Bill urges permanent horse slaughter export ban

WLJ Jul. 02, 2026 1 minute read 7 comments

Bill urges permanent horse slaughter export ban — Pictured here

Following the suspension of live horse exports to Mexico to help combat New World screwworm outbreaks, a coalition of lawmakers is now calling for permanent protections to ban the export of horses for slaughter.

“There is broad opposition among Americans to horse slaughter, and ending this export pipeline would align federal policy with those views while advancing animal welfare,” read a letter to President Donald Trump led by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL-16) and signed by 16 other Republican lawmakers. “A permanent ban on the export of American horses for slaughter would help protect horses from cruelty, strengthen our defenses against New World Screwworm and uphold American values.”

Buchanan introduced the Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act earlier last year, which would ban the transportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM).

Share this article

Join the Discussion

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

7 Comments

virginia apel
July 7, 2026
Wow! First time I've ever agreed with Lindsey Graham. Good boy! How can we help?
Reply to virginia apel
Joyce R Eikenberry
July 8, 2026
So then, what do we do with the excess horses? I believe funding for the USDA inspectors at horse slaughter plants be restored instead. The process would be overseen by humane officials just as are in slaughterhouses for beef, pork, and lamb. The horses would be spared the ride to Mexico in overcrowded livestock trucks, and further spared the blatant cruelty of the killers in Mexico. They do not have the conscience that we do.There used to be a horse slaughter plant in Marion, Ohio, where I lived in the 1970s. The horses had alfalfa hay free choice, and fresh clean water. They were content. When their time came, each one was correctly shot with a .22 rifle. I got to tour the plant when processing was in progress. Not one horse suffered. The bleeding hearts would like us to think some horses are hung by a hind leg still alive. The fact is, the tremors -- totally natural.
Reply to Joyce R Eikenberry
1. Rebecca Medlock
  July 8, 2026
  If you have seen the slaughter of horses. It is cruel I hightly recommend watch No Country for Horses or The Long Trail Home which focuses on the slaughter pipeline. In a slaughterhouse the stunning chute or stunning box is not set up for horses. Most times the horses are not knocked unconscious. If not they try again with mechanics nail. If does not work again. The horse remains on the chat. The horse is strung up alive and throat is slit and they bleed out while conscious. Alot horses are pregnant or ill, underweight or have medicines in their system. These chemicals can be harmful to humans. For this reason horses are held in dry lots for 6 months. Horse slaughter is cruel and inhumane. It needs to be banned and shipping American horses for slaughter needs to banned premittly by federal law. Please, Watch these movies the show first hand. The horse slaughter pipeline and the actual slaughter in Canada. It will open your eyes.
  Reply to Rebecca Medlock
Ma La
July 8, 2026
The horse slaughter pipeline must end. It is not the will of the America people that it continues! There has to be a more humane way to deal with this. And it is not slaughter!!! Unless a horse, or any animal, is deemed too sick or injured & no medical support will help. They otherwise should be given every chance at a good life. People give so much money at auctions to save horses, that this has become big business & it only saves a fraction of those horses. That money would be much more humanely used if it went to finding appropriate Adopters, Rescues &/or Sanctuaries!!!
Reply to Ma La
PK Shader
July 8, 2026
Just leave OUR (the peoples) horses alone to live in peace so our next generations and the ones after them can enjoy the wonder of our national heritage.
Reply to PK Shader
Connie Myers
July 8, 2026
Stop horse slaughter and consumption.
Reply to Connie Myers
Kelly Emerson Emerson
July 9, 2026
Please stop this madness. Most equine are treated like companion animals. They get loved on, handled daily , dressed in various attire, regular hoof and vet care and then they are loaded up and shipped very I humanely to facilities that routinely paralyze them before slitting throats. These animals are terrorized and then slaughtered. We can do better.
Reply to Kelly Emerson Emerson