March 8, 2007

Dear editor,

A petition to our Member of Parliament Joe Preston has been prepared for signatures. The primary purpose of the petition is to demonstrate constituency support of a ban on Horse Slaughter in Canada for Human Consumption. The petition respectfully requests Member of Parliament Joe Preston to "INTRODUCE A PRIVATE MEMBERS BILL INTO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO BAN HORSE SLAUGHTER IN CANADA FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION AND THE EXPORT OF HORSES FOR THE SAME PURPOSE".

According to an Ipsos-Reid poll, conducted in May 2004, 2/3 (64%) of adult Canadians polled "do not believe in the slaughter of Canadian horses for human consumption". Horses hold a special place in our heritage and are beloved companions to millions today.

Horse slaughter is a death fraught with terror, pain, and suffering. Pregnant mares, foals, sick, injured and even blind horses must endure overcrowded feedlots and grossly inadequate transportation conditions only to have their suffering intensify upon arrival at the slaughterhouses.

Canadians do not eat horse meat and do not breed horses for human consumption. Horses are different from animals specifically bred for human consumption due to their instinctive flight response in stressful conditions, making it difficult to accurately stun them prior to slaughter. Many horses are dismembered while fully conscious, underscoring the need to ban this utterly inhumane process. Conditions and cruel treatment of equines at slaughter plants have been widely documented and continue to horrify many Canadians.

On January 19, 2007, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana, ruled that horse slaughter is illegal in Texas. This overturns a 2005 Lower Federal District Court ruling and upholds a 1949 Texas law that bans the sale of horse flesh for human consumption. As a result of this ruling, two major airlines have suspended the shipment of horse meat to overseas markets. Until Federal legislation (Bill HR.503 in the House and S.311 in the Senate) is passed, we can expect to see Canadian feedlots filling up with horses from the U.S., and the Canadian slaughter plants running at, or past, capacity. It is a critical time for Canadians to act.

Dying in terror, not with dignity, is the fate of tens of thousands of Canadian horses every year. Please help save our horses.

The petition is available for signatures at:

Dream Saddlery Tack & Feed
23617 Downie Line, RR4
West Lorne, ON N0L 2P0

Shedden Veterinary Services
162 Talbot
Shedden, ON N0L 2E0

Wherever man has left his footprint in the long ascent from barbarism to civilization we will find the hoofprint of the horse beside it.
~John Trotwood Moore


Carla Bell
West Lorne