The Bureau of Land Management is tasked with managing the vast majority of our nation’s federally protected wild horses and burros. For decades, the agency has used a brutal method to limit the number of wild horses allowed to roam free on the range. Using low-flying helicopters, federal contractors chase panicked horses into trap pens—rounding them up so they can be kept in holding facilities for the rest of their lives. These chaotic operations often result in injuries and fatalities, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Urge your representative to cosponsor the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act (H.R. 4356), which would phase out these helicopter roundups over a two-year period.
Archive: Equines
Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act
Horsemeat Poses Serious Risks to Human Health
The Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act would prohibit the slaughter of horses in the United States for human consumption, as well as the export of live horses for the same purpose.
Hundreds of drugs and other substances commonly administered to equines are prohibited by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in animals slaughtered for human consumption. Yet, there is no procedure in place to ensure that American horses, sold to slaughterhouses and killed for human consumption, are free of these FDA-banned substances. When horses are sold, especially through an auction, there is no required transfer of information regarding the substances they received during their lifetime. Therefore, there is no mechanism in place to ensure horses frequently bought at auction by kill buyers—those who purchase them for slaughter in Mexico and Canada—have not been given dangerous substances before they become part of the food chain.
Horses are routinely given substances that are dangerous to humans. Most American horse owners do not imagine that their horses may someday be slaughtered for human consumption. Almost universally, they give their horses medications, antibiotics, ointments, wormers, and other substances that are labeled “not for animals intended for human consumption”—some of which linger in the body for long periods.
A study published in May 2010 in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology found that substances routinely given to American horses cause dangerous adverse effects in humans. One commonly used anti-inflammatory drug, phenylbutazone (bute), can be lethal if ingested by people. The most serious effect of bute on humans is bone-marrow toxicity, leading to agranulocytosis (failure to produce white blood cells, causing chronic infections) and aplastic anemia (insufficient production of red and white blood cells and platelets). Similar blood conditions such as leucopenia, hemolytic anemia, pancytopenia, and thrombocytopenia may also occur in people who consume bute. The National Toxicology Program has determined that bute is a carcinogen. For these reasons, the FDA bans this substance for human consumption.
Nearly all racehorses in America are treated with bute. Racehorses are frequently shipped to Mexico and Canada to be slaughtered for human consumption when their performance flags, often within days or weeks of receiving their last dose of bute. Horsemeat may be ground together with beef and sold without proper identification, so consumers could be unwittingly ingesting banned substances, with serious health implications.
The European Union has a policy prohibiting importation of the meat of any horse who has ever received bute. Nitrofurazone, the most common wound ointment given to American horses, is also prohibited for use on any horse whose meat is shipped to EU countries.
The United States needs to shut down the horse slaughter channels that currently put consumers at risk, and ensure that meat from American horses is not jeopardizing the health and lives of consumers. To learn more about horse slaughter, click here.
“The permissive allowance of such horsemeat used for human consumption poses a serious public health risk.”1
Poison: It’s what’s for dinner when horsemeat is on the menu
Those promoting horsemeat consumption claim horsemeat is leaner (and therefore, supposedly, healthier) than beef. What they fail to point out is that, unlike cattle, horses are not raised for meat, and are given hundreds of legal and illegal drugs rendering their meat unsafe for human consumption in the United States and abroad. However, because of confusing and conflicting US and foreign laws, horse meat slips through the regulatory cracks and is consumed overseas by unsuspecting diners. The diagram shows just a few of the banned and dangerous drugs that consistently end up in horse meat and on people’s plates.
Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act
Background
Before passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, horseracing in the United States operated under a patchwork of rules and regulations, governed inconsistently by the states with limited oversight for racetracks. Without comprehensive and consistent standards for racing, horse welfare suffered and horses were subject to rampant “doping”—administration of drugs that mask pain and allow horses to push beyond normal physical limitations, often leading to catastrophic injuries.
For years, certain stakeholders fought implementation of federal oversight, claiming that the industry could self-regulate, but numerous high-profile horse breakdowns demonstrated otherwise, as did a shockingly high fatality rate. A 2012 New York Times article found that on average, 24 horses died on American racetracks each week, a number much higher than in countries with more stringently regulated systems. Between 2009 and 2023, according to The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database, over 7,900 thoroughbreds died in race-related incidents (a tally that does not account for training-related fatalities and injuries that occur 72 hours before or after a race).
Public awareness of this issue was substantially heightened after 37 horses died at the famed Santa Anita Park in California between December 2018 and November 2019. Then, in March 2020, 27 individuals were indicted on federal charges related to “the systematic and covert administration of illegal performance-enhancing drugs to racehorses competing across the United States.” Something had to change. In response, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was enacted at the end of 2020.
