Friday, February 3, 2102 – Washington, D.C. — The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is pleased to report that the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, H.R. 7, approved earlier today by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, includes a prohibition on the hauling of horses via double-deck trailers. The move to incorporate this prohibition within the larger transportation bill was strongly supported by AWI and championed by Representative Andy Harris (R-MD) and Committee Ranking Member, Nick Rahall (D-WV). The entire bill now goes before the full House of Representatives for a vote.
While the overall transportation bill is by no means an unqualified success and contains many unsavory elements from an animal welfare perspective, final passage of this ban on double-deck transport in interstate commerce would represent a clear and important victory for horse protection. AWI has long fought to have this inhumane practice outlawed, and in the present instance AWI worked to fend off a last-minute attempt by committee member Representative Rick Crawford (R-AR) to amend the bill so as to strip out the double-deck transport ban.
February 3, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – A poll conducted in January by Lake Research Partners for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) found that 80% of Americans are strongly opposed to horse slaughter. The highly respected research group based its survey on 1,008 voters giving the results a 3% margin of error. The poll found opposition was consistent across all sectors, including horse owners.
The findings are all the more remarkable given the huge media effort that was mounted by the horse slaughter lobby following the closing of U.S. based horse slaughter plants in 2007.
While the effort appeared to have worked on Congress, causing them to restore funding for horse slaughter inspections, it had the opposite effect on voter opinion. A similar poll performed a decade earlier indicates that opposition to horse slaughter has increased by almost 10%.
Proceeds to Benefit Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement
GEORGETOWN, KY – JANUARY 31, 2012 – The 3rd Annual “Hats Off to the Horses: The Road to the Derby,” an online auction of exclusive handcrafted Kentucky Derby Hats, continues February 1st with a hat inspired by the great sire Fortunate Prospect.
This is the fourth hat in a series of six magnificent chapeaus to be auctioned by Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Center in Georgetown, KY. Each hat has been custom crafted by milliner Sally Faith Steinmann of Maggie Mae Designs and 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit Old Friends, the 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to the dignified retirement of former racehorses.
Monday, January 30, 2012 – At long last, a ban on the use of trailers with more than one level for hauling horses is on the verge of being considered by Congress… It is also on the verge of being derailed. While language clearly banning ALL hauling of horses by double-deck trailers is included in the Surface Transportation Extension Act, opponents are trying to undermine this modest yet important legislation.
Support for banning the use of double-deck trailers is strong, and includes the American Veterinary Medical Association, National Black Farmers Association, Animal Welfare Institute and Veterinarians for Equine Welfare. Equine rescue, humane, and professional organizations realize it is cruel and dangerous to haul horses on double-deck trailers. Even the U.S. Department of Agriculture has come out against their use: “We do not believe that equines can be safely and humanely transported on a conveyance that has an animal cargo space divided into two or more stacked levels.” (9 CFR Parts 70 and 88). In fact, USDA has prohibited using these trailers for transporting horses to slaughter, but its rule doesn’t cover horses being transported for any other purposes – or those supposedly being hauled for another purpose. All horses, irrespective of where they are going, deserve this important protection, and the language included in the Surface Transportation Extension Act will provide it.
Washington, DC (January 23, 2012) – Some politicians in Washington feel that restarting a horse slaughter industry on American soil is a good idea. We’d like to offer a small window into how the horse slaughter industry currently operates, as shady players make deals amongst themselves while duping innocent people into giving up their horses to be butchered. Read on…
A story recently surfaced about a 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman, Kelsey Lefever, who faces felony charges after allegedly collecting over 120 retired racehorses from well-meaning owners, promising them she would find good homes for the horses. Her intention all along, however, was to sell them to killer buyers. Their “good homes” turned out to be a slaughterhouse in Canada, where they met with a gruesome death in order to become a “delicacy” at restaurants abroad. In the police report, a witness indicates that Lefever told her, “I killed every one of those (expletive) horses — over 120 of them. If they only knew, every one of them is dead.”
January 21, 2012 – St Johns Island, SC – Classic Company and the Gulf Coast Classic Company in partnership with Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. makers of Adequan i.m. (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan), announce the formation of the Adequan Pre Green Classics and year end Adequan Pre Green Sweepstakes.
Bob Bell, President of Classic Company, said, “We’ve created a new series of Pre Green Hunter Classics to be held at all our events in 2012, dubbed the Adequan Pre Green Classics. They will run as normal, held each week as two round events with the second ride of the second day counting as the first round of the Classic. The Adequan Pre Green Championship Classic will be a standalone two round event.”
One of the key differences in these Pre Green Hunter Classics will be the entry fees. Bell explained, “All the entry fees will be collected just as in the past, but these monies will be set aside to build the Sweepstakes bank, which will be offered at the Atlanta Fall Classic II, November 16th. The Classic Company will host the Adequan Pre Green Hunter Championship Sweepstakes for the top 20 horses, based on accumulated Championship points, to compete for the total Sweepstakes money.”
