Activists rally in Peoria against horse slaughter
May 6, 2004
Peoria Journal Star
By Elaine Hopkins
PEORIA - Two activist groups stopped by Peoria on Wednesday to push for bills pending in the Illinois General Assembly and U.S. Congress that would ban horse slaughter for human consumption.
At a news conference, representatives from SHARK (Showing Animals Respect & Kindness) and the Humane Political Action Committee termed horse slaughterhouses inhumane for companion animals such as horses. Foreign owners of a DeKalb horse slaughterhouse that burned two years want to rebuild, said SHARK activist Steve Hindi. That could make it the only horse slaughterhouse in the U.S., he said, because two in Texas are in legal jeopardy. The meat would be shipped to Europe.
"Will Illinois become the horse-killing capital of the U.S.?" Hindi asked.
The activists showed a graphic video of a horse slaughterhouse in Nebraska that has since closed.
The same machinery and procedures would be used in DeKalb, they said.
An alternative for horses that must be euthanized is an injection in a familiar setting before the animal is sent to a rendering company.
Illinois law defines horses as companion animals, similar to dogs and cats, said Robert Nixon of Humane PAC. "The next step, if you're talking about money, is cats and dogs" slaughtered and sent to Asia for food, he said.
For more information, go to www.horsekillers.com
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