Horse Slaughter Ban Lifted

Last week, President Obama signed a new bill ending the ban on the federal inspection of horses who are raised for food, effectively legalizing human consumption of horse meat in the US. Animal-rights groups’ reactions to the new law, however, have been mixed. The Humane Society of the United States and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals came out against the new law, but People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals supports the change, believing that domestic horse-slaughter facilities are safer and more humane than shipping the animals to foreign countries. PETA President Ingrid Newkirk tells the Christian Science Monitor, “… the reason we didn’t support it, which sets us almost alone, is the amount of suffering that it created exceeded the amount of suffering it was designed to stop.” According to the Government Accounting Office, horse exports from the US to Mexico have risen 660 percent since the now-lifted domestic horse slaughter ban began five years ago.