In 2007 the last horse slaughter plant shut down in the US. The only reason there is no horse slaughter in the US is because every year horse slaughter plant inspections (USDA) are not funded by Congress, making it impossible to operate horse slaughter plants for the next year. What that essentially did was to increase the number of horses transported to slaughter plants outside the US, mainly in Mexico and Canada. And through them to other countries, for human consumption. Since 2006 bills have been proposed every year to ban the sale and transport of American horses for human consumption.
EVERY SINGLE YEAR a new version of what is known as the SAFE ACT has been proposed and EVERY SINGLE YEAR the bill dies in Committee. HR 1661, introduced on February 27 of last year, has 226 cosponsors and currently sits in the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, where it will most likely die again.
Why? Mainly because there are powerful lobbies that hope one day there will be horse slaughter plants in the US again. They are run by people who view horses as just another commodity to be exploited. People who keep herds of horses on reservations and sell off young horses specifically for slaughter. Breeders who breed large numbers of horses and use slaughter to cull the less-than-perfect offspring and keep just a few for their show and breeding programs. Racehorse owners who dump their horses if they aren't fast enough or stop winning. The Amish who use up their horses and get the last dollar they can at auction, where they end up in the slaughter pipeline. And ranchers, who view horses as being no different than cattle, and view wild horses and burros as competition for forage on public lands. These groups have a vested interest in keeping horse slaughter legal. If we end transport of horses to other countries for slaughter - making horse slaughter officially unacceptable - they know that it will be harder to make slaughter of horses in the US acceptable.
The public's view of horses is shifting. For the most part, horses are no longer utilitarian "beasts of burden", required for transport and producing crops. They are viewed more like companion animals - like dogs and cats, than livestock - like cattle. 80% of Americans oppose horse slaughter. If horses are considered companion animals, then slaughter for human consumption is off the table (literally). In fact, this year's bill just amends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, created to ban the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption, to include "equines" - horses, mules and donkeys. Click the link to learn more about H.R. 1661: SAFE Act of 2025, it's cosponsors, history and who is opposed and why.
The bill would outlaw the shipping, transporting, possessing, purchasing, selling or donating equines for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption. So even if the SAFE ACT by some miracle were to pass, will it actually keep America's horses from going to slaughter? In a word, no. First, just look at what is happening with our wild horses and burros.
Large numbers of horses and burros are being purchased from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) through the sale authority for $25 each, and then being sold, sometimes directly from adoption events, to known kill buyers. Even though the buyers have signed a contract with the BLM stating they will care for the animals and not knowingly sell them for slaughter "under penalty of prosecution for violating 18 U.S.C. 1001 (which makes it a federal crime to make false statements to any agency of the United States), that the animal will be provided humane care and the adopter/purchaser will not knowingly sell or transfer ownership to any person or organization that intends to resell, trade, or give away the animal for slaughter or processing into commercial products." Even people adopting horses through the BLM program, where they don't get title for a year, are selling them to know kill buyers, and some aren't even waiting to gain title before animals end up in kill pens. Wild horse advocates are catching some of these violators, but BLM has yet to act and charge anyone with a crime. All of this is pretty much happening in plain sight, with no repercussions, and hundreds of wild horses and burros are being shipped off to slaughter with the numbers accelerating at a rapid pace. What's worse, is BLM staff knows who is doing this, yet instead of prosecuting them and banning them from acquiring more animals, they continue to sell horses and burros to them. They are literally trying to unload as many horses and burros as they can in a very short period of time before (hopefully) someone stops them.
Here's the problem with the SAFE ACT. It has a GIANT loop hole. It only bans activities related to slaughter for human consumption. And given what is happening with BLM wild horses and burros, there's nothing keeping kill buyers from saying they are not buying/shipping horses for slaughter for human consumption, but then the horses are routed to another country for human consumption once they cross the border. Lastly, horses that are shipped to Mexico are often processed into ingredience for pet food and sold to pet food companies in the US. Better quality brands will list the animal source, such as "chicken by products", or "chicken meal". Any pet food that lists "animal by products", "animal meal", or "animal digest" as an ingredient most likely contains horse meat.
There are three things that must change to protect American horses from going to slaughter.
1. The Burns Amendment, that allows mustangs and burros that are over the age of 10 or have gone to three adoptions to be sold for $25 each, MUST be repealed immediately.
2. BLM MUST increase their adoption fee to at least match current slaughter prices. If the rate is 60 cents a pound, then the adoption fee should be adjusted to $600 for a 1,000 pound horse. This should be adjusted quarterly. The argument will be that no one will adopt if the fees are so high, but the reality is the adoption fee is just a small amount compared to what a legitimate home will spend over the horse's lifetime.
3. Lastly, pet food MUST be labeled as to the source of animal protein, no hiding behind a generic "animal" label, and horse meat should be banned as an ingredient in pet food. Most horses at some point are given drugs that don't have a safe known withdrawal period and are harmful to our pets. Until then, check pet food labels, refuse to by food that contains "animal" by products, meal or digest, then write to the pet food companies to tell them that you won't buy their products and why.
And of course, write your representatives, especially if they have not cosponsored HR 1661 yet, and especially if they sit on the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry and tell them to get it out of committee and to the floor for a vote. Remember, at least 80% of Americans oppose the slaughter of horses, so it's a no-brainer for most lawmakers.
The SAFE Act is a really good start, so let's get it passed and then close those loop holes.
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