Stop This Trojan Horse Of A Bill!

By Patti Strand, National Director, National Animal Interest Alliance

PORTLAND, OR -- Another Trojan Horse is trying to sneak through Congress:  a superficially attractive bill that secretly contains the makings of a catastrophe.

HR 503 and S 1915, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, purports to protect horse welfare. In fact, animal experts, animal lovers, and America’s largest veterinary association oppose this bill for the same reason that nobody wants to shut down animal shelters’ euthanasia of sick, old and unwanted cats and dogs.

• Without today’s humane, veterinary-supervised, federally regulated process for horse euthanasia and processing, some 90,000 American horses per year could be abandoned to starve or condemned to less humane slaughterhouses in foreign countries.

• Under HR 503 and S 1915, American horse owners -- overwhelmingly working-class and middle-class -- would have no economical way to put down sick or aged animals.

• Many owners would have to abandon the lifestyle -- which is one hidden agenda of the so-called animal “rights” groups behind this pernicious bill.

Congress must reject HR 503 and S 1915, now slated for a Sept. 7 vote.

Most nationally recognized animal health and welfare organizations oppose HR 503. Among them: the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the American Quarter Horse Association (America’s largest horse group), and nearly 200 more.

Pushing this Trojan Horse of a bill are PETA, the Humane Society of the United States, and a few misguided celebrities.

Americans should know the vast majority of animal “rights” groups don’t operate animal shelters or carry out rescue operations.  The misleadingly-named Humane Society does not operate local shelters, either.

Instead, such groups squander huge percentages of YOUR donations on more fundraising.

The HSUS, in fact, is currently under investigation by the state Attorney General of Louisiana. He’s demanding to know how HSUS spent $30 million it raised under the banner of post-Katrina animal rescue.

HR 503 and S 1915 is just the latest in a long line of animal “rights” bamboozles. The Trojan Horse game always boils down to this six-stage propaganda strategy:

(1) Choose a sympathetic animal “victim.” One year it’s dolphins; the next year chickens; this year it’s horses.

(2) Select a controversial issue that can raise tens of millions from people whose hearts are in the right place, but who normally don’t look much beyond the headlines.

(3) Flood the media with horrifying photos. So what if these images of animal mistreatment have zero relationship to the issue? If it’s sufficiently shocking, dollars start flooding in.  (Often, these propaganda images are staged, or are shot in other countries with totally different animal regulations, or simply are decades old.)

(4) Trot out so-called “experts” who don’t own, use, or even particularly like animals. According to former Rep. Charlie Stenholm, one-time chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee, a leading support group behind HR 503 and S 1915 consists of “someone with deep pockets who has never stepped foot inside a horse processing facility, yet purports to be an expert to influence public opinion.” Unfortunately, that’s typical.

(5) Pour gasoline on the fire by playing the "exotic diets of other cultures" card.

(6) Finally, seek to pressure Congress or state legislatures to pass an ill-considered bill that often has little to do with the sensationally publicized aspects of the propaganda campaign. Or, a bill that would actually make the problem worse.  Or even a bill that, like HR 503 and S 1915, would create a problem where none currently exists.

It’s cynical. It’s formulaic. But in far too many cases, these Trojan Horse tactics succeed…and the animal “rights” crowd skips happily on to cash in on the next “compassion” snare.

After Congress sends HR 503 and S 1915 to well-deserved oblivion, perhaps it should investigate deceptive advertising practices by so-called “non-profit” fundraising machines.

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