Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns is mulling over a petition from three European companies to allow them to hire private inspectors to inspect horsemeat slaughtered at their three slaughterhouses in the US.  

This link takes you to an action alert from the Society of Animal Protective Legislation and gives more detail:

Horse Slaughter Ban At Risk

More background below the fold...

Despite the overwhelming adoption in both Houses of Congress of a ban on USDA funding in horse slaughter plants, there is a back door movement afoot to subvert the legislative process.

Need a little background to follow?

UPDATE: Perhaps as early as TOMORROW, not next week, the US Senate will take up an issue dealt with by the House in the last session: the defunding of USDA inspectors at horse slaughter plants and at the border where horses are shipped for slaughter outside the US.  The amendment in question is the Ensign/Byrd Amendment to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill.  It is the Senate version of the Sweeney/Spratt Amendment that was overwhelmingly passed by the House in the last session.  

Anti-slaughter activists are asking that those of us who would like to see a horse slaughter ban in the US to contact their senators to ask them to vote yes on the Ensign Amendment:

Ensign/Byrd Amendment

Why is this amendment significant?  It will put a stop to the  horse slaughter industry for the 2006 fiscal year while anti-slaughter advocates work to get HR 503 and it's companion bill (Ensign/Landrieu's American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) passed.

More below the fold:

I just read about this "race" on another website.  I am posting a link to www.paws.org to give some background and action alerts for anyone who wishes to find out more/add their name to those who want this event stopped, etc.

http://www.paws.org/outreach/campaigns/omak.php

Since I am anti-slaughter, I feel today that the good guys won.  I don't get to feel that feeling much these days.  

But I digress...

Today, in a 269 to 158 vote, the House approved the Sweeney/Spratt Amendment to the 2006 House Agricultural Appropriations Bill.  It defunds USDA inspections at the three US horse slaughterhouses currently in business and at the border for inspection of slaughter-bound horses.  Long story short: it takes the USDA inspectors out of the slaughter houses and the transport trucks that take slaughter bound horses across the borders into Canada and Mexico.  It effectively stops horse slaughter for the FY 2006.  No USDA Inspectors, no ability to sell the meat overseas or transport live horses across the border for the purposes of slaughter.

I know there are many Kossacks who are disturbed by the Burns Amendment and it's effect on the wild horse population in the US.  

This Thursday, an important amendment will come to the floor of the House.  It is called the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment and, if passed, would ensure that no tax dollars would be used for any sale of wild horses that could lead to their slaughter.

The Humane Society of the United States has a web page set up to help those of us who would like to do whatever we can to stop the sale of these horses to slaughter.  

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/wild_horses/ddgb7srq5j3mtd??source=gac4de

A total of 41 mustangs, previously protected by the Wild Horse and Burro Act, have been slaughtered in a DeKalb IL processing plant.  This was made possible by a rider attached to a spending bill passed last December that changed the 34 year policy of banning the slaughter of such animals.  We have Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana (R) to thank for this awful, and unnecessary, change in the law.  

Last week, six mustangs were purchased by an Oklahoma man who claimed to be using the horses for a church youth group.  He bought them for $300 out in Colorado and then sold them for $2,000 to the Cavel Corp where they were slaughtered and processed for human consumption overseas.

Al Franken is going to broadcast his show live from the Punch Line in SF this Friday, October 1.  Air America just started today on a Clear Channel Station here (960am) and they would love some of the public to show up.  It's kinda a small room...about 125 people, but it's first come first serve (coffee and some food at 8:30am and then the show starts at 9:00am).

I am sooooo thrilled we finally got a station to put Air America on in SF, I really want it to kick ass here.

I have hesitated to post about this topic, because there are so many other more important topics out there and while this is VERY important to me, I understand that it might not be so important to others.

Last week I found out that Humane USA PAC issued it's endorsement of John Kerry for President:

http://www.humaneusa.org/article.asp?article_key=109&n=1

And while the first part of their press release discusses their disappointment with Bush's support of the hunting industry, later in the release it goes far beyond that.