[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[Senate]
[Page 32176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                NOTICE OF INTENT TO OBJECT TO PROCEEDING

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I wish to notify the Senate of my intent to 
object to proceeding to S. 311, a bill to amend the Horse Protection 
Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, 
receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and 
other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other 
purposes.
  The bill would prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, 
delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of 
horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption. In 
short, it would further limit the already limited options for disposal 
of unwanted horses.
  An unwanted horse is one that has reached the useful end of its 
economic or recreational life. There are numerous reasons for the 
existence of unwanted horses, not the least of which are economic 
reasons such as loss of job, price of feed or stabling, relocation, 
poor health of the horse or its owner.
  It must be recognized that no one has adequately addressed the fate 
of the estimated 90,000 unwanted horses that were formerly slaughtered 
on an annual basis. Animal welfare groups and rescue organizations can 
only do so much to shoulder the load of aiding the adoption or care of 
these horses. They are currently stretched to capacity, and we expect 
an increase in need. As a result, we are witnessing a significant 
increase in abandonment and neglect of horses in this country. 
Particularly in the West, growing numbers of unwanted horses are being 
dumped on public or private rangelands.
  I believe that we should take the time to examine this growing issue 
of the unwanted horse before passing legislation that ties the hands of 
horse owners, public and private land managers, and others.

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