8-3 IAN Wallis Update

 Update on Rep. Sue Wallis and the United Organization of the Horse who are attempting to put a horse slaughterhouse in Wyoming. I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back. There has always been a love affair between people and horses. As a result, Rep. Sue Wallis has been the subject of relentless attacks because she’s interested in opening a horse slaughtering facility in Laramie County, Wyoming.

The plan by members of the United Organization of the Horse is to set up something like a triage operation for abandoned or unwanted horses. The horses would be screened and provided rehabilitation, training or slaughter, depending on their condition. The plan is ultimately to market horse meat in the state and was signed into law by Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

Here’s Representative Wallis with an update: “We began to put the pieces together to build a new, state of the art specially designed slaughterhouse for horses. Dr. Temple Grandon and her team are going to design all of the live animal handling facilities up through the kill box.”

The plan to give the Wyoming Livestock Board an alternative to selling abandoned horses has gotten stiff opposition from animal rights advocates and ordinary people and you can understand that given our national affection for horses. The counterargument is that horses are being abandoned in record numbers these days and, left to their own, often die very cruel deaths by starvation or attack from wild animals including wild horses.