ILLINOIS FARM BUREAU KILLS BILL TO BAN INHUMANE

Springfield, IL (May 22, 2008) – Despite strong support for a bill banning the use of double deck trailers for hauling horses in Illinois, the legislation died earlier this week in a Senate Committee following a disingenuous lobbying effort by the Illinois Farm Bureau. H.B. 4162 was introduced following the horrific “Wadsworth Crash” of 2007 in which 59 Belgian draft horses were severely or fatally injured after the double-deck trailer they were being transported in was overturned.

It is common knowledge that transporting horses on such vehicles that are actually designed for smaller species like cattle and hogs is not only inhumane but unsafe, given their top-heavy nature. The bill died when the Illinois Farm Bureau insisted on attaching an amendment that would have exempted double-deck “horse” trailers, arguing that a humane double-decker specifically designed for horses might be built in the future.

In truth, no such vehicle could be engineered that would be both comfortable for the horses and safe for transport on U.S. roads and highways; such a vehicle would need to be at least 17’ tall and in reality even higher, would be dangerously top-heavy and would exceed the clearance space in many tunnels and overpasses. Ultimately, since no regulatory definition of a “horse” trailer exists, the amendment would have had the real effect of allowing unscrupulous transporters to still put their horses on a double-decker originally designed for cattle, simply call it a “horse” trailer, and bypass the proposed law.

While the Illinois Farm Bureau attempted to present itself as reasoned and caring, it was clear to those working the inside that the organization had only one objective in this instance: to defeat any measure that would have led to the more humane transport of horses in Illinois. Often being on the opposite side of basic animal welfare measures, the Illinois Farm Bureau outdid itself this time, and was clearly out of step with the majority. The American Veterinary Medical Association, US Department of Agriculture, Illinois Department of Agriculture, Animal Welfare Institute, and many Illinois horse owners and horse transport companies all support an end to the transport of horses on double-deckers.

“The AWI commends the sponsors of H.B. 4162, Representative JoAnn Osmond, Representative Bob Molaro and Senator John Cullerton for fighting to protect horses from this cruel form of transportation,” said Heyde. “Their commitment to equine welfare is commendable. We look forward to working with them and other compassionate legislators in the future to ban the transport of horses via double-deck trailers in Illinois. The fight is far from over.

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For More Information Contact:

Chris Heyde, 703-836-4300

For over 57 years, AWI has been the leading voice for animals across the country and on Capitol Hill. Please join us in our ongoing campaigns to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans. Sign up for AWI eAlerts to receive the latest news on what you can do to help us protect all animals: http://www.awionline.org/joinus.

Animal Protection Groups Ask Federal Court to Halt Ringling Bros.’ Cruel Chaining and Confinement of Endangered Asian Elephants

(Washington, D.C.) May 21, 2008 — Today, a coalition of animal protection organizations and a former Ringling Bros. employee asked a federal district court in Washington D.C. to immediately order a halt to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Ringling Bros.)’s cruel practice of shackling and confining endangered Asian elephants for days on end in a manner that prevents them from walking or even turning around in place.

Newly obtained evidence based on the circus’s own documents reveals that Ringling Bros. keeps elephants virtually immobilized in chains for the majority of their lives. Internal records of the circus’s train travels show that the elephants are chained while confined in boxcars for an average of more than 26 hours at a time, and sometimes for as much as 60–100 hours without a break as the circus moves across the country.

"The evidence is simply shocking,” says Lisa Weisberg, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). “The public should be outraged at the amount of time these animals are forced to be shackled and confined, and Ringling Bros. should be ashamed at hiding this cruelty from the public eye.”

“We hope that the Court will order Ringling Bros. to immediately unchain these incredibly intelligent and, social animals and spare them from suffering a lifetime of misery,” says Tracy Silverman, General Counsel for Animal Welfare Institute. “No animal should be chained for days at a time, week after week, month after month and year after year.”

