Dear Mr. Moseley: Thank you for contacting me to share your support for horse protection. I appreciate knowing we agree about this important issue. I have spent my career in Congress working for the humane treatment of animals and I share your opposition to horse slaughter for human consumption. I was a strong supporter of the measure prohibiting the Department of Agriculture (USDA) from inspecting horses for human food, which had been included in every annual appropriations bill since 2005 and effectively ended horse slaughter in the United States. As you know, however, the House leadership removed this prohibition in the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture spending bill, which was signed into law on November 18, 2011. I share your strong concern that the repeal of the slaughter prohibition could open the door to domestic horse slaughtering operations in the future. The USDAs official response to the change in the law is available at https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/response/ensuring-humane-treatment-horses. I support legislation that would permanently ban the possession, transport, purchase, sale, delivery, or receipt of horses, horseflesh, or carcasses intended for human consumption. You can count on me to continue to do all I can to end the slaughter of horses for human consumption. I also agree that we must care for and protect wild horses living on public lands. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 tasked the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with inventorying the horse and burro population on federal land to determine appropriate management levels and protect rangelands from wild horse overpopulation. The agency now manages about 33,000 wild horses and burros in 199 Herd Management Areas throughout ten western states. Because few predators remain, BLM must remove animals from the range when their population increases to unsustainable levels. These animals are held at BLM facilities where they await public adoption. In recent years, the number of horses and burros removed from the range has exceeded the number of animals being adopted. This situation was recently studied by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the nonpartisan investigative wing of Congress, and the report is available at gao.gov/new.items/d0977.pdf. You can be sure I will continue to monitor BLMs wild horse management policy and keep the concern we share foremost in mind as Congress considers this matter in the future. To learn more about my work in Congress or sign up for periodic e-mail updates, please visit waxman.house.gov/ and democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/. Again, thank you for contacting me and I hope you will continue to keep in touch on issues of concern. With kind regards, I am Sincerely, HENRY A. WAXMAN
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 15:34:48 +0000
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