A very good article.

MOUNTAIN VIEWS: BILL TO END SLAUGHTER OF AMERICAN HORSES HAS A FEW HURDLES
TO JUMP

By John Hanchette

OLEAN -- With the dramatic capture and extensive news coverage of longtime
regional fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips on Friday, those readers among you
who've been following the horse slaughter controversy on these pages may
have missed a big development.

Just before the weekend, the House of Representatives voted to ban the
slaughter of horses for human consumption. If the American Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act gets through the unpredictable Senate, and President George
Bush signs it into law, it would probably shut down the three foreign-owned
and much-criticized horse abattoirs in the United States -- two in Texas and
one in Illinois. More than 90,000 U.S. horses annually -- from pets to plugs
to racers to draft to show stock to cow-chasers -- were killed in the trio
of plants in recent years.

( Read more... )