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Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption Now Legal Thanks to President Obama

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by Allyson Koerner November 29, 2011
Categories: Animals, Causes
Tags: , .

If you’re ready to add horse to your eating habits, then you’re in luck thanks to President Obama who has legalized horse slaughter for human consumption, Technorati has reported.

Once again, restrictions on horse slaughter plants and horse meat processing have been lifted in the United States.

The House of Representatives and the United States Senate approved the Conference Committee report on spending bill H2112, which funds the United States Department of Agriculture, on November 18. Before the Thanksgiving holiday, President Obama signed this law allowing Americans to kill and eat horses.

This “little” old law makes Mr. Obama’s pardoning of two turkeys seem laughable. The turkey story was reported on every media station possible, while the approval of horse killings seemed to be swept under the rug.

Previously, the slaughtering of horses was prohibited in the United States, because the finances needed for inspections of horses in transit and at slaughter houses wasn’t there. This all meant horse meat could not be sold for eating.

The House and the Senate maintained two different versions of the bill, with the House retaining the de-funding language, while the Senate’s did not. Even more so, the conference committee in charge of unifying the two versions decided not to and now look at the result.

According to Wyoming state representative Sue Wallis, and her pro-slaughter group, anywhere between 120,000 and 200,000 horses will be killed for consumption per year. In addition, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Georgia and Missouri are all opting to open slaughter plants!

Even though 70 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter, President Obama signed this bill. He even made a campaign promise to permanently ban horse slaughter and the export of horses for human consumption.

Now it is the taxpayers’ duty to aid in this animal cruelty. What do you think of President Obama approving this new law?


Categories: Animals, Causes
Tags: , .
Photo: Flickr/Squeezyboy

About Allyson Koerner

Allyson Koerner is a graduate from Emerson College where she obtained her Master’s in Print & Multimedia journalism. Passionate about writing, reading and entertainment, she is looking to make her way into the journalism profession.

View all posts by Allyson Koerner →
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  • kim

    Both sides have just points. Have owned horses for 35 yrs. The second horse I ever owned was stolen and ended up at the “killers”. Prices were high and it was very profitable to steal horses. I was 11 and never forgot it.
    On the flip side, as much as I hate to think about it, sometimes the “killer plant” is the only option for some people. Death at the plant is quicker than starving to death or dying from abuse. I have also seen that. I’m helping a neighbor right now make sure 2 horses are being cared for in our neighborhood because their owner is too stupid to sell them or give them to a good home but he doesn’t want to take proper care of them.
    Horses are different from cattle because we do show them and ride them for pleasure, etc. I will never eat horse meat. But I don’t have a better solution. We have to figure out what is the lesser of the evils…

    • Michelle

      Well said Kim. I love my horses, but I understand that there is an overpopulation of horses, and that because of this they are dirt cheap. Therefore any person can get one without knowing how much they truly cost and require in care. Then the animals have to suffer for rash decisions. As much as I hate it, if it was a regulated, humane slaughterhouse, then there is not much I can say.
      It truly breaks my heart to think that there are terrible cruel people out there who would not only abuse these gentle creatures but also steal them from loving families. I can’t imagine the fear on my beautiful horses face if they were ever subjected to this.

    • Joanne

      Yes, if they are too old or sore or you cannot look after them anymore and they have been a loving pet for you for a number of years… do them the owner of euthanasing them, instead of making a profit from their death.

  • Dee

    Iid like to know who presented this bill & is there a bill allowing is to slaughter Obama

  • Katie

    This is RIDICULOUS, SICK! Its all fucking MONEY…As if i didn’t have enough reasons to hate Obama…now i have one more! Say goodbye to the wild horses of America and hold close your pets! This guy needs to go!

  • Rowan

    i’m disgusted

  • Joanne

    This is disgusting!!! I cannot believed a supposed civilized country like America would do something so backwards. The pork, lamb and cattle markets need to be fixed, there is so much animal cruelty going on, especially with the feed lot situation. And now to add the horse into the mix, I am so utterly disappointed. A man like Obama who claims to be about how america can change and speaking up for the little guy or the 99% is full of it. He is a dirty liar.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Christine-Thomas/100000418394627 Christine Thomas

    This makes me sick to my stomach, from now on every time I eat somewhere I’ll be wondering if it’s horse. As far as obama he is a horse’s ass, he can’t remember how to pronounce Marine Corp. let alone what he promised during his campaign. We all know it’s michele who wears the pants in that family.

