[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E60]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           A LIVING SYMBOL OF AMERICA MUST NOT BE SLAUGHTERED

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to 
restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild 
free-roaming horses and burros.
  My legislation is necessary because of 36 lines that were hidden away 
in the recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act that overturned 
more than 30 years of national policy on the protection and management 
of wild free-roaming horses and burros. This backdoor legislative 
maneuver, enacted without public notice, will make these animals 
available to the highest bidder for processing into commercial 
products.
  We need to stop this senseless and inhumane policy change before it 
can be carried out.
  This body needs to be reminded of the public outcry, much of it from 
the voices of children across the United States, that sparked Congress 
in 1971 to pass the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (Public Law 
92-195). That law established as national policy ``that wild free-
roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, 
harassment, and death; and to accomplish this they are considered in 
the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural 
system of the public lands.'' Just as importantly, the law directed 
that ``no wild free-roaming horse or burros or its remains may be sold 
or transferred for consideration for processing into commercial 
products.''
  It has been illegal for the past 33 years to sell or transfer wild 
horses and burros for processing into commercial products because many 
Americans abhor the thought. They would be aghast to know that these 
animals now can and will be slaughtered so their meat can be offered on 
menus in France, Belgium and Japan.
  The 1971 Act directed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the 
Forest Service to enforce the law on public lands. Unfortunately, these 
agencies, especially the BLM, have not lived up to the task. Reports of 
the Government Accountability Office and the Inspector General, as well 
as newspaper exposes, have outlined numerous instances where the BLM 
has failed to properly manage these animals.
  Instead of addressing these long-term and widespread management 
problems, we have just seen the enactment of a quick and dirty fix. Now 
under the guise of ``managing'' these living symbols of the American 
West, the agency will be permitted to allow the slaughter of animals 
that they had been previously charged with protecting.

  What makes this slaughter provision all the more senseless is that 
humane alternatives exist and federal agencies have the authority to 
carry out such humane actions as adoption, sterilization, relocation, 
and placement with qualified individuals and organizations. To suggest 
that an acceptable solution to a federal agency's management 
shortcomings is commercial slaughter is an irresponsible approach to 
our public lands and the wildlife that roam them.
  A public outcry has again begun across the United States over the 
change in law that now allows the commercial sale and slaughter of wild 
free-roaming horses and burros. We need to act before it is too late 
for thousands of these animals. I am pleased to introduce my 
legislation today with my colleague from Kentucky Mr. Whitfield. I urge 
my other colleagues to support this bill so that we may have the prompt 
restoration of a just and humane policy for wild free-roaming horses 
and burros.

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