Uniform Regulations
HISA oversees two unique programs, the Racetrack Safety Program and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program. Rules developed and proposed by HISA must be approved by the Federal Trade Commission.
Regulations promulgated under the Racetrack Safety Program are intended to increase safety and consistency at racetracks. Among other things, the regulations address racetrack footing and riding crop use and expand veterinary oversight.
The Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program seeks to address drug overuse and doping in the sport. It establishes a comprehensive list of permitted and banned substances, along with testing requirements and uniform penalties. The program is enforced by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, which was developed by Drug Free Sport International.
Together, the programs maintain one set of rules and regulations for all thoroughbred racing in the United States. In addition to promulgating new rules, HISA will conduct extensive data analysis in an effort to better understand and avoid catastrophic breakdowns of horses.
AWI’s Part
As part of the Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity, AWI successfully campaigned for passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act—regularly meeting with congressional offices, educating lawmakers on the need for reforms, and hosting briefings on Capitol Hill. Since the law’s enactment, AWI has pushed for robust implementation of the anti-doping and medication control regulations and racetrack safety rules. We submitted multiple regulatory comments to the Federal Trade Commission, which ultimately approved HISA’s proposed regulations (citing AWI’s comments in the order approving the anti-doping and medication control rule). However, further reforms are still necessary to protect all racehorses in the United States, including breeding and training reforms. AWI is staunchly opposed to unsanctioned horse racing at bush tracks, where equine cruelty, criminal activity, and biosecurity threats abound.
First-Ever Congressional Wild Horse Caucus Established
In exciting news, the bipartisan Congressional Wild Horse Caucus was established in May—the first caucus dedicated to preserving and protecting America’s cherished wild horses and burros. Led by Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV), David Schweikert (R-AZ), Steve Cohen (D-TN), and Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), the caucus will serve as a vital forum in Congress to advance humane policies regarding the treatment of wild horses and burros across the country. AWI has already worked with the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of this new caucus and those of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus on a letter asking Appropriations Committee leadership to maintain key protections against slaughter and lethal population control of wild equines.
AWI looks forward to continuing to work with theses co-chairs—all stalwart champions of wild equine protection—on reforming the federal government’s deeply flawed management of these animals and growing the new caucus’s membership. Please ask your representative to join the Congressional Wild Horse Caucus!
Heber Wild Horse Territory
We have learned that the US Forest Service plans to remove 400 wild Arizona horses from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Eastern Arizona and sell them at auction in Sun Valley, near Holbrook, Ariz. Most or all of the 400 horses, including mares and foals, will go to slaughter. The agency intends to accept a final bid on gathering these horses from their territory no later than Sept. 8, 2005. Its officials will then authorize the contractor to begin rounding up or trapping the horses as soon as 10 days after the contract is awarded.
The horses currently live in the protected Heber Wild Horse Territory, a 14,000-acre habitat within the Apache-Sitgreaves Forest that was designated under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Documents provided to In Defense of Animals (IDA) by the Forest Service claim the agency removed the last horses from the Heber Territory in 1993 and that all 400 horses it currently plans to capture are “trespass” horses who came from the Apache reservation during the Rodeo-Chediski fire in summer 2002.
The Forest Service asserts that because the horses are not native, it may impound and sell them at auction. The agency says it is exempt from the requirements of overseeing an Environmental Impact Study, issuing a decision memo and submitting the removal plan for public comment. Yet based upon our investigation to date, most are unbranded free-roaming horses in a protected territory—and therefore covered under the 1971 law.
In a letter to IDA, a Forest Service official wrote that the horses are being removed because they interfere with efforts to reestablish vegetation in the area damaged by the Rodeo-Chediski fire. However, the same letter indicated tall grasses from the reseeding project had lured the horses, and local residents report the grasses have never before been so tall and lush. We suspect the real motivation for the horses’ removal originates from a June 2005 report from the Senate Appropriations Committee to Congress, instructing Arizona and other western states to use additional public land for grazing contracts.
We have retained an attorney and have asked the Forest Service to stop the removal of the horses—or we will seek court intervention.
Man Hauling Horses To Slaughter Charged With Animal Cruelty
Just days after a committee of the US House of Representatives tried to kill legislation aimed at curtailing commercial horse slaughter in the United States, a Mississippi man hauling 19 horses to a Texas slaughterhouse has been charged with animal cruelty involving horses in Arkansas.
Bryan Morgan of Belmont, MS was charged with five counts of animal cruelty under Arkansas state law in Texarkana this week after eyewitness testimony, photographs and video showed 19 horses being transported in a single trailer to the BelTex slaughterhouse in Fort Worth were badly injured and abused.
“This only further demonstrates the immediate need for my legislation to be passed and signed into law,” said Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY), who with Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) is leading the fight to outlaw horse slaughter. “This is a perfect example of why I am so committed to seeing an end to this brutal practice as quickly as possible.”
Although it is what one congressional witness, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, called “America’s dirty little secret,” some 90,000 horses are hauled to three US slaughterhouses in Texas and Illinois each year and butchered for human consumption, with the meat exported to Europe and Asia and sold as a delicacy in high end restaurants.
“If there were any doubt that the horse slaughter industry leads to cruelty and abuse of horses, this erases it with graphic reality,” said Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), based in Washington, DC. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503) is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives in early September.
In the Arkansas case, Morgan picked up the horses in Mississippi and was driving to Fort Worth when the trailer he was pulling blew two tires and forced him to stop in Texarkana for repairs. Employees at the shop called local police after noticing several horses had abrasions and marks across their faces and bodies, including one with facial gashes and swollen eyes.
“It looked like someone took a baseball bat and beat the hell out of the horse,” said Greg Fett, manager of GCR Tires in Texarkana.
Twenty citations for animal cruelty were initially written by local police, after which Morgan was allowed to drive the horses on to the slaughterhouse. This incident illustrates how woefully inadequate the regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are in ensuring the humane treatment of horses being transported to slaughter facilities.
“The local police in Texarkana were particularly diligent in this situation,” said AWI general counsel Tracy Silverman. “Often we just never hear about these cases and thankfully responsible citizens alerted authorities to the severely injured animals.”
At a hearing before the House Agriculture Committee on July 28, Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) condemned the legislation that would stop commercial horse slaughter as an unwarranted intrusion on the rights of horse owners. The committee allowed the bill to go to the House floor for a vote, but only after deriding it as unnecessary and unfair to horse owners.
AWI will assist in the prosecution of Morgan and is filing a formal complaint with the USDA against Robbie Solomon of Belmont, MS, the owner and shipper of the horses, for violating several federal regulations regarding the commercial transportation of horses to slaughter.
US House of Representatives Votes to Stop
Once again, Congress has voiced its opposition to horse slaughter. The US House of Representatives today approved an amendment to the 2008 Agriculture Appropriations bill that will temporarily bring horse slaughter to a halt by stripping funds from the federally required inspection of slaughter-bound horses. Without the inspections, the slaughter cannot proceed.
Introduced by US Representatives John Spratt (D-SC), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Ben Chandler (D-KY), the amendment ensures that horse slaughter stops while Congress considers the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), a permanent ban on this abhorrent trade. The measure must now go to the US Senate for consideration.
The amendment is almost identical to one that passed overwhelmingly in the US Congress two years ago, with the addition of language to prevent the US Department of Agriculture from circumventing the will of Congress—as it did in 2005 when the slaughter continued.
More than 100,000 horses were brutally slaughtered in the United States last year at three foreign-owned slaughterhouses for human consumption in Europe and Asia. Tens of thousands more were exported for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. Currently, Cavel International (DeKalb, IL) is the last remaining horse slaughter plant in operation in the country. The only other plants, both in Texas, were effectively closed down earlier this year under state law.
A hearing on Aug. 16 in the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will determine whether Cavel International will remain open or be forced to shut its doors, following last April’s passage of a similar law that was signed by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
“Once again, when the entire House has the chance to vote on ending slaughter, support for a ban is overwhelming. Sadly, a few politicians and misguided business associations continue to thwart the Democratic process by stalling enactment of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act,” said Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director of the Animal Welfare Institute. “I implore these individuals to stand with the majority of Americans who support a ban on horse slaughter and allow this measure to move forward.”
The American public, over 500 animal protective organizations, horse industry organizations and veterinarians all support the effort to end the slaughter of America’s horses. Congress must now pass the AHSPA (H.R. 503/S.311) to end the slaughter of American horses nationwide and ensure that they are not exported elsewhere to be killed for those who wish to eat them.
The Animal Welfare Institute applauds the continued leadership of the sponsors of legislation to end horse slaughter. The organization also commends Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) for supporting efforts to protect America’s horses from this cruel industry and those who want to exploit their suffering.
US Court of Appeals Upholds Illinois Ban on Horse Slaughter
Recognizing the will of the people of Illinois and championing America’s horses, a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit today ruled unanimously to uphold a decision by the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, reaffirming the constitutionality of an Illinois law preventing the slaughter of horses for human consumption.
