Inspection Permits For Horse Slaughter

Two slaughter plants were granted inspection permits from the USDA last week to slaughter horses. Since Congress lifted the ban on federal funding for inspection of horse slaughter plants in 2011, the USDA is required by law to make sure the facilities meet the requirements of the Federal Meat Inspection Act. One plant owner said they intend to employ roughly twenty-five people and are currently considering possible markets for the processed horse meat. He also went on to say that the horses will be “humanely euthanized”. Anti-slaughter advocates are vehemently seeking to overturn the permit approvals through an emergency injunction. President Obama, who signed a bill that essentially re-legalized horse slaughter while campaigning for his second term, is now endeavoring to remove funding for horse slaughter inspection, and the Senate ag appropriations bill eliminates any funding for those inspectors. In a 2011 interview with the CSM PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk stated that the U.S. never should have banned domestic horse slaughter, because “the amount of suffering that it (the ban) created exceeded the amount of suffering it was designed to stop.”  And therein lies the rub.