Horse slaughter and rescue bills spark controversy

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- If Nebraska State Sen. Tyson Larson of O'Neill gets his way, he will one day be able to slaughter his quarter horses, named Donovan, Peso and Hammer, in the State of Nebraska.

Larson is sponsoring a bill that would create a state agency to inspect meat-processing facilities, in part so horse meat can be sold across state lines. The bill would appropriate $100,000 per year to pay for the agency.

Larson has also sponsored a companion bill that would make it a class four misdemeanor for owners of horse rescue organizations to reject ownership of unwanted horses.

Before 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected horse processing facilities to ensure they complied with federal food safety regulations. In 2006, anti-horse slaughter proponents successfully lobbied to have funding for USDA inspections removed from the federal budget.

Without inspections to ensure horse meat was processed according to federal law, it became illegal to transport horse meat across state lines. After horse processing facilities closed in Texas and Illinois, the American horse slaughter industry, which previously sold horse meat for consumption in Europe and Japan, was effectively gone.

Since 2006, many horses that have outlived their useful lives are shipped to horse slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.

Jim Korkow, a rodeo stock contractor from Pierre, S.D., who provides horses to be used at rodeos, said not being able to slaughter horses is bad for horses and his business's bottom line.

"Each year, I have horses that are ready to retire. They are done," he said.

"I'm running a ranching rodeo operation, and the dammed thing is turning into a retirement home for old horses," he said. "Consequently, I just watch them here and no matter how much you feed them, you can't help them. They deteriorate and lose muscle mass. Its saddening."

Stock contractor Ike Sankee of Joliette, Mont., said the repeal of USDA funding brought about both unethical and unintended consequences for horse owners.

"I believed some very well-meaning, misinformed people came up with all this stuff," said Sankee of the 2006 funding repeal.

"The first and foremost thing in my mind is the welfare of the horses," he said. For Sankee, who owns about 400 horses as part of his business, preventing American horses from being slaughtered in America has caused more cruelty than allowing domestic horse slaughter.

Horses are still slaughtered, but now they are shipped to Canada and Mexico on long journeys that are more stressful than if they were slaughtered in the U.S., he said.

"The issues that [shipping] has created and the expenses have forced the horse market to the toilet," he said.

Sankee said horse processing facilities provided a humane way of killing horses and provided a small amount of income when horse owners sold their horses for slaughter. Now, it costs money to euthanize horses that are too old to be used, he said.

"So there are a lot of people who used to have an outlet, and the animal was taken care of humanely," Sankee said. "Now, the price is such that it can cost money to sell them."

The bill, which has 10 co-sponsors, was a major feature of Larson's election campaign. Larson also spoke at a horse industry meeting in Las Vegas, the "Summit of the Horse," which was held from Jan. 3 to 6.

Larson said he and the proposed legislation have been criticized in online blog postings by the president of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle.

Larson said Pacelle was free to "speak his mind" at the bill's hearing on Feb. 8.

HSUS spokesman Martin Montorfano said neither Pacelle nor any other HSUS representatives were planning to testify at the hearing.

Nebraska horse rescues have found themselves at the center of the proposed bills. Horse rescues are typically nonprofit organizations that take care of unwanted horses.

Larson's second bill would require horse rescue owners to take all horses presented to them, or be arrested on a class four misdemeanor. In Nebraska, a class four misdemeanor carries a penalty of $100 to $500.

"On the face of it, this bill pre-supposes we have a given attitude towards slaughter. How can any sensible lawmaker, how can they do that? They don't know how we at Epona view slaughter," said Larry Guyton, the vice president of Epona Horse Rescue, which is located near Kearney.

Guyton said horse rescues like Epona provide a public service. When county sheriffs confiscate horses, the county can either pay a farmer to feed a horse during the course of litigation, or horses can be taken to Epona to be housed for free.

Valerie Hinderlins, the president and owner of Break Heart Ranch in Minden, said she was angry that Larson's staff had not returned the e-mails she sent his office expressing her concerns about the bills.

"Being one of two rescues in the state, if this was a serious bill, [Larson] would have contacted those of us who are in the forefront on this issue," she said.

"It's not only asinine, it's ridiculous," said Hinderlins, in reference to the bill requiring horse rescues to accept any horse presented to them by the public. "I attribute that to the fact that he's a green senator and probably has some axes to grind," she said, adding that her horse rescue was a nonprofit that received no financial support from the government.

"I'm open if Senator Larson would care to contact me to discuss the facts about horse slaughter and rescue so that he can get his facts straight, because his facts are erroneous."

Hinderlins sees the two bills as a way to get rid of Nebraska horse rescues, which are nonprofits.

"There's a reason behind trying to make us the fall guys, to take us under and then say 'there's nothing to do with the horses,' and so slaughter would be the only option," she said.

Hinderlins, who plans to testify before the Agriculture Committee on Feb. 8, said horse processing facilities have traditionally been owned by foreign companies, and that their economic development potential is greatly exaggerated by horse-slaughter advocates.

"Horses built Nebraska," she said. "This goes against my blood as an American."