Dennis Kucinich: “I rise today in honor of our country's beloved horses. It is my hope that Congress will pass H.R. 503 unamended, the…”

“I rise today in honor of our country's beloved horses. It is my hope that Congress will pass H.R. 503 unamended, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This bill will end horse slaughter for human consumption in the United States and the cruel practices associated with this inhumane industry. When horses are sold to slaughter they are often transported in overcrowded trucks, deprived of food and water, exposed to the elements and made to stand in their own waste. The slaughter bound horse can be sick or injured but forced to suffer a lack of appropriate veterinary care. The stress that horses are subjected to, both during transportation and at the slaughterhouse, triggers horses' natural flight response. At the slaughterhouse a horse can be ineffectively stunned before dismemberment, meaning that a horse may remain conscious while being bound and then elevated by one leg prior to having its throat slit. H.R. 503 encourages responsible horse ownership. For horse owners, who are no longer able or willing to care for a horse, H.R. 503 finds appropriate alternatives to slaughter that may range from finding a new home for the horse to humane euthanasia preformed by a licensed veterinarian. Documentation from the three remaining equine slaughterhouses in the United States show that America's wild horses have been among their victims. Additional victims include stolen, as well as healthy horses.…”