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Equine Protection Network Launches National Billboard Campaign
Save America's Horses!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 15, 2003

Equine Protection Network
P.O. Box 232, Friedensburg, PA 17933
Ph & Fax : 570-345-6440
Contact: Christine Berry


Equine Protection Network Launches National Billboard Campaign

Save America's Horses

Friedensburg, PA �?On October 15, 2003 the Equine Protection Network
(EPN) kicked off a national horse slaughter awareness campaign in
both Pennsylvania,Illinois,Indiana with billboards
proclaiming, "Keep America's Horses in the Stable and off the
Table!" The EPN also has launched a new website,
SaveAmericasHorses.com to educate Americans about horse slaughter
and to tell Americans how they can Save America's Horses from
becoming an expensive steak dinner for the French, Belgians, and
Japanese.


"Research polls show that most Americans are not aware that horses
are slaughtered for people to eat, but if given the chance they
would overwhelmingly vote to outlaw horse slaughter", states
Christine Berry, founder of the Equine Protection Network, a
Schuylkill County, PA based horse welfare organization. "It is our
intent to raise awareness of horse slaughter through our billboard
campaign. There are horses going to slaughter right now that could
have been saved simply if their owners made the responsible decision
to humanely euthanise them instead of selling or giving away their
unwanted horse," says Berry. The issue is one of culture, not animal
rights (as Americans do not eat horsemeat), but no horse is immune
from the horrors of the collection, transport, and actual slaughter;
this was demonstrated by the fate of 1986 Kentucky Derby winner
Ferdinand, who faced the ultimate betrayal in a Japanese
slaughterhouse in 2002.


Since 1980 over 4 million American companion and wild horses have
been cruelly slaughtered to meet the gourmet demand for horsemeat
that sells for $15.00 a pound in France, Belgium and Japan. In 2003,
35,000 horses have been slaughtered in the two remaining U.S. horse
slaughterhouses (located in Texas) with thousands more exported to
Canada for slaughter. Cavel (a slaughter house destroyed by fire in
2002) is in the process of rebuilding in DeKalb, Illinois; in 1999
citizen groups in McHenry County, IL Just Said Neigh to Cavel's
plans to relocate to Big Foot, IL.


In February 2003, John Sweeney (R-NY) introduced legislation to
prohibit the slaughter of American horses for human consumption.
H.R. 857 currently has 94 co-sponsors (five from PA. and six from
IL.) but has languished in the House Subcommittee on Trade since
March. "As drafted, H.R. 857 is a good bill worthy of our support,"
states Berry, "but we all know what can happen when a bill gets to
committee, as demonstrated by the infamous Commercial Transportation
of Horses to Slaughter Act of 1996. This resulted in the
legalization of every inhumane practice identified in the transport
of horses to slaughter, and put the very people identified as the
abusers in charge of the horses! The fox is guarding the hen house,
and the final regulations are nothing more than a paper tiger."


The Commercial Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Act was
supported both by animal welfare organizations, who were willing to
regulate inhumane transport instead of securing an outright
prohibition, and by pro-slaughter horse industry organizations
intent on slaughtering American horses. The final regulations fly in
the face of every accepted horse industry transport method for
horses yet at the time, animal welfare organizations claimed it as a
victory. "We cannot entrust the future of our beloved horses into
the hands of animal welfare organizations who have demonstrated
their willingness to regulate the very practice that we are
attempting to end. Our goal is to end the slaughter of America's
horses, not regulate it", emphasizes Berry.


HoofPAC is the political action committee founded by Cathleen Doyle,
who led the successful Save The Horses campaign in California in
1998 that resulted in the passage of Proposition 6 making it a
felony to slaughter a California horse. According to HoofPAC, "To
date the effort to ban horse slaughter has been limited to an
unorganized collection of satellite rescue groups and individuals
with no real strategy in place to achieve its goal. It is important
that we never lose sight that rescue without advocacy will not
change people's thinking, set social policy, pass laws or abolish
equine cruelty."


Pennsylvania and New York have the strongest laws in the United
States, banning the use of the inhumane double deck cattle trailers
to transport any horse no matter what its final destination. PA
passed the Horse Transport Law in 2001 under then Governor Tom Ridge
while New York's law has been in effect since 1980, with amendments
in 1998 and 2002 that closed two loopholes and raised the fines. EPN
was there, helping to create and then amend this legislation; we
have testified at both legislative and criminal hearings. EPN has
been on the front lines; we have a proven track record. But we are
not a lobbying group nor are we a rescue organization—we are people
dedicated to horse welfare; we invest our time and your money where
it is needed, not in one specific area.

You can stop the slaughter of America's horses-- you can join EPN's
national billboard campaign and bring a Save America's Horses
billboard to your area by making a tax-deductible donation to the
EPN National Billboard Campaign.


###


Join the Campaign to Save America's Horses

You can be part of the Equine Protection Network's national Save
America's Horses billboard campaign by sending a tax deductible
donation of $500.00 that will allow us to place our billboard near
you!

Donations of less than $500.00 are accepted and will be combined
towards a billboard.

Send your donation marked "Billboard Campaign" to:

Equine Protection Network, Inc.,
P. O. Box 232, Friedensburg, PA, 17933Phone and Fax : 570-345-6440




Equine Protection Network
www.equineprotectionnetwork.com

Let's End Horse Slaughter Now!
www.HOOFPAC.com

Net Posse
www.netposse.com
Stolen/Missing/Recovered Horses by State