AQHA Begs Congress: Let Slaughter Stay!

Can you imagine anyone professing to care for horses being "ok" with slaughtering them?
In this excerpt (below) of a letter from the AQHA president to its members, The AQHA says horses are (mere?) property and therefore horse owners should be free to do with them as they please, including sending them off to slaughter, as if the animals had "no rights!" Dont they realize we are living in a new age? Our animals are no longer "mere" property, whether livestock, companion pet or wild, animals DO have rights, and that is the right to be treated as MORE than just our "property" to use and dispose of as we see fit. We humans, as a species, have dominion over all the animals, and owe them a duty of care. Part of that duty of care is to see that they are treated well by man and not subjected to needless suffering at the hands of man. The Pro-slaughter AQHA is worried about "so many unwanted horses" if the slaughter ends, yet in this publication below, they are encouraging their members to take advantage of the breeding incentives our government recently gave the industry in the Farm Bill & Economic Stimulus Act.

From the AQHA website;

H.R. 6598 The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008

Update: The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 6598)

The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 6598), a bill which would criminalize the sale and transportation of horses for the purposes of slaughter, was approved and recommended to the House of Representatives by the House Judiciary Committee. The bill passed by a voice vote. The Committee is finalizing its report for submission to the Rules Committee.

Multiple amendments intended to lessen the negative impact the bill would have on horse welfare were defeated along largely partisan lines. Judiciary Committee members were mostly unsuccessful in having the amendments accepted by the full Committee; however, Congressman Bob Goodlatte was able to include an amendment which would require the Department of Justice to confer with the Secretary of Agriculture on enforcement. H.R. 6598 was introduced by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) under the guise of protecting horse welfare, but it will produce unintended and inhumane consequences. Since horse processing at the state level has ceased, the number of abandoned, neglected, and starving horses has drastically increased. H.R. 6598 will exacerbate the already growing problem of neglected and unwanted horses in America.
The majority of horses processed for slaughter in the United States were no longer viable for their intended use, unmanageable, or simply unwanted by their owners. This bill would severely limit the rights of owners to manage their private property and subject horse owners to criminal prosecution should they sell or transport their horses for processing for human consumption, even if that is not their intention.

The American Quarter Horse Association, American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), among many others, oppose this fatally flawed bill. House Agriculture Committee members continue to argue that this bill is within that committee's jurisdiction. The Judiciary Committee has two days to report the bill out, so the bill could potentially reach the House floor on Friday, or it could be attached to any bill moving through for a vote.

Please continue to contact your Congressmen in Washington to express opposition to this legislation. To determine your legislators and contact information, go to http://capwiz.com/aqha/home/.

For more information, contact AQHA at (806) 376-4888.

http://www.aqha.com/association/publicpolicy/HR6598.html