Illinois Slaughter Plant Remains Closed
By Kathryn Brim, Editor

An appeal to the courts by Cavel International Inc., a horse slaughtering plant in DeKalb, IL, to overturn the state’s horse slaughter ban has been denied by the Supreme Court.

Prior to closing in 2007 as the result of an Illinois law banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption, Cavel International was the last functioning horse slaughtering plant in the United States. At it’s peak up to 60,000 horses were slaughtered at Cavel each year, with the majority of the meat being sold for human consumption in Europe and other countries. 

H.R. 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act is a mistake. I understand the intent but in reality it has caused more harm than good. Horses are being abandoned and starved because there is no market to sell unwanted horses. Prices for feed is at an all time high and many people cannot afford their horses.
There are horses routinely found along the highway in my area because their owners didn't want them anymore. They're skinny, disease infested, and abandoned. To me this is more of a brutal treatment of horses than a quick shot to the head.
The slaughter house never tortured the horses destined to be killed. There is a food shortage. The bodies, meat, of old and crippled horses are being wasted.
I had a horse that was struck by lightning. The rendering works company charged me $300 to pick up the body of the dead horse. It is illegal to bury the body on my farm. Five years ago, the rendering works company charged me $25 to pick up a horse that I had to put down because she broke her leg. The carcasses were use, not wasted then.
I have raised horses for over 40 years. My horses are well cared for but I have 2 aged horses that are old and crippled. I love them but I would not think twice about selling them to slaughter. Better that than wasting their potential to help people that are starving. Now it's going to cost me to put them down, and then hauled away or break the law and bury them on my farm. What a mess this bill has made!

I think they should open all slaughter houses back up. I raise horses and feel that not having the slaughter houses have hurt the horse market. Right now you can not even give a good horse away. There needs to be a place to go with all the injured and broken down horses. There are many reason that a horse may become crippled and with the slughter houses you had a place to go with these horse and still come out with some money.
Nancy

Funny how people always want someone else to take care of their problems. If you are so heartless you have no business owning one of these beautiful intelligent creatures. I rescued a 27 year old guilding that no one wanted and guess what? I was able to find him a home with a 13 year old girl, who is now fulfilling her dreams. I just saw the two of them at the 4-H prefair on Saturday. You are lying that you can't give a good horse away. Maybe you don't have the patience, and mabe you have never really tried.

I have been in the horse business for over 25 years and have woould have never guessed that people could be so blind. Not having a place to go with a crippled horse or even a dangerous one not only makes the good horses worth less money but makes it very dangerous for the first time horse owner, to purchase that right horse the first time.

It's a terrible shame that there are so many unwanted horses in this country that thousands of them must be destroyed. But eliminating horses slaughter does not solve the problem. There are still unwanted horses, but now many more are being shipped out of the country where they don't have the same humane standards governing slaughter operations. So in a very real sense, horses are suffering more.