Immediately following passage of the new law in May, the state’s sole horse slaughterhouse, Cavel International, filed suit in federal court to challenge the mandate’s constitutionality. On July 5, the US District Court ruled the law constitutional and thus, enforceable. However, Cavel appealed that decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and horses continued to be slaughtered while the case was considered.
“We are overjoyed by the court’s latest decision,” said Tracy Silverman, General Counsel for the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI). “The state of Illinois did not want to be home to the nation’s last remaining horse slaughter plant, and today’s court ruling signals an end to this gruesome industry in the United States.”
While this news is significant, Cavel still has two options remaining to challenge the ruling. It can request an en banc review, where if granted, all judges on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals would reconsider the decision rendered by the three-judge panel, or it can appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court refused to hear a similar request by the two Texas horse slaughterhouses operating in violation of Texas law. Those plants have effectively ceased operations as a result.
“AWI calls on Cavel to stop stonewalling the inevitable by prolonging this cruelty via the courts,” said AWI Deputy Legislative Director Chris Heyde. “Each day it drags out this process, hundreds of horses are caught in the middle, paying the ultimate price as a result.”
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311), a federal bill to ban horse slaughter in the United States and the transport of horses abroad for the same purpose, is pending in the US Congress. Its enactment is now essential to ensure horses who would have been sent to Cavel are not exported for slaughter in Canada or Mexico.
“The American public has made clear its desire to close this industry down,” Heyde said. “That’s why AWI is proud to be leading the charge to pass the urgently needed federal law to ban horse slaughter.”
Illinois Legislation Banning Double Deckers
In response to the recent death of 18 young Belgian draft horses, Illinois State Reps. Bob Molaro and JoAnn Osmond have introduced legislation to ban the use of double-decker trucks to transport horses in the state.
“We commend Representative Molaro and Representative Osmond for their leadership in protecting America’s horses,” said Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director of the Animal Welfare Institute. “It is a shame that it took a tragedy such as this for a ban to be considered, but when enacted other horses will be protected from this tragic fate.”
Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States added, “What a gory mess we saw recently in Illinois. It must never happen again, and the best way to achieve that result is to enact this legislation.”
On Saturday Oct. 27, a double decker cattle truck carrying 59 horses overturned when the driver ran a red light and hit another vehicle. Eight horses died on the scene, and another 10 were euthanized. The exact destination of these horses is not known but it was reported that they were on their way to auction a prime spot for slaughterhouse killer buyers.
Double decker trucks are designed for short-necked species such as cattle and hogs not horses who are forced to stoop in the cramped quarters, many times causing severe injuries. A similar double decker accident involving 41 horses and a mule in transit to the DeKalb, Ill. Slaughter plant killed 16 horses in 2006.
Federal Legislation is currently pending to end the slaughter of American horses for human consumption and prohibit their export for slaughter in other countries.
American Veterinary Medical Association Hurting, Not Helping, Horses
Amid claims that animal welfare advocates are to blame for the steep increase in horses going to Mexico for slaughter, the Washington, DC-based Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) today fired back. The group, which has been at the forefront of the effort to end the slaughter of American horses for human consumption abroad, pointed the finger of blame directly at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) for its culpability in the suffering of American horses.
“From day one, AWI has worked to end the slaughter of American horses here and over the border. The AVMA, on the other hand, has lobbied Congress to block passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act,” said AWI’s deputy director of government and legal affairs, Chris Heyde.
Records show that AWI has a long history of working with Members of Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), which would prohibit the slaughter of horses here for human consumption as well as their export for the same purpose. While the federal bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a landslide vote in 2006 it is pending on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, AWI successfully worked with legislators and activists in Texas and Illinois to close the country’s three remaining horse slaughter plants last year under state law.
“AWI actively worked in Texas and Illinois to close those plants. Citizens there wanted the plants gone and Congress had failed to pass a ban, so the states invoked their right to control what happens to horses within their own state lines. But the goal for all genuine equine advocates, of course, is passage of the federal bill. That’s why we’re taking off the gloves with the AVMA on this,” said Heyde.
Documents held by AWI show that the AVMA is part of a coalition founded by the companies that own the defunct domestic slaughterhouses which are now exporting horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. The coalition’s primary goal is to block passage of the AHSPA.
“It’s ironic that those screaming the loudest about the mass exports are actively working with the very same slaughterhouses that are shipping our horses to Mexico. How the AVMA can claim to be acting in the name of animal welfare is anyone’s guess,” said Heyde. “While they’re helping to send horses to Mexico for slaughter AWI is working to shut the trade down. We’re also promoting responsible horse ownership, combating unscrupulous breeding and working to ensure placement of horses in need through our leadership in the Homes for Horses Coalition. I think it’s pretty clear who has the best interest of the horses at heart, and it’s not the AVMA.”