[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6969]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petition or memorial was laid before the Senate and was 
referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-98. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Senate of 
     the Legislature of the State of Missouri relative to urging 
     the Untied States Congress to strongly support the 
     continuation of horse processing in the United States and to 
     offer incentives that help create horse processing plants 
     throughout the United States; to the Committee on 
     Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

                   Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 8

       Whereas, horse processing is the most tightly regulated of 
     any animal harvest, and the horse is the only animal that has 
     its transportation to processing regulated. If horse 
     processing plants are forced to close and export options are 
     eliminated, the Horse Welfare Coalition estimates that 90,000 
     to 100,000 unwanted horses annually would be exposed to 
     potential abandonment and neglect; and
       Whereas, the 90,000 to 100,000 additional unwanted horses 
     each year would compete for adoption with the 32,000 wild 
     horses that United States taxpayers are already paying $40 
     million to shelter and feed; and
       Whereas, the nation's inadequate, overburdened, and 
     unregulated horse rescue and adoption facilities cannot 
     handle the influx of the approximately 60,000 or more 
     additional horses each year that would result from a 
     harvesting ban, according to the Congressional Research 
     Service; and
       Whereas, many zoo animal diets rely on equine protein 
     because it mimics what the animal would receive in the wild. 
     Veterinarians and animal nutritionists say it is the 
     healthiest diet for big cats and rare birds. If legislation 
     shuts down horse processing facilities, the only source for 
     this meat that is inspected by the U.S. Department of 
     Agriculture (USDA) will be eliminated: Now therefore be it
       Resolved, That the members of the Missouri Senate, Ninety-
     fifth General Assembly, First Regular Session, the House of 
     Representatives concurring therein, hereby urge the United 
     States Congress to strongly support the continuation of horse 
     processing in the United States and to offer incentives that 
     help create horse processing plants throughout the United 
     States, such as state-inspected horse harvest for export; and 
     be it further
       Resolved, That the members of the Missouri General Assembly 
     strongly encourage Congress to support new horse processing 
     facilities and the continuation of existing facilities on 
     both the state and national level; and be it further
       Resolved, That the members of the Missouri General Assembly 
     urge Congress to oppose any legislation introduced in the 
     111th Congress that would restrict the transportation and 
     processing of horses in the United States and 
     internationally; and be it further
       Resolved, That the members of the Missouri General Assembly 
     support the location of USDA-approved horse processing 
     facilities on state, tribal, or private lands under mutually-
     acceptable and market-driven land leases and, if necessary, a 
     mutually-acceptable assignment of revenues that meet the 
     needs of all parties involved with the facility; and be it 
     further
       Resolved, That the Secretary of the Missouri Senate be 
     instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this 
     resolution for the President of the United States Senate, the 
     Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the 
     members of the Missouri Congressional delegation.

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