  • Matt meadath

    Yet another broken promise.

  • Louis Oliverio

    To slaughter horses for human consumption is inhumane and anyone who agrees to this ought to be ashamed I have a more ufamazation on how I feel but I’ll keep it civil!

  • http://sevenstarsanctaury.com clinton c boyce jr

    this is insane. im a true horse lover and always will be. these beautiful animals built this land we live on and r also very adoring. im diffently going to regisiter to vote so i can tell obama what i think. i just wish i could call him and give him some nice words. plus the facty that he broke a promise is really bothersum. you dont do that in my book. we need obama out of there asap and we need to make horse slaughter illegal again.

  • Venessa

    PLEASE HELP SING THIS PETITION TO STOP THE HORSE SLAUGHTER! http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-horse-slaughter-3
    This is terrible, please help <3

    • Tylendal

      Horse slaughter? We’ve got bigger issues. Every day, countless pigs are slaughtered for food. They’re much more intelligent than horses, and make great pets. We can worry about horses later, it’s the pigs we really need to save. /sarcasm

  • Derek Myers

    This is no different than any other animal that is being eaten now. People are going to rage and protest about , but in the end it will just be like eating cow or pig

    • don_miguelo

      You just stated the very reason why so many people go vegetarian/vegan when you said “This is no different than any other animal that is being eaten now”. Some places they would eat your pet cat or dog too. Why don’t you just start scoffing down Fido now because it’s inevitable?

      • Tylendal

        My family has four cats, I love cats. Would I eat cat meat if the chance arose? Sure, why not? Anyone who opposes the slaughter of horses for meat is either a vegan, or, much more likely, a hypocrite.

  • Mary nietz

    obama is off my list, this is outrageous!!!

  • Jill Medicine Heart Combs

    PETA are hypocrites. I bet they got a HEFTY donation from someone and this is the end result.

  • elka

    You do realize the president doesn’t actually write the bills correct? Congress writes the laws as stated in the article above. Your title is misleading. And yes the president may veto a bill but for a spending bill there is no line by line veto power… either fund the Dept of Agriculture or don’t fund it. See this article which reports the Supreme Court [yet another branch that you cannot blame it's actions on the president] throwing out line by line veto power on spending bills way back in ’98: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/wp062698.htm

    Now if Congress had done it’s job and done its budget at the beginning of the year like it was supposed to then this stuff wouldn’t be rushed through last minute. Blame the house– all spending and appropriation bills are required by constitutional law to originate there. Rep. John Boehner is the person to take the blame not the president.

    • james

      Well stated. Let’s just give the whole place back to the Indians.

    • Tylendal

      What are you talking about? Of course it’s Obama’s fault. He’s made of pure evil after all. I’m sure he kicks puppies for exercise, and uses orphans as foot-stools. This bill, which I’m sure is nothing more than a piece of paper with “Eat Horses: Yes/No” printed on it in big letters is of course entirely his work. :P

    • Timmmaj

      Holy Crap!!! Quit making sense! You might hurt some of these clueless americans….

      No but for real, this little snip it was probably plugged into the bill by some governor who wanted this to be done. and would only vote to pass the overall bill if this was included. In case some of you all haven’t figured out, the government and congress is all about “jockeying” (pardon the bad joke) to get position and take care of what each particular congressman/woman would like to see happen. i believe this practice is call log-rolling or something like that. It is a corrupt and terrible practice, But it happens on every bill no matter what. Obama didn’t just go out decide that he wanted to kill a ton of horses one day. Get Educated people, Take a POLS class, Learn something about the government. because without understanding, poor journalism breeds hatred, and that is what is tearing down our country!

  • Margaret Luft

    I think it is awful that this restriction of horse killing for consumption has been reversed. Maybe Obama believes this will get him votes. I think he would do just about anything. Promises were made and were broken. He now recently states he did not plan on doing all these “big projects” by himself, he also says things will take a long time before improving. Okay then why don’t you sit down in your seat at the White House and stop flying all over the country for vacations and campaigning. There has to be a way to get this overturned, we must stop it!

    • Kacie Carroll

      I totally agree. This brought me to tears just hearing about it. Considering I have 10 beautiful horses in my backyard. We must think of a way to overturn this immediatly.

