OklahomaHorses Magazine November 2021

November/December 2021 • OklahomaHorses 23 Animals in Art and Photography Lisa Jewell 918.231.0895 jewell1957@hotmail.com ArtbyJewell.com bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate including U.S. Senators Robert Me- nendez (D-NJ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Earlier this year, U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill) and Vern Buchanan (R- FLA) introduced the SAFE Act (H.R.3355) in the U.S. House of Representatives. The number of American horses ex- ported for slaughter has declined dramat- ically. About 10 years ago, over 160,000 American horses were being shipped abroad annually to slaughter for human consumption. In 2020, 37,249 American horses were exported for this purpose — a 41.5% decrease from 2019. This is the lowest number exported for slaughter since domestic plants closed, and the lowest number slaughtered within the U.S. or abroad in the 20 years for which we have this tracking data. This dramatic downward trend demonstrates that efforts to reduce the number of horses sent to slaughter are having a major impact and that reducing that number to zero is entirely possible. America’s equine adoption community is working hard to match the horses in their care with foster and adoptive families. This means that every horse who might have been sent to slaughter could have a home waiting, if given the opportunity to find it. Horse slaughter is a brutal and terrifying end for horses. Horses are shipped for more than 24 hours at a time without food, wa- ter, or rest in crowded trucks in which the animals are often seriously injured or killed during transit. Horses are skittish by nature due to their heightened fight or flight response. The methods used to kill horses rarely result in quick, painless deaths. Be- fore the last domestic plant closed in 2007, the USDA documented rampant cruelty violations and severe injuries to horses, including broken bones and gaping open wounds. Horses at auctions are purchased through individuals known as “kill buyers” who outbid legitimate horse owners and rescues, robbing horses of ever having a second chance at life. Additionally, these “kill buyers” have been known to pose as horse dealers and rescues, thus tricking responsible horse owners into selling their horses into the slaughter pipeline. Horses have stood by us as our loyal companions throughout histo- ry, and we owe it to them to protect them from this abuse. 80% of Americans sup- port the ending of horse slaughter. The last horse slaughter plants in the U. S. closed years ago, and Congress has consistently voted to keep them shuttered by prohibit- ing funding for horse slaughter inspections within U.S. borders. There is currently no law that prohibits the export of American horses abroad to be slaughtered for human consumption. If you would like to see these federal horse protection measures advance, you can contact your elected officials in Washington and ask for their support! If you call, you will be speaking with a staff member who is familiar with these bills. Let them know you are a constituent, give your name and address and the name and number of the bill and let them know you would like your senator or congressperson to co-sponsor and/or support these bills when they come before them for a vote. Your outreach to your elected officials on behalf of horses is crucial to enacting these important protec- tions for horses.