Editorial: Let’s get it right on horses

Monday, July 31, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

Animal rights activists last year breathed a brief sigh of relief when Congress attempted - clumsily - to ban horse slaughter. But horse lovers knew the bill was flawed and the fight wasn't over.

Lawmakers had tried to shut down the three foreign-owned U.S. plants that process horses - two in Texas, one in Illinois - with a bill that blocked the use of federal meat inspectors at the plants for one year. The lawmakers figured the plants would be forced to close without the required inspectors. But the law had one big loophole. Plant owners sought to hire their own inspectors, and the Department of Agriculture allowed it. The plants stayed open.

Now the lawmakers, including Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., are back with a bill that takes a direct approach, plainly banning the "shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possession, purchasing, selling or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption."

The issue is controversial and the slaughter ban faces opposition. Roughly 90,000 horses were slaughtered at the plants last year, with most of the meat shipped overseas for human consumption. The horse-plant operators say they are important employers in their towns and say they do America a valuable service by disposing of unwanted animals.

But a passionate coalition of activists that bristles at the term "unwanted horses" says horse slaughter has no place in America. We agree.

Activists and lawmakers are gearing up for the next fight. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the slaughter-ban bill Wednesday. But the Agriculture Committee, chaired by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., voted no on the bill Thursday, "citing the property rights of American horse owners and the culinary freedoms of horse eaters worldwide," according to a Cox News Service report.

So it is not clear what kind of legislation the full House might ultimately consider on the floor - or what the Senate might do.

Among the horse activists is wealthy Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who said horse slaughter "is a black eye on our state and our nation that demands action."

We concur and we hope Congress will, too.