The request for an immediate halt to prolonged chaining and confinement of elephants is part of a groundbreaking lawsuit by the ASPCA, the Animal Welfare Institute, The Fund for Animals, Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute (Born Free USA), and former Ringling Bros. employee Tom Rider against Ringling Bros. Circus. The suit alleges that the circus is violating the Endangered Species Act by abusively training and disciplining elephants with sharp implements such as bullhooks, and by intensively confining and chaining the animals for prolonged periods of time.

“Shackling elephants for days on end without the ability to walk or even turn around is inherently cruel,” said Michael Markarian, President of The Fund for Animals. “Endangered species deserve something better than a lifetime of suffering.”

Although Ringling Bros. has denied that the elephants spend most of their lives in chains, former circus employees and other witnesses have given sworn testimony to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the elephants are kept tightly chained by one front and hind leg — unable to move freely or even turn around — for hours on end.

“The overwhelming evidence we have obtained confirms what former Ringling Bros. employees have said for years about the unimaginable cruelty that goes on under — and behind — the Big Top,” says Nicole G. Paquette, Senior Vice President for Born Free USA. “These new revelations of prolonged chaining of elephants should not only have significant implications for this case, but also assist in our national efforts to pass legislation prohibiting cruel training practices commonly used on captive elephants.”

The plaintiffs are represented by the public interest law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.

Media Contacts:

Tracy Silverman, Esq./Animal Welfare Institute: 301-537-0612, tracy@awionline.org
Anita Edson/ASPCA: 212-876-7700 x 4566, anitae@aspca.org
Michael Markarian/The Fund for Animals: mmarkarian@fundforanimals.org
Nicole Paquette/Born Free USA united with API: 916-622-7170, nicole@bornfreeusa.org
Tom Rider: 202-374-1503

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Additional Information:

Groups try to stop circus from chaining elephants By David Crary, AP National Writer

URGENT AWI eAlert: Two Horse Bills in Illinois - One Good, One VERY Bad - Act Now! (please cross post)

May 11, 2008

Illinois State Senate Committee to Consider Ban

on Cruel Double-Deck Horse Transports

Illinois State Rep. Sacia trying to legalize horse slaughter, AGAIN!

Dear Humanitarian:

On Wednesday, May 14 the Illinois General Assembly's Senate Agriculture and Conservation Committee will consider HB 4162, sponsored by State Senator John Cullerton (D). This bill, which successfully passed out of the House in February, amends the Humane Care for Animals Act so that "no person may transport any equidae in a vehicle or trailer containing 2 or more levels, one on top of the other."

The bill is a result of a horrific accident involving horses in Illinois. A double-deck tractor trailer carrying 59 Belgian draft horses through Wadsworth, IL in October 2007 "blew through a stop light at Route 41 and Wadsworth Road and struck another vehicle," according to local police on the scene of the accident. The severe crash resulted in more than five hours of suffering for the horses before authorities could free them from the mangled truck. Sadly, nine horses died on the scene, with another six dying later because of injuries they sustained.

Accidents such as this one are not uncommon. Only one year earlier, a double-deck truck hauling 41 horses to slaughter crashed on its way to the Cavel International facility in DeKalb, Ill. This tragic incident resulted in the death of 16 horses. Similar scenarios have occurred elsewhere in the United States.

Illinois has become the leader in protecting equines from abuse and neglect. Last year, the state's General Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Unfortunately, although horses can no longer be slaughtered in Illinois, the middlemen working for Cavel - known as "killer buyers" - continue to buy horses across the country.

The horses are then shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter, often passing through Illinois en route to the Cavel plant in Canada or to plants in Mexico. The preferred method of transporting horses to slaughter remains the double-deck truck, a two-tiered trailer designed for other livestock such as cattle and hogs. Use of theses conveyances to transport horses is cruel and dangerous.

