On Wednesday, January 14, Representative John Conyers (D-MI) re-introduced House Resolution 503 which would amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes.
The House of Representatives passed similar legislation in 2006; however, the Senate version (S311) never made it to the floor for a vote.
H.R. 503 demonstrates that Members of Congress have once again shown how out of touch they are with the agricultural economy. The introduction of H.R. 503 is in direct opposition to the stance taken by the National Conference of State Legislators. With the passage of this legislation, Congress will have once again decided to ignore the financial impacts and pass on costs of H.R. 503 to our cash-strapped states, counties, and most importantly, horse owners.
We urge you to contact your representative in Congress and advise that support of H.R. 503 will be a vote to ignore the increasing number of horse neglect cases and the collapse of a legitimate economy due to the passage of similar legislation at the state level. Further, passage of this bill will reduce United States exports and place a huge unfunded mandate on states and municipalities struggling to care for neglected or abandoned horses.
Act now!
