Alert- Horses Agonize In Mexico As Federal Ban Stalls

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ACT/ Horses Agonize In Mexico As Federal Ban Stalls KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY - PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN 10/7/07: Horses Agonize In Mexico As Federal Slaughter Ban Stalls KINSHIP CIRCLE ACTION CAMPAIGN http://www.KinshipCircle.org IN THIS ALERT: SAMPLE LETTER: American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act Strategies To Stop Horse Slaughter In Canada Help Swiss Activist Show Diners The Pain On Their Plates SOURCE OF INFORMATION: U.S. ban on horse slaughter means a more gruesome death elsewhere http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5175642.html Slideshow - CAUTION: Graphic images http://www2.mysanantonio.com/specials/20070929slaughter3/index.html Horse slaughters taking place on the border http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA093007.01A.horseslaughter.3496288.html Congress asked to stop export of doomed horses http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA100507.01A.HorseSlaughter.34c30f5.html Shocking Undercover Footage of U.S. Horse Export to Mexico for Slaughter! https://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=15617394 NEW FOOTAGE, from HSUS: http://video.hsus.org/?fr_story=fe11cb93d7b39e3052052f438f53d3ac2b9d6964 & rf=bm

PETITION: Stop the Transport of Horses for Slaughter http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-transport-of-horses-for-slaughter =========================================================== 1. SAMPLE LETTER: American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act Sample letters are prepared to give you ample background on an issue. Try to change some words, pare down letters, and make them your own. **DELETE ALL REFERENCES TO KINSHIP CIRCLE BEFORE SENDING** =========================================================== To identify your federal legislators and find contact info, try: Congress.org: http://www.Congress.org USA Senate: http://www.senate.gov USA House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121 The Honorable Representative _________________________________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Senators ____ The U.S. Senate, U.S. Capitol Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Representative and Senators _____________: Though constituents have appealed to you before, we now urgently call for your support. Please advocate swift passage of the American

Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311) to ban horse export and slaughter for the purpose of human consumption. Recent court rulings pronounced horse slaughter illegal in Texas and Illinois. With no legitimate equine processors left in the U.S., about 30,000 American horses were exported to Mexican slaughterhouses this year. At the Ciudad Juarez plant, the Houston Chronicle reports, horses are restrained in kill boxes so workers can pierce their backs with a small knife "seven, eight, nine times." Fully alert, horses bob their heads as the blade stabs them around the withers. By the 10th puncture, one horse collapses in pools of her own blood. She is paralyzed, but not dead. After two more minutes, workers dangle her by a shackled rear leg and slit her throat. Some horses remain conscious as their bodies are dismembered. American voters overwhelmingly oppose the export and brutal

treatment of horses. Yet there is a 370 percent increase in the number of U.S. horses transported over our borders this year. By the time horses reach slaughterplants, they've traveled 700 or more miles stuffed inside double-deck livestock trucks or other vehicles built for smaller animals. Deprived of food, water or rest, most arrive weak, dehydrated and injured. Some are dead by journey's end. Last year, hundreds of thousands of horses died for diners in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan and Russia. While fewer American horses have been killed since the closure of U.S. operations, those shipped to Mexico die even more violently than those in U.S. slaughterhouses. State-by-state bans are largely meaningless until a federal ban ends the export of American horses for human ingestion. If you do not cosponsor H.R. 503/S. 311, I urge you to do so. Please help expedite passage of the American Horse

Slaughter Prevention Act and move this bill out of committee for a vote. The longer Congress wavers, the more American horses face agony inside foreign equine plants. Please let me know your stance on this vital, but stalled legislation. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, ########## PHOTO: Horses at the Ciudad Juarez plant are stabbed in the back until the spinal cord is severed, then hoisted so their throats can be slit. JERRY LARA: SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS STATUS ON AMERICAN HORSE SLAUGHTER PREVENTION ACT: H.R.503: To amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines

to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [iL-9] (introduced 1/17/2007); Cosponsors (186) Related Bills: S.311 Latest Major Action: 3/2/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry. See if your Rep is a cosponsor: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00503:@@@P S.311: A bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen. Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] (introduced 1/17/2007); Cosponsors (31) Related Bills: H.R.503 Latest Major Action: 4/25/2007

Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably. See if your Senators are cosponsors: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN00311:@@@P =========================================================== 2. STRATEGIES TO STOP HORSE SLAUGHTER IN CANADA SOURCE: Sinikka Crosland, Executive Director, Canadian Horse Defense Coalition: sinikka ===========================================================

9/18/07, from Canadian Horse Defense Coalition, sinikka -- Abolish Horse Slaughter Canada has been launched. We have created a mail group that will enable horse defenders from around the world to share their information and strategies as we fight to achieve an end to equine slaughter in Canada. Go to: abolishhorseslaughtercanada/ You will need to join the group in order to be able to post and receive messages to your email account. Photos Required! We are featuring 12 compelling photographs of horses in an upcoming calendar that will be distributed to Canadian legislators. Do you have a favorite image that you would like to share for possible inclusion in a 2008 calendar? In particular, we will consider tasteful, unique photos that portray the majesty,

nobility, personality, and intelligence of the horse. Please include your horse's name and a brief description of how he/she has impacted your life. Please email your photographs and text to: info Note: Only 12 photos will be used in the calendar. However, images submitted to us and not chosen for this project may still be posted on our website -- and please keep in mind that special rescue stories to accompany photographs are welcome anytime. Coming soon, we will be featuring case histories on: http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/ For the horses, Sinikka Crosland, Executive Director, Canadian Horse Defense Coalition, http://www.defendhorsescanada.org PHOTO:

A mare and foal wait to die. SOURCE: http://www.atourhands.com/horse.html =========================================================== 3. HELP SWISS ACTIVIST SHOW DINERS THE PAIN ON THEIR PLATES SOURCE: Diana, dhartig * CC: info =========================================================== PHOTOS: Unloading at slaughterplant. SOURCE: http://www.atourhands.com/horse.html 10/4/07 from dhartig -- Regarding the Mexican horse issue, I have now established contact (and forwarded the information I sent you all recently -- the article, images and video links) with a Swiss horse protection organization, led my Mr. Hans Hunziker. He informs me here Switzerland annually imports 4.7 million tons of horsemeat from approx. 12 countries. Most of it coming from Canada, before that: the US. Now Switzerland buys horsemeat from Mexico...Up to now in this year that would be about 500,000 kilos. Last year it was only 68,000 kilos. He says he intends to travel to Mexico before the year is out to further document what is happening there (transport and slaughterhouses) in an attempt to inform the horsemeat-consuming public. Naturally, he says, the traders and importers tell all sorts

of lies concerning the humane way the animals are treated. Mr. Hunziker realizes it will not be easy to gain access to the relevant facilities, and asks me if I can put him in contact with people who might be able to help in his endeavor. I don't know if any of you can, or know people who might. But I'd be grateful if you could send my request on to those in your acquaintance who have such contacts on location particularly. Thanks and kind regards, Diana ANYONE WITH LEADS OR CONTACTS, REPLY DIRECTLY TO: Diana Hartig, dhartig *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** Kinship Circle is a nonprofit organization serving the animal advocacy community. Donations help us meet expenses for the literature, website, research/campaigns and outreach -- that let YOU take action for animals. DONATE: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/donation/ Action Campaigns I Literature I Voice For Animals Nonprofit working in animal protection/cruelty + animal disaster relief campaigns info or kinshipcircle http://www.KinshipCircle.org * http://www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/ *************************************************************************************************** UNSUBSCRIBE: * NEVER USE YOUR JUNK MAIL FILTER. Don’t ruin KC list for others! * Select a Kinship Circle ALERT received in your mailbox. * Hit “FORWARD†* Enter kinshipcircle and send. [Type UNSUBSCRIBE in your subject line]. * Make sure the “To†line from our original alert is in your email, LIKE THIS: Kinship Circle Monday,

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