Dear editor,
Illinois shuttered its last horse slaughtering plant in 2007, so why do we still need to worry about the topic of horse slaughter? The answer is as simple as it is sad: there is still no federal law banning the sale and transport of horses for slaughter across U.S. borders. This loophole allows kill-buyers, unethical individuals who prey on respectable horse owners, to sell horses and ship them off to be slaughtered and eaten in countries outside the U.S.
Thankfully, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, representing Illinois’ 9th district, is co-leading the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act: a bipartisan federal bill that would make it illegal to slaughter horses for human consumption or sell or transport horses for slaughter abroad. The SAFE Act would, critically, close a loophole that allowed kill-buyers to export 19,000 of our horses for slaughter in 2024 alone even though horse slaughter is not allowed here in the states. This bill would ensure that horses are given the chance to join one of the 1.2 million households who have the resources and desire to immediately adopt a horse in need.
On behalf of our horses, I thank Representative Schakowsky for sponsoring the SAFE Act and co-leading the effort to protect American horses from a terrible death in foreign countries.
-Debbie Hood, Oregon