January 16, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) children’s letter writing campaign to end horse slaughter, first announced on January 5th, has now received the support of The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Humane Education Committee.
The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) was contacted by the committee to offer their support and to obtain additional information on the campaign. The committee enclosed a letter from one of their teachers with an email voicing support from Senator Joe Lieberman.
The EWA will provide information to help support, update and expand lesson plans developed by the committee. The plans can be found on the EWA’s new Children’s Page, along with fun and educational videos about famous horses.
We at Diamonds in the Rough equine rescue are putting together our 2nd annual Neigh Days on April 21, 2012. We are looking for cash sponsors and product donations for our raffles and silent auctions. We also would like to invite you to be a vendor at our event. If you could please find it in your hearts to help out our rescue horses, contact us at 804-815-4286 or email LauraD.DITR@gmail.com or mail to 5654 Kings Ridge Rd. Gloucester, VA 23061. Please read below our sponsor levels and about our 501(3)(C) rescue group. Thank you!
Neigh Days Spring of 2012
To be just a vendor – $300 if you are selling products, $100 for information only booths. Free to rescue groups. (We do ask that those rescue groups that are having booths please promote our event to help generate a large crowd.)
I am so lucky to get to go to barns all over this country that inspire you to dream big. While many are beyond our means, most are variations of the same theme. A pole barn with box stalls on each side of an aisle. Some farms only have a 3 sided shed and some places have more mud than dry spots.
The most memorable barn I have ever visited wasn’t a barn at all. The call came to me early in my career as a vet. The request was for routine vaccinations and a Coggins test and to look at a few things. I obtained her address but this was before GPS guidance so I wrote down the directions as best as I could. This usually involved things like, “Turn left at the Shell station on route 14 and go about 3 miles. We’re on the right side with our number on the mail box. The horses are in the barn in the back.” That is if I was lucky.
This horse owner’s directions were a little more challenging. “Head out of town about 5 miles and look for a break in the woods on the left hand side. Follow the trail back to the abandoned double wide mobile home. I’ll meet ‘cha there.” She added, “Bo’s really a good boy, but he don’t like vets.”
January 6, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – Jo-Claire Corcoran of the Equine Welfare Alliance’s Research Team has launched a children’s letter writing campaign to end the slaughter of American horses. Canadian partners have launched a parallel campaign aimed at stopping horse slaughter in Canada.
A similar campaign forty years ago resulted in the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act that was passed on a unanimous vote in both houses. Jo-Claire commented, “As Wild Horse Annie proved in 1971 congress listened to the children of this country. Sometimes we do not give our children credit for their ability to comprehend. Children growing up on farms which raise animals for food are aware those animals are going to slaughter to become food; they understand those animals were raised for that purpose.” She added, “My grandson understands the difference between animals raised for food and animals that are not raised for food.”
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February 3, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – A poll conducted in January by Lake Research Partners for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) found that 80% of Americans are strongly opposed to horse slaughter. The highly respected research group based its survey on 1,008 voters giving the results a 3% margin of error. The poll found opposition was consistent across all sectors, including horse owners.
Monday, January 30, 2012 – At long last, a ban on the use of trailers with more than one level for hauling horses is on the verge of being considered by Congress… It is also on the verge of being derailed. While language clearly banning ALL hauling of horses by double-deck trailers is included in the Surface Transportation Extension Act, opponents are trying to undermine this modest yet important legislation.
Washington, DC (January 23, 2012) – Some politicians in Washington feel that restarting a horse slaughter industry on American soil is a good idea. We’d like to offer a small window into how the horse slaughter industry currently operates, as shady players make deals amongst themselves while duping innocent people into giving up their horses to be butchered. Read on…
January 21, 2012 – St Johns Island, SC – Classic Company and the Gulf Coast Classic Company in partnership with Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. makers of Adequan i.m. (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan), announce the formation of the Adequan Pre Green Classics and year end Adequan Pre Green Sweepstakes.
January 16, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) children’s letter writing campaign to end horse slaughter, first announced on January 5th, has now received the support of The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Humane Education Committee.
We at Diamonds in the Rough equine rescue are putting together our 2nd annual Neigh Days on April 21, 2012. We are looking for cash sponsors and product donations for our raffles and silent auctions. We also would like to invite you to be a vendor at our event. If you could please find it in your hearts to help out our rescue horses, contact us at 804-815-4286 or email 
January 6, 2012 – Chicago (EWA) – Jo-Claire Corcoran of the Equine Welfare Alliance’s Research Team has launched a children’s letter writing campaign to end the slaughter of American horses. Canadian partners have launched a parallel campaign aimed at stopping horse slaughter in Canada.
