Public opposition grows over a proposed bill before Congress that would end the transport of horses outside the United States for slaughter.

“If this bill passes, the horse industry will suffer,” Dave Haslem, Uintah County commissioner, says of the proposed Prevention of Equine Cruelty Bill (HR 6598).

Ranchers have long depended upon the disposal of sick, unwanted, or unusable equines by hauling them to the sale barn. But, transport of horses for the purpose of slaughter will be made illegal under the bill.

“Horse slaughter is not humane euthanasia,” says Cathy Liss, president of Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and bill proponent. “It is a brutal process during which horses suffer terribly from start to finish.”

HR 6598 passage falls on the heels of the 2007 Horse Protection Act, which forced closure of the remaining horse slaughterhouses in the United States. Since then, there has been a glut of cast-off horses leading Uintah Animal Control Officers to contend that abandoned horses are a direct result of the closures and the 2007 act.

The officers are not alone. Other opponents to the bill include the American Quarter Horse Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Association of Equine Practitioners and the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Their letters to Congress oppose passage of a bill that will treat owners as criminals and contribute to an overpopulation of unwanted horses.

“I cannot tell you some of the [abuses] that I have seen,” says John Mathis, Vernal veterinarian, who ties the needless suffering of animals to the closure. “The people who promote this legislation don’t know what they’re doing.”

In the Basin, the closure had an immediate effect as calls about neglected horses have flooded animal control officers.

The problem is growing as Tina Williams, Uintah Animal Control and Shelter director, indicates that animal control officers “are overwhelmed with calls about uncared-for horses. Added to that, is the drastic increase in the number of horses just left in the desert to die.”

These are not wild horses but animals simply driven onto the public lands. According to Williams, these animals will not adapt to their release and will starve eventually.

In the northern or southern states closer to the international borders, some owners have taken their problem horses to Canada or Mexico for disposal. These countries continue the commercial slaughter of horses to sell in European markets. Lobbyists in Congress oppose this practice as they fear the animals face a brutal death.

To halt the outflow, Representatives John Conyers (D-Mich.) and co-sponsor Dan Burton (R- Ind.) have answered critics by crafting Bill HR 6598.

“Opponents of this legislation persist in their attempts to mislead the public, and make horses pawns in their political games,” says Chris Heyde, AWI deputy director, who cites horse slaughter as “neither humane, nor a necessary evil.”

Heyde’s organization is working with the bill’s co-sponsors who together state that 70 percent of Americans are opposed to horse slaughter.

He counters any arguments by saying, “Horse slaughter isn’t a humane disposal service for sick and old horses; it’s a predatory business that is making a profit off the death of healthy horses.”

The Humane Society of the United States supports the bill. Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president, said, “The horse is an American icon, and it is a betrayal of our responsibility to these animals to treat them like cheap commodities and send them across our borders for slaughter.”

The bill passed the House Judiciary Committee by voice vote, but stalled afterward due to difficulty with added amendments. It remains in committee for further debate.

Meanwhile, the question of what to do with unwanted horses remains. There are horse rescue organizations that accept unwanted animals, and at least three of them are found in Utah, though none is located in the Uintah Basin. However, the Utah Animal Adoption Center will foster animals by finding suitable living locations for unwanted equines. The UAAC is located on the Wasatch Front at 1955 North Redwood Road, Salt Lake City (801) 355-7387 or visit their Web site at http://www.utahanimaladoptioncenter.org.

In the Basin, contact the Animal Control and Shelter district at 781-7297, for help. Volunteers to foster horses are welcome to contact with recommendations.

Contact Mary Bernard at mbernard@vernal.com or call 435-789-3511.