As a result of distortion of facts and following a lucrative source of donations, various animal rights organizations managed to prevent slaughter of horses in the U.S. in 2007. Lobbying led to a provision preventing USDA-FSIS from providing inspection services in plants slaughtering equines to be included in the USDA Appropriations Act.  Horses are born, age and die in a continuous cycle.  Frequently it is necessary to terminate their life to alleviate suffering or at the end of their productive life.  Accordingly, U.S. horses are shipped to Mexico for slaughter with as many as 20,000 consigned from three southwestern states in 2023.  In addition, a limited number are shipped for processing to Canada from Midwest and northeastern states.

It would be far better for the horses, their owners and the environment to reestablish humane domestic slaughter of horses with use of their products as is the case with culled (“retired”) dairy cattle.

Animal activists are now lobbying for the “Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act”.  This would effectively ban exports of live horses creating a problem of disposal and waste. Wayne Pacelle stated, “If it is wrong to slaughter horses in Dallas it is wrong to slaughter them in Calgary or Matamoros”.

Pacelle, given the benefit of the doubt as to his intentions, has the situation on horse slaughter reversed in his logic.  There will always be candidates for euthanasia for slaughter.  It would be best for these animals to be shipped over short distances to a USDA-FSIS inspected plant for humane slaughter and processing.  Meat would not be used for human consumption but would be diverted to animal feed. 

It is really questioned whether the approximately 200 members of Congress co-sponsoring the SAFE Act really understand the realities of the lifespan of horses and the need for eventual disposal.  Re-introduction of horse slaughter would be a humane and practical reversal of an impractical “feel good” ban.  Allowing domestic slaughter and disposal would provide a channel for humane disposal and would avoid the need for inhumane transport and questionable treatment following export. We do not need a new law, only to reverse the previous restriction with its unintended consequences.