by Jeff Apel

The United States Court of Appeals for the seventh circuit on Friday upheld a decision by the state of Illinois to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

The ruling could end all slaughtering of horses at Cavel International Inc. in DeKalb, Illinois, the last remaining horse plant in the United States where horses are slaughtered for human consumption Horse meat is consumed by humans in France, Belgium, Holland, Japan, and Italy.

“Today’s court decision marks the end of the line for the foreign-owned horse slaughter industry in the United States,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States. “Now it’s up to Congress to finish the job and protect American horses from being exported to foreign abattoirs in Canada and Mexico for human consumption overseas.”

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 100,800 horses were slaughtered in 2006 in three plants, two of which were previously located in Texas. Another 30,000 horses were sent to Mexico or Canada for slaughter.

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals rejected legal claims by Cavel International, which was forced to close after Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed H.B. 1711, a bill that bans horse slaughter in Illinois, on May 24. Cavel International filed suit to block the law, and slaughter operations were allowed to temporarily resume pending the outcome of an appeal.

Earlier this year, the Fifth Circuit of Court Appeals rejected an effort by the horse slaughter industry to overturn a Texas law that bans the possession of horse meat for human consumption. In July, the federal district court in Rockford, Illinois, upheld the Illinois state law. Cavel appealed the decision to the seventh circuit court.

“This ruling should make the people of Illinois proud to stop the last remaining slaughterhouse in the country,” said Illinois Representative Bob Molaro (D-Illinois), one of the key sponsors of the Illinois bill. “This was a hard-won fight for the legislature, but the right is now over. I applaud U.S. Representative Janice Schakowsky [D-Illinois] for her federal leadership on this issue, and hope that this decision will spur the passage of federal legislation to prevent American horses from being shipped to Mexico or Canada for butchering.”

Schakowsky, along with Representatives Ed Whitfield (R-Kentucky), Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia), John Spratt (D-South Carolina), and 58 additional cosponsors in January reintroduced the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act in the United States House of Representatives. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Humane Society support the measure, which is currently before the House of Representatives subcommittee on livestock, dairy, and poultry and prohibits shipping, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donating of horses to be slaughtered for human consumption.

The House of Representatives version of the bill has 180 cosponsors.

The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted 15-7 on April 25 in favor of sending the measure to the full Senate. 

“The slaughter of horses is both cruel and inhumane, and it is our responsibility to ensure that it no longer occurs,” said Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), who reintroduced the measure in the Senate. “I was proud of cosponsor legislation to ban slaughter in the 109th Congress and I am proud to be the lead sponsor of the legislation in the 110th.”

Last year, the House of Representatives voted 263-146 in favor of a bill that banned horse slaughter. But the Senate did not vote on the measure before the 109th Congressional session concluded in December.

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor