Agricultural News
Horse Slaughter Bills Pass Both the Oklahoma House and Senate- Stampeding HSUS Lobbying Efforts
Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:15:17 CST
Both the Oklahoma House and the Oklahoma Senate approved bills on Wednesday that would allow for the processing of horses in the state of Oklahoma, but would prohibit the sale of horsemeat for human consumption in the state.
The House measure, HB1999, authored by Representative Skye McNeil of Bristow- passed on the House floor Wednesday afternoon by a 82 to 14 vote. A similar measure that was authored by State Senator Mark Allen cleared that body by a 38 to 6 margin.
Both measures will now go to the other body for consideration.
Both the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association called on their members to push for passage in both bodies. Scott Dewald, the Executive Director of the OCA, warns that while the votes were strongly in favor of passage today- the Humane Society of the US is not giving up as of yet. Dewald told OCA members in an email alert on Wednesday evening that "We understand that animal activist organizations are ramping up their efforts to kill these two bills and we will need to watch extremely closely as these bills advance."
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network received a copy of the email sent out by the HSUS under the name of their President Wayne Pacelle. The communication to their supporters was simple- call lawmakers and demand a no vote. Pacelle said in their email "Horse slaughter is a far cry from humane euthanasia, and a ban on the abusive practice is favored by 80 percent of Americans. Horse slaughter plants have a history of environmental degradation, and a negative stigma for local communities that host them, including lower property values."
Late last week, we talked with Rep. Skye McNeil, who explained that while we had investors last summer interested in bringing a horse slaughter facility into the state- when they discovered the prohibition on the books within state law- they looked elsewhere and ended up in Missouri. There are no investors currently looking at such a facility within the state- but this readjustment of state law will help level the playing field for Oklahoma to compete for capital monies for just such a facility.
Click here for our earlier story with Skye McNeil to learn more about the attacks made on McNeil by the HSUS- and her perception that this is a battle that all of Oklahoma agriculture should be standing up for- and against the HSUS as they want to dictate animal agriculture's direction across the country.
In our Wednesday email- we also pointed out that the Governor, as of Monday evening of this week, remained neutral on this measure. We wrote in the email "after Governor Mary Fallin declared this week as Oklahoma Farm Bureau week- a group of reporters- including yours truly- talked briefly with her about drought issues and rural Oklahoma- and I also asked her about HB1999 and whether she supports it or not. She said no decision had been made for or against this measure- so supporters of this proposal have some work to do to make sure the Governor will sign the bill if it reaches her desk."
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