Horse Slaughter Ban

Action is needed NOW to stop the slaughter of America's horses!

All of these horses were rescued from slaughter by Equine Advocates. They are permanent residents at Equine Advocates Safe Home Equine Rescue & Sanctuary (seen here), the organization's 140-acre rescue facility and sanctuary in upstate New York

Since 1998, when the State of California made history by passing the very first state initiative banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption, horse slaughter plants in the United States had been closing steadily. In 2007, the last remaining foreign-owned and operated horse slaughterhouses in this country closed their doors. This is because the vast majority of Americans are strongly opposed to horse slaughter. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act is a federal bill which would not only ban the slaughter of horses in the United States, but would also prohibit the transport of horses from this country across the Canadian and Mexican borders or to any other country for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption.

Please take action now. Although the American people have spoken and all the horse slaughterhouses are now closed, Congress has been slow to take action in passing the federal bill. For years the will of the American people has been continually thwarted by special interest groups that want the convenience of being able to sell their unwanted horses for meat, rather than taking responsibility for them. This goes against our culture, our history and is frankly un-American. As this is a democracy, the will of the people needs to be respected and carried out. As a people, Americans do not eat horses nor do they want them slaughtered for human consumption for European and Asian dinner plates.

Equine Advocates' President, Susan Wagner, recently appeared on the award-winning and nationally syndicated Martha Stewart Show to talk about several pressing equine issues, including horse slaughter. During the course of the interview, both she and Martha Stewart urged viewers to contact their legislators, calling for the swift passage of The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. It is important to capitalize on the national exposure on the Martha Stewart Show. We all need to contact our elected representatives in Washington to encourage them to support and pass The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

To find the contact information for your United States Senators and your Congressman or Congresswoman in the House of Representatives, please visit www.congress.org and enter your zip code in the box at the top left corner.

* Please fax or write to your two Senators and ask them to quickly pass S.311, the Senate version of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. If you can, follow up your fax or letter with a phone call.You might even ask your Senators to become co-sponsors of the bill if they are not already. To view the current list of co-sponsors for S.311, click here. To read the text for the bill, click here.

* Please fax or write to your Representative in the House and ask him or her to pass H.R. 503, the House version of The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. If you can, follow up your fax or letter with a phone call. If your Representative is not already a co-sponsor of H.R. 503, please ask him or her to become one. To view the current list of co-sponsors, click here. To read the text of H.R. 503, click here.

When contacting government officials, faxing, writing and calling are more effective than emails.

For an example letter that you can copy and personalize, please click here.

Please act now! The torture of horses from this country being stabbed and brutalized at Mexican slaughterhouses will not stop unless the federal bill is passed. The cruel transport and slaughter of America's wild and domestic horses at Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses can only end when The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act becomes the law of the land. Please be firm and tenacious...and do not give up!

Please support Equine Advocates' work
Click here to make a donation.

Down with horse slaughter!