New York: Ban Horse Slaughter!

NY A. 5109-A/S. 2163-B—Prohibits Horse Slaughter for Human or Animal Consumption

ASPCA Position: Support

Sponsors: Assemblymember Glick, Senator Addabbo

Update—September 12, 2023: The fight to protect New York's horses isn't over yet! In June, the New York Legislature PASSED this bill, which prohibits the slaughter of horses for human or animal consumption. Help it cross the finish line, and urge Governor Hochul to sign it into law.

Thousands of American horses are trucked over our borders each year to slaughter facilities in Mexico and Canada. New York’s horses likely face an even greater risk because of our proximity to Canada. Equines can be purchased and moved out of the country for slaughter in a matter of hours because there is no state or federal prohibition on exporting American horses for slaughter.

Americans overwhelmingly oppose horse slaughter, and it is way past time to give horses the same protection against slaughter that we give cats and dogs. Passing this bill will give at-risk horses the chance to find humane care and loving homes.

Learn More

Horses are purchased by kill-buyers who hold contracts with foreign slaughterhouses. These horses could have found loving homes or been welcomed into equine rescue groups, but kill-buyers frequently intervene. Horses bound for slaughter (who may include pregnant mares, foals and horses who are injured or blind) are commonly and legally shipped for more than 24 hours at a time in crowded trucks without food, water or rest. The methods used to kill them at their final destinations do not uniformly provide quick, painless deaths.

Peer-reviewed data published in 2017 revealed that 2.3 million adults in the U.S. have both the desire and resources to adopt a horse, demonstrating that there were more than enough homes for the approximately 20,000 American horses who went over our borders to slaughter in 2022. Horses whose illness or age have severely diminished their quality of life deserve a humane passing provided by a veterinarian and should never be forced to endure days of travel without food or water and a horribly cruel death. The ASPCA has helped increase horse adoption and safety nets nationwide, but horses will continue to be at risk until horse slaughter is banned by law.

What You Can Do

Please use the form below to send a pre-drafted message to Governor Hochul, urging her to sign A. 5109-A/S. 2163-B into law.

Advocacy Alert

Your Message

Subject Please Sign A. 5109-A/S. 2163-B to Prohibit Horse Slaughter into Law!

Dear Governor Hochul,

Message

As a resident of New York and a supporter of equine welfare, I am writing to ask you to pleasesign A. 5109-A/S. 2163-B into law when it comes before your desk this year. This legislation will prohibit the practice of trafficking horses to slaughter for human consumption--a practice that an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose. Horse slaughter is a cruel, unnecessary and predatory industry that has no domestic market and interferes with legitimate equine industries. We should not let New York be part of the pipeline for the foreign horse slaughter industry. Your support is especially important!

There is no good reason to continue to enable horse slaughter. It is a brutal industry that involves terrible suffering for horses, it creates a safety risk as horses are not raised as food animals and are treated with products disallowed in our food system, and horse owners continue to live in fear of their own horses being stolen or fraudulently purchased by kill buyers.

Our state plays a critical role as a border state--we don’t want New York to be part of the funnel for exporting horses to slaughter, but horses continue to be exported from New York to Canada (and Mexico) for slaughter.

Once again, I ask that you please sign A. 5109-A/S. 2163-B into law this year to protect New York’s equines from this cruel industry.

Thank you for your time and consideration of my position.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]

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