CO Bill to Give Tax Dollars to Promote Horse Slaughter

By Laura Allen, Animal Law Coalition

CO Bill to Give Tax Dollars to Promote Horse Slaughter Act Now!!
Under S.B. 139, legislators are considering a bill that would require the state tax return to contain a provision that would allow citizens to indicate they want taxpayer money to go to the Colorado Unwanted Horse Alliance to "assist in its efforts" to "find solutions" for "unwanted horses". The solution being the re-opening of U.S. slaughter houses.  A fund would be set up in the state treasury called the "Unwanted Horse Fund" where this money to be distributed to this private corporation would be collected.


Studies attached below have shown that stories about "abandoned and unwanted" horses are largely untrue, planted in the media by horse slaughter proponents that want people to believe this is because of the closure of U.S. slaughter houses. They have repeated the myth of the "abandoned and unwanted" horses over and over until people believe it.  In fact, slaughter is driven by a demand for horse meat generally as a delicacy in some other countries, not numbers of "abandoned and unwanted" horses in the U.S.  More than 92% of horses purchased and sent for slaughter are healthy, not abandoned, unwanted, starving or otherwise neglected. So it is not a service for "abandoned and unwanted horses"; it is a brutal enterprise that profits from animal cruelty.

Also, the salvage or secondary market for horses is created by over-breeding; slaughter enables over-breeding that results in what are more accurately described as "excess" horses, not "abandoned and starving" horses. Without slaughter, there would be less incentive for overbreeding and fewer "excess" horses.
The answer to any animals in need of care is not to line the pockets of a lucrative industry that would torture them and sell their meat as a delicacy for considerable profit.  However the Unwanted Horse Alliance may disguise itself, as a charitable, a public service, whatever, know that it is a front for pro-slaughter interests.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
This bill has already passed the Senate Agriculture Committee by a vote of 5-1. The bill is now in the Appropriations Committee. We must stop this nonsense and fraud on the taxpayers. This bill is set for hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee this Friday, March 5, 2010 at 7:30 a.m. in Senate Committee Room 356. Find committee members here (just click on their names for contact info) and write (faxes are best) or call and urge them to vote NO on S.B. 139!

 Go here or here to find a list of Colorado senators with contact information. Write (faxes or letters are best) or call and urge them to vote NO to S.B. 139! Don't wait. Do it now.
For more on other bills spreading the disinformation of the pro-slaughter lobbyists and how you can help defeat them.....

By Laura Allen, Animal Law Coalition,
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/horse-slaughter/article/1242