In yet another move to showcase its commitment to horse welfare, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) has announced its endorsement of an amendment that would ban the transport of American slaughter-bound horses across both state lines and over country borders. The amendment is scheduled to be on the U.S. House floor in coming weeks.
Led by U.S. Representatives Troy Carter, Brian Fitzpatrick, and John Katko, the amendment will be offered to the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act, H.R.3684. If passed into law, it would effectively ban horse slaughter in America. An estimated 30,000 horses are exported from America to be slaughtered each year, many of which are former racehorses or Thoroughbred breeding stock.
This endorsement is just the latest act in a series of pledges made by the PHBA towards equine welfare. The organization also supports the John Stringer Rainey Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, and has a strict anti-slaughter code of ethics.
The SAFE Act, named for the late South Carolina philanthropist and former director of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, is legislation that would permanently end the slaughter of American horses for human consumption in the United States and abroad. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Humane Society of the United States are among those supporting its passage.
At the time of the SAFE Act's introduction, PHBA executive secretary Brian Sanfratello said, “The SAFE Act is one of three items we are working on. The others are Pennsylvania-specific anti-slaughter legislation, similar to the SAFE Act, that would make it a misdemeanor for anyone who causes or transports a horse into the slaughter pipeline, as well as a PHBA code of ethics, with sanctions for anyone who is a member or registers horses with our organization and is found to be in violation of the Pennsylvania anti-slaughter measures.”
The PHBA's Anti-Slaughter Code of Ethics, which acknowledges it opposes slaughter in general but is focused on the safety and welfare of the Thoroughbred, states that it is a condition of PHBA membership that every applicant signs a pledge not to knowingly cause a Thoroughbred horse to be slaughtered. Violating the rule results in being sanctioned by the PHBA with a $1,000 fine for the first violation, a $5,000 fine for the second, and a fine as well as complete revocation of membership for five years after the third.
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