The State of Illinois has made clear its intolerance of the horse slaughter industry by shutting down its sole plant. H.B. 4162 will ensure the companies still buying horses and shipping them through Illinois to slaughter in Canada and Mexico can no longer use the horribly inhumane double-deckers to haul these animals.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: For full eAlert please click here: http://www.awionline.org/eAlerts/051108.htm

HBO “REAL SPORTS” EXPOSES UNDERBELLY OF THOROUGHBRED RACING

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) May 10, 2008 – On the heels of Eight Belles’ tragic death at the 2008 Kentucky Derby, HBO is exposing an unsavory side of the Thoroughbred racing industry. The network’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” will air a segment on May 12 revealing that thousands of unsuccessful horses are sent to a brutal death in the slaughterhouse every year.

As shown in the program, horses no longer winning on the track are often sold for profit by their owners to slaughterhouse “killer-buyers.” The animals are then transported to the foreign-owned plants across US borders, where they are brutally butchered and sold for human consumption in Europe and Asia. Many of the horses depicted in the HBO segment went from the track to a slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada very quickly.

“It’s disturbing that anyone would sell a horse to slaughter, but to do so the moment a young horse stops earning the owner a big check seems particularly repugnant,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs with the Animal Welfare Institute. “This piece further demonstrates the clear need for passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.”

While the last three horse slaughterhouses operating on US soil were closed in 2007 under state laws, more than 100,000 American horses continue to be killed annually at plants located in Canada and Mexico. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, introduced in the US Congress as H.R. 503 and S. 311, would prohibit the domestic slaughter of horses for human consumption abroad, as well as their export for the same purpose.

“This is a black eye that the Thoroughbred racing world just can’t afford right now,” Heyde said. “We hope the industry will clean up its act.”

AWI encourages everyone to step up calls to their legislators and House and Senate leadership demanding a vote on the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act immediately to stop the slaughterhouses from exporting tens of thousands of American horses to Mexico and Canada.

For more information on horse slaughter and how you can help end this cruel industry once and for all please click here: http://www.awionline.org/legislation/horse_slaughter/index.htm.

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UPDATE: The updated AWI color brochure and action alert insert on horse slaughter are now available to everyone working to end horse slaughter and protect our horses. It contains background on the issue, dispels myths spread by pro-horse slaughter organizations and provides contact information on how to take action. To request copies please email awi@awionline.org with the amount you would like, name, address and phone number.

For More Information Contact:
Chris Heyde, (703) 836-4300

For over 57 years the Animal Welfare Institute has been the leading voice for animals across the country and on Capitol Hill to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans. Find our more at: www.awionline.org.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATORS DEFEATS RESOLUTION TO PROMOTE HORSE SLAUGHTER

April 25, 2008 (Washington, D.C.) – A renegade resolution to promote the continued slaughter of American horses for human consumption abroad was defeated at today’s meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The measure, offered by state Representative David Sigdestad (D-SD), urged the United States Congress to oppose the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, currently pending in Congress. AWI commends those state legislators who stood up in support of humane treatment of horses.

“The scheme was yet another dirty trick brought to you by the horse slaughter industry and its lobbyists. Contrary to their claims, the federal American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act has enormous Congressional and public support, and the current trend at the state level has also been towards the passage of laws that protect horses from slaughter,” said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute.

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S. 311/H.R. 503), will prohibit the slaughter of American horses here or abroad for human consumption in Europe and Asia where it is often considered a delicacy. The Senate and House versions have 38 and 200 cosponsors, respectively.

Polls show that the majority of Americans support an end to the foreign-driven trade, as do hundreds of horse industry leaders and organizations, humane groups and dozens of celebrities. As a result, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act passed the United States House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin in the 109th Congress and is up for reconsideration again. States are also weighing in.

“While the US Congress is considering a federal ban, California, Texas and Illinois have taken action to send this predatory business packing. South Dakota recently considered the issue when a bill authorizing state funds for the construction of a horse slaughterhouse was stopped in its tracks, yet here we have a legislator from South Dakota, Representative Sigdestad, offering a resolution that flies in the face of legislative trend and public sentiment,” said Heyde. “We must enact the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act immediately to protect America’s horses from being trucked alive across our borders for slaughter abroad, and to further the will of those states that have enacted measures to end this barbaric trade.”

