By Tim Talley | The Huffington Post
Oklahoma’s 50-year-old ban on horse slaughtering was lifted Friday when the governor signed a new law that will allow facilities to process and export horse meat, despite bitter opposition by animal rights activists.
Supporters argue that a horse slaughtering facility in Oklahoma will provide a humane alternative for aging or starving horses, many of which are abandoned in rural parts of the state by owners who can no longer afford to care for them. Gov. Mary Fallin also noted that horses are already being shipped out of the country, including to facilities in Mexico, where they are processed in potentially inhumane conditions.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 166,000 horses were sent to Canada and Mexico last year alone.
“In Oklahoma, as in other states, abuse is tragically common among horses that are reaching the end of their natural lives,” the Republican governor said. “Those of us who care about the wellbeing of horses – and we all should – cannot be satisfied with a status quo that encourages abuse and neglect, or that rewards the potentially inhumane slaughter of animals in foreign countries.”
She noted that law strictly prohibits the selling of horse meat for human consumption in the U.S.
If you’d like to discuss equine law, contact Adam Trenk, director of RLG Equine Law Department, atrenk@roselawgroup.com
