Last week’s Kentucky Derby was occasion for several newspapers to publish opinion pieces about horse slaughter. The Toronto Star writes that in 2007, almost $70 million worth of horsemeat was shipped from Canada to countries such as France, Japan and Switzerland, an increase of 20 percent over 2006. Numerous Toronto restaurants offer horsemeat on the menu – from horses raised like cattle in Quebec. With no slaughterhouses in the U.S., horses are now being shipped across the border to Canada and Mexico.

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation noted, in a press release about the state’s new “Ohio’s Horse” license plate (meant to raise money for equine education, assistance and rescue) that affordable, accessible and humane ways to dispose of unwanted horses in Ohio is lacking. Federal legislation banning slaughter for human consumption has left 80,000 to 100,000 horses nationwide in neglectful situations or being transported to antiquated slaughter facilities in Mexico.

In Illinois, members of the Horsemen’s Council, the American Association of Equine Practitioners, breed groups such as the AQHA, APHA and the Palomino Breeders Association of America filed an amicus brief on April 16 opposing Illinois House Bill 1711, writing, “[the bill] on its face appears to promote the welfare of horses by banning their slaughter for human consumption, but Amici …know that quite the opposite is true. …They recognize as a practical matter that for horse owners who are not willing or able to provide proper care for a horse, ending that life under humane and regulated conditions is preferable to suffering, inadequate care or abandonment.”