For immediate release:
In response to the Horse Summit organized by horse breeders and supporters of new horse slaughter plants in America, Horse protection Organizations will come together in Las Vegas as well, on Jan 4th and Jan 5th.
It is bad and getting worse, says Simone Netherlands, a natural horse man ship trainer from Arizona, and founder of Respect4Horses Organization. She will be speaking at the horse protection organization’s Press conference at 11.30 am on Tuesday Jan 4th, at the conference room in the Enterprise Library in Las Vegas.
Respect4Horses and over 20 other animal rights and horse protection organizations contend that the slaughter of horses for human consumption is not only a brutal and barbaric practice, but also a practice that would endanger people’s health and well being, because of the drugs that are commonly used in horses, such as phynylbutazone (bute) and dewormers, which the European Union has found to be carcinogenic to the human body. The drugs can cause cancer, Alzheimer, liver disease and birth defects.
Currently, in spite of the new European Union rules, over ten thousand American horses per month, (according to the USDA) are still crossing our borders to be slaughtered by stabbing and shotgun methods, in Mexico and Canada.
The ban on horse slaughter H.R. 503 and S.727, would have made the export of horses for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption illegal. The bill in the 110th congress had 167 co-sponsors in the house and 28 co-sponsors in the senate but was never voted upon.
Horse advocate groups agree with the pro-slaughter organizations that we have an overpopulation problem of horses, but say that the problem is caused by over breeding, not by the closure of horse slaughter plants in America, as the numbers of horses slaughtered haven’t changed and are determined by the demand for horse meat abroad.
Why do breeders continue to breed even while the horse market is so over saturated? Asks Simone Netherlands. “Just like the housing industry over saturated itself and collapsed, the horse breeding industry is self destructing and bringing down horse values, and horse slaughter is their bail out.”
Simone Netherlands further states: We are distraught that over 30 million dollars in breed incentives will again be distributed to breeders of race horses and quarter horses this year, which further encourages irresponsible lottery breeding practices.
Respect4Horses proposes to turn at least parts of these funds into gelding funds, humane euthanasia funds and funds for horse rescues, as apposed to breeding incentives.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimates it has nearly 12,000 more wild horses on its lands than the range can support, however at the same time the BLM is leasing grazing permits to allow over 3 million cattle to graze on these same lands. BLM representatives will also be attending the Summit of the horse. There are currently more wild horses in holding facilities than there are left in the wild.
Respect4Horses states that the overpopulation of wild horses is a myth and that there are currently only 25,000 wild horses left who are in fact in danger of extinction if the BLM does not stop their aggressive roundup schedule for the coming years. Reports from horse advocates claim that as soon as 2 years from now, America will not have any genetically viable and untouched wild horse herds left.
We do not want our tax dollars spent on these expensive, inhumane and completely unnecessary roundups of our national treasures, states the founder of Respect4horses, and to even think of slaughtering them is simply unacceptable.
Respect4Horses press conference will take place at the Enterprise Library at 11.30 am, Las Vegas, Tuesday Jan 4th. Media kits and lunch will be provided to reporters.
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