Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act (SAFE Act) Excluded from USDA Farm Bill

The U.S. House Agriculture Committee has just passed its highly anticipated farm bill, and the result is an absurd $1.5 trillion-dollar package that will be a disaster for animals.

Not only does the bill include language that will overturn states’ rights to set their own animal welfare standards, it also failed to include the SAFE Act, a crucial piece of legislation that would protect American horses from slaughter.

Although horse slaughter for human consumption is illegal in the United States, every year tens of thousands of horses are shipped across U.S. borders to be killed and eaten. No American horses are safe. The animals sent for slaughter include both wild and domestic horses, former racehorses, and former carriage horses. Horse meat buyers often outbid rescue organizations at auctions, and some companion horses have even been stolen from farms and sold to kill buyers.

Thankfully, a group of bipartisan legislators has been working to pass the Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act (SAFE Act) to end this cruel industry once and for all. This legislation was up for consideration in the farm bill and we need to make sure our representatives know that failing to pass the SAFE Act is unacceptable.

Eighty percent of Americans oppose the slaughter of horses for human consumption; therefore, Congress must not allow the final farm bill to pass without making sure our horses are protected once and for all.