Obama's desk before time runs out.
- Every American has just one Representative in the House of Representatives...so all you have to do is
convince one person in the House to support H.R. 503. Read the current list
of sponsors for this bill.
- To find the contact information for your representative in the House, please go to www.house.gov. Ask your Congressional rep. to
support and become a sponsor of this bill.
- H.R. 503 was referred to the Judiciary Committee on 1/14/09. Please contact the head of the committee, Rep.
John Conyers (D-MI) and urge him to do everything he can to get this bill out of committee so that
it can come to the floor of the full house for a vote.
- Please contact House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and ask her to make a motion to allow H.R. 503 to come to the floor of the full House for a vote once
it comes out of committee.
- Read the bill and check its present status.
- To find the contact information for your representative in the House, please go to www.house.gov. Ask your Congressional rep. to
support and become a sponsor of this bill.
- Every American has two US Senators. To find the contact information for your two US Senators, please got www.senate.gov
- Ask both of your Senators to support and become a co-sponsor of the bill. View the current
co-sponsors for S. 727.
- S. 727 was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Please ask the head of the committee, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to
really work to get this bill moved out of the committee so that it can go before the full Senate for
a vote. Also, the sponsor of S. 727 in the Senate is Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
Please contact her and ask that she work to get this bill to the Senate floor as soon as possible.
- Please contact House Speaker, Harry
Reid (D-NV) and ask him to please make a motion to bring S. 727 before the full Senate for a vote
as soon as it is out of committee.
- Read the text of S. 727.
- Ask both of your Senators to support and become a co-sponsor of the bill. View the current
co-sponsors for S. 727.
Writing Letters to the Editors of your local newspapers and to national magazines is a great way to keep this issue in the news. Also, calling into live talk shows on radio and on television talk shows is another way to get information out to the public about horse slaughter.
According to the Associated Press, horsemeat lobbyist and former Congressman Charles Stenholm (D-TX), is trying to encourage some American Indian tribes to construct horse slaughterhouses on their reservations. Please let Charles Stenholm know how you feel about this by contacting him at Olsson Frank Weeda at 1400 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036; Phone: (202) 789-1212; Fax: 9202) 234-3550. Cathleen Doyle, former head of the California Equine Council and the Director of the Save the Horses campaign in California that passed the first state initiative in history which banned the slaughter of horses for human consumption, had some choice words for Mr. Stenholm about his intentions for resurrecting horse slaughter on Indian reservations. Read her comments.