He said that situation had increased the amount of travelling for the animals, which in itself was a welfare issue. “Even PETA think that lifting the US horse processing ban would be a good idea,” he told delegates to the World Meat Congress in Paris.
He said the US abided by the process of majority rule, and the horse ban was voted in by majority rule, so he accepted that decision. However, he warned against allowing the minority to influence the majority. “Those folks who have a different view on animal rights also have a different view on biotechnology and fossil fuels. However, the world cannot be fed without biotechnology, and those who object to that do so at their own risk.
“We need to learn the lessons from the US horse industry; if you don’t tackle those issues, the same will happen to beef, pork and poultry.”
Charlie Stenholm, a former representative for Texas, said the US horse processing sector used to slaughter around 9.2m horses a year and provided 400,000 jobs, and he said the ban on horse slaughter had simply led to the loss of that business, with the horses simply being exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter.
