Help for Horses, Please Take Action

I have news to report to you on the issue of horse slaughter in the United
States.

First, despite many threats that horse slaughter would be legalized by a
stealth floor amendment in the final, intense days of the 2007 Texas state
legislative session, we're thrilled to report that the effort did not
succeed. The flood of phone calls from you Texans really had an impact-we
heard about them from every office. We were lobbying right up until the last
moment and running ads inTexas newspapers, and the calls and letters made an enormous difference.

Second, Illinois passed a ban on horse slaughter for human consumption with
the full support of the Governor and the Illinois Department of Agriculture!
However, only a week after the victorious passage of this state bill, the
owners of the horse slaughter plant in Illinois filed suit to overturn the
law. An Illinois federal judge issued a temporary restraining order
overriding the new state law, and that order will remain in force until a
June 14 hearing. This means that horse slaughter can temporarily resume at
the Illinois plant-which can butcher more than 500 horses a week. Our
attorneys are fighting back in every way they can, but we need your help.

These state bans, and this temporary setback, once again highlight the
urgent need for passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R.
503/S. 311)-a federal bill to prohibit horse slaughter for human consumption
and the transport of horses across the border for slaughter. We cannot sit
back now while our horses are still being sent to Mexico and Canada for
brutal slaughter in large numbers.

TAKE ACTION
Please make brief, polite phone calls today to your U.S. Representative,
Rick Larsen, at (202) 225-2605 and your U.S. Senator, Patty Murray, at (202)
224-2621 and urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 503/S. 311 to stop the slaughter
of American horses in this country or over the border.

Making a call is easy. A staff member will take your message and pass it to
your legislator. You can say:

"Hello, my name is [your name]. I am a constituent, calling from [your town,
your state] to urge [Representative Larsen/Senator Murray] to please
co-sponsor H.R. 503/S. 311 today to help stop the slaughter of American
horses-in the U.S. or over the border. Horses are not bred or raised for
this purpose; yet perfectly healthy horses are bought by the horse slaughter
industry to be converted into a foreign delicacy. Our horses deserve
better."

Let's finish off these foreign-owned horse butchering plants and send them
packing for good. Join me in pushing for more co-sponsors and swift passage
of H.R. 503/S. 311 in Congress!

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States