In recent years, more than 100,000 American horses were slaughtered annually at three foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses operating out of Texas and Illinois while tens of thousands more were exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter there. Last year laws were enacted in Texas and Illinois prohibiting the slaughter, thus shutting down the country’s remaining domestic plants. Nonetheless, the industry continues to haul huge numbers of American horses over the border for slaughter where they may be stabbed in the neck to induce paralysis before slaughter.

“There has been a concerted effort by the misnamed ‘Horse Welfare Coalition,’ mentioned in Representative Sigdestad’s resolution, to mislead legislators and the American public on the gruesome nature of horse slaughter. The fact is that this coalition was founded and is led by the very same foreign-owned companies that were previously slaughtering our horses here and are now trucking them over the border to Canada and Mexico to do the same, only under worse conditions. That the horse slaughter lobby claims to be working in the best interest of American horses by pushing for the defeat of a federal ban on their slaughter is disingenuous,” said Heyde. “We’re just glad that reason ruled the day and the NCSL defeated the resolution.”

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For over 57 years the Animal Welfare Institute has been the leading voice for animals across the country and on Capitol Hill to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans. Find our more at: www.awionline.org.

For More Information Contact:
Chris Heyde, (703) 836-4300

THE TRUTH BEHIND HUMANE SLAUGHTER LAW: Animal Welfare Institute Report Reveals Lack of Enforcement

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 25, 2008) – “The hog was lying in the cradle and all four feet had been removed. The hog was observed to be kicking and shaking its head. It exhibited skin twitching and irregular but rhythmic breathing with deep abdominal and thoracic movement. It appeared to be gasping for breath,” a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspector wrote about a still-conscious hog at a slaughter plant in Frankenmuth, Mo.

With meat recalls due to bacterial contamination and the horrific handling and slaughtering of downer cows making headlines in recent months, consumers are increasingly aware of some of the problems occurring behind slaughterhouse doors. But new documentation reveals how dire the situation really is. The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has released the first report of its kind to analyze humane slaughter enforcement at state, federal and foreign slaughterhouses.

Drawing from over 1,000 documents obtained from sources including 60 public records requests to federal and state agriculture departments from 2002 to 2007, the report exposes the lack of sound enforcement at plants throughout the United States and across the globe.

“This report shows that enforcement of humane slaughter law is a low priority of the US Department of Agriculture, state agriculture departments, and the U.S. animal agriculture industry as a whole,” said author Dena Jones, a consultant to AWI. "Legal and regulatory changes need to be made in the current inspection system to better protect the approximately 10 billion animals killed for food each year in the United States.”

Currently, humane slaughter laws require that livestock be rendered insensible with one stunning attempt before they are killed. However, American Meat Institute guidelines consider an acceptable stunning effectiveness rating of 99 percent for pigs and 95 percent for cattle and sheep, while the National Chicken Council has set an acceptable stunning standard of 98 percent for chickens. Even if every single slaughter plant was able to meet these voluntary industry goals, the report notes, 185 million chickens, 1.8 million cattle and sheep and 1 million pigs would still be killed inhumanely each year in the United States.

Little time is actually spent by agriculture department inspectors observing the handling, stunning and slaughter of animals. Nonetheless, the citations recorded by the USDA are disturbing. At a plant in Benton, Ark., an inspector noted, “At approximately 1:00 p.m. [a Holstein cow] had a 1 cm hole in its forehead from a captive bolt stunner. At 1:10 p.m. the cow had not been moved and was breathing regularly. An establishment employee tried to re-stun the animal twice but the hand held captive bolt stunner did not fire.”

Between 2002 and 2005, only 42 enforcement actions beyond issuances of deficiency reports for noncompliances with humane slaughter laws were taken in the United States. But whistleblower accounts and undercover videotape documentation from inside slaughterhouses reviewed in the report suggest that the current low level of humane enforcement is not due to a lack of violations. Instead, crimes are either not observed or recognized by inspection personnel, not reported through the proper channel, or the appropriate remedial measures are not being taken.

