Let them be slaughtered for food, says an Iona lawmaker who wants Congress not to ban the practice.
IDAHO - Last fall, federal workers discovered 17 domestic horses abandoned on Bureau of Land Management land in Owyhee County. This year, the agency discovered 21 horse carcasses illegally dumped in Gem County.
With cases of horse neglect, cruelty and abandonment rising as the economy weakens, "I would like Congress to back off of this and let market forces take effect the way they always were," said Rep. Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona.
Loertscher has drafted a nonbinding memorial calling on Congress to remove any prohibitions on horse slaughterhouses "so that horses that are no longer useful or people just can't afford them, that there is a market out there for them to be processed."
He acknowledges: "It's not a pleasant subject."
Several bills have come before Congress in recent years to ban horse slaughter and the exportation of horses for slaughter. None passed.
Now, Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, is trying again. Read More
Quite frankly I have been amazed that so many states have taken on this problem of unwanted horses. But when the bills start coming in for the care they have to receive that will catch a government’s attention. If only there were some animal rights groups that could donate just a small portion of their nine figure budgets to operate shelters, then maybe we wouldn’t be having so many problems either.
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