Attempting to create a consumer market for horse meat has failed in the United
States. Grocery store shelves carried horse meat for a time in the 1970’s, it
failed. Even US pet owners, either afraid of the health risks or disgusted by the
concept, refuse to buy products containing horse meat for their cats and dogs.
The “Moran Amendment” to appropriations passed the House Agriculture
Committee and was included in the 2015 Appropriations language. This
language would “defund” inspections on horse meat effectively shutting down
horse slaughter plants on US soil until 2016. Until, 2016, and then, if gone
unchecked horse slaughter plants will re-open in the USA.
In 2004 a program called, “Sale Authority”, became a brutal reality for our wild
horses. Simply stated, this program allowed the bulk sale of wild horses for as
little as $10 a head. Many of these horses were sold to known kill buyers.
They are called “kill buyers” because that’s what they do; they buy horses with
the intent of killing them for human consumption or feed. If you weren't aware,
lions and tigers in zoo’s are fed horse meat.
In recent news an investigation we participated in uncovered 1,700 of these
wild horses going to one man, Tom Davis. We have still not been updated as to
any ramifications for such a sale approved by the BLM. Since that story broke
BLM claims to have “tightened up” their sale program allowing only four such
horses to be purchased by one individual. Believe me, kill buyers can get
around this one as well.
Yet if you read the fine print , additional horses can be obtained through
“permission” from the BLM.
BLM denies it sells wild horses to slaughter, although selling to a kill buyer is
essentially selling the horses to slaughter. Politicians operate on semantics and
hidden agenda’s; that’s called politics.