The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) is targeting three lawmakers it says were responsible for opening the way for horse slaughter to return to US soil: Representative Jack Kingston (GA) and Senators Herb Kohl (WI) and Roy Blunt (MO).
On a must pass bill, the three legislators, serving on a "tiny committee", removed the language that banned the use of taxpayer dollars to fund horse inspections, the EWA says.
The EWA says the action effectively legalized horse slaughter in the US without a debate in the full house and senate, where a straight vote would have failed.
The EWA has launched an ad campaign in major theaters running the "War Horse" film in the legislators' districts and also reached out to Montana and Wyoming to cover Senator Baucus and state Representative Sue Wallis, who it says have become the face of horse slaughter as well as Wallis' Representative Cynthia Lummis of WY.
Rep. Jack Kingston excused his action saying horses were “just like cows”.
If the funding move was designed to deal a death blow to the anti-slaughter movement it appears to have had the opposite effect. “We were able to raise the funding for the campaign and produce it in just two weeks”, explained Tobin.
The move has not been popular with Congress. Over 50 Congressmen and Senators signed on as cosponsors of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 2966 / S. 1176) after the language was removed.
John Holland, president of EWA stated “This is not the end. We want to send a message that if you betray our horses we will haunt you to the ends of the earth. We will continue to attack these individuals as long as we have resources and they are in office.”
When asked why the EWA was attacking Senator Kohl, given that he has announced he will not run for reelection, Holland said “We want his successor to have an example.”
EWA and equine advocates across the country are calling on President Obama to stand up against special interests as he promised and issue an immediate executive order to ban the slaughter and transport to slaughter of America’s domestic and wild horses.