“USDA inspectors must be present at plants to ensure adherence to basic standards of decency, said AWI President Cathy Liss. “At the very least, animals who are killed for food are entitled to a merciful death.”

For a PDF version (150 pgs, 1.4MB) of the report, click here.

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Contact:
Cathy Liss, (703) 836-4300
Dena Jones, (617) 896-9292

For over 57 years, AWI has been the leading voice for animals across the country and on Capitol Hill. AWI promotes humane farming practices and fights the growth of animal factories for the benefit of animals, consumers, farm families, rural communities and the environment. More information is available at http://www.awionline.org/.

Groups Say Human Oversight Necessary at US Slaughterhouses

Washington, D.C. (March 11, 2008) – Following a recent suggestion in Congress that the government should install video cameras in US slaughterhouses to ensure the humane and safe treatment of animals killed for human consumption, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Humane Farming Association (HFA) today call on legislators to reject any attempt by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use cameras in lieu of inspectors.

Recent undercover video footage obtained by an investigator from an animal protection organization revealed abhorrent acts of cruelty to livestock at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino, Calif. The footage showed downer cows being tortured prior to slaughter, raising both ethical and food safety issues.

For more than a decade, animal advocates have presented detailed reports and graphic video documentation from a number of slaughter facilities across the country to demonstrate this widespread problem. In the wake of the Hallmark case, which led to the biggest beef recall in US history, the USDA is now considering the installation of video cameras as a deterrent.

“Documentation has been obtained on videotape at slaughter plants because animal advocates were there in person recording what they saw. These people were able to move about the plants and rotate the cameras to catch the plant workers engaged in illegal activities,” said AWI President Cathy Liss. “Animals must be watched from the time the truck arrives and animals are unloaded, through the stunning and slaughter process, until the last animal on the vehicle is killed. Under USDA’s proposal, where will the cameras be positioned and who is going to watch all the footage?”

“Government-installed video cameras aren’t the answer,” said Gary Dahl, Colorado representative for the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals. “The law was specifically crafted to allow an inspector who is present and observes violations of the Humane Slaughter Act to stop the slaughter line on the spot. How on earth can this happen with a video camera?”

From 2001 forward, Congress has provided millions of additional funds to the USDA for humane slaughter enforcement. Additional monies were intended for the USDA to hire new in-plant employees to work full-time on Humane Slaughter Act enforcement only, but to date, none have been hired. When the Government Accountability Office issued a report in 2004 citing widespread animal welfare issues under the USDA’s watch, the report was ignored by the agency.

“Using cameras to give meat packers a ‘Good Slaughter Housekeeping Seal of Approval’ is just another publicity stunt by the USDA,” said Gail Eisnitz, an HFA senior investigator whose acclaimed 1997 book Slaughterhouse exposed a myriad of problems behind the closed doors of the US slaughter industry.

AWI and HFA are concerned with the lack of conviction to enforcement shown by the USDA; the agency must hire inspectors to work in plants full-time with the sole responsibility of enforcing the regulations for humane handling, stunning and slaughter of animals as mandated by the Humane Slaughter Act.

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Since its founding in 1951, the Animal Welfare Institute has lead efforts to foster the humane treatment of animals raised for food in the United States, including involvement in the passage of the original 1958 Humane Slaughter Act. AWI has fought the spread of factory farms for decades, and continues to improve the conditions of animals on farms with its Animal Welfare Approved standards. For more information, please visit www.awionline.org.

Founded in 1985 and now over 200,000 members strong, HFA has gained national recognition and respect through its hard work and its highly-visible and successful campaigns. The goals of HFA are to protect farm animals from cruelty; to protect the public from the dangerous misuse of antibiotics, hormones and other chemicals used on factory farms; and to protect the environment from the impacts of industrialized animal factories. Learn more at www.hfa.org.

CONTACT:
Cathy Liss, Animal Welfare Institute, (703) 836-4300
Gail Eisnitz, Humane Farming Association, (828) 299-1246