  • Thinker

    Calm down, folks. This is sensationalism at its finest. First of all, this is a general Department of Agriculture funding bill with a lot of things in it. It is not a “horsekilling bill”. Secondly, BOTH houses of congress approved this and Obama would have to veto THE WHOLE BILL to stop it (not gonna happen). Thirdly, the idea that this will lead to 200,000 horses being killed is extremely debatable. People are outraging over one element of the bill that funds one segment of the Department of Argriculture that includes horse inspections under the Horse Protection Act. The full text of the bill is here: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h2112/text There’s nothing in it that says “we gonna kill us some horses!” This is rage bait. Plain and simple.

    • http://herwinsvegancafe.blogspot.com/ herwin

      There we go again.
      NO, we dont expect that Obama VETOES a whole bill, we simply hold him and his friends responsible for allowing that small horse slaughter thing in that big bill with lots of issues, from the beginning and not stopping/removing it from the whole goddam bill fro the beginning.
      OBAMA will play the same game, telling that he cant veto a whole bill, forgetting that he should have removed the horse slaghter thing FROM THE BEGINNING.

      • meme

        He didn’t write the bill, congress wrote the bill. The legislative branch writes bills, not the executive branch.

  • skinshifter

    I will bet that 90 percent of people opposed to this have never in anyway been involved in farming, raising horses, showing horses, the slaughter industry or the retail meat buisness. I am involved in all of them and I agree that legal horse slaughter plants are the best solution to many questions faced by all the horse industry concerning unwanted horses. It also helps stabilize horse prices for all sectors of the industry. And yes, horses are a money making industry that employees tens of thousands across the US. Horses are a livestock animal, always have been and as such they are consumed around the world. The Japanese would.be very offended if you turned your nose up at something they consider a delicious. I dontagree with allowing the slaughter of wild mustangs just for population control but as a place for unwanted animals rather than see them abused or.s

    • http://herwinsvegancafe.blogspot.com/ herwin

      Josef Mengele defending his work in the nazi concentration camps..

  • http://katalystcoaching.org Emily Johnston

    Please sign and share this petition to overturn this bill of slaughtering horses for human consumption!!
    http://www.change.org/petitions/overturn-the-legalization-of-horse-slaughter-for-human-consumption

  • Horseriderusa

    Another liar in office. He doesn't care about people or animals…just big business and keeping his so-called job.

    • Anonymous

      oh please… do a little reading here would you… or don’t you care about the facts — just Obama bashing.

  • EqualityForALL

    If you do a little looking, there's another element at play here. The consumption of horse flesh was made illegal in Europe with the elimination of traditional Pagan cultures. They used horse meat in their Freyfaxi celebration. I'm not for seeing horseburgers on the rack in every grocery store, but this is (perhaps inadvertently) also providing freedom for people trying to reconstruct those old practices.

  • Annette

    Just like a president to say one thing and do the other. He is not the only one guilty here, look at your senators. I know we need to create jobs, but not at the expense of killing these horses.

  • Arieybby

    This is complete fuxking bullshit this is exactly why Obama should have Never been electid. He is pathetic I mean he’s going to sighn off the lives of hundreds and thousands of horses to make a buck ! That is Cruelty & should NOT under any circumstances be LEGAL ! He should be locked up for this !!!! I am Exteremly Against this ! ! ! I’m SOO Disgusted !

    • Anonymous

      Please learn to spell before making comments.No one will take you serious if you don’t at least put forth an effort..Now go do your lessons before getting back on the computer! Go on now..Git!

  • Game

    Lol, people love humanizing animals! PETA & The HSUS have y’all brain washed!

  • krbatte

    It’s so easy to blame the president…people should take time to read up on a subject before they throw false blame…Everyone needs to stop blowing this out of proportion…read before you open your mouth!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Allison-Kerpash/100000924866374 Allison Kerpash

    I personally thing its funny the things people get upset over. Millions of people die from starvation every year, but you’re not setting up rescue groups for them. Currently, the US is the only country that doesn’t eat horse meat. Get over it.

  • Anonymous

    It’s about time..Just look at all the horses just left to rot when they could have been used to feed the homeless and those on govt. aid.Not to mention a fair market for selling it to ordinary folks,especially if it is less expensive than beef.

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