By Kevin Murphy KANSAS MEGALOPOLIS, Mo., July 11 (Reuters) — A town in Missouri is trying to be the first of distinct in the United States to get a fresh plant to slaughter horses, immediately that Congress has overruled animal rights groups to allow the killing for the first age in five years. U.S. slaughter of horses finished in 2007 when Congress, at the urging of animal rights groups, halted funding to inspect processing plants. The unintended result was thousands of horses abandoned or neglected, and much more enduring hundreds of miles of travel to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. After a administration report at the end year detailed the abuses of horses, Congress restored inspection money to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for this year. “Human beings are giving away horses every day since they can’t sell them,” said Wayne White, president of the Missouri Equine Council. “All the rescue places are over-populated.” Horse meat is sold for human consumption in China, Russia, Mexico and other foreign countries, according to Unified Equine, a Wyoming corporation proposing to open a horse-slaughter plant in Rockville, Missouri. Horse meat is also used for zoo animals. The proposed plant, at a facility previously used for cattle processing in Rockville, has strong support in the community. However animal rights advocates have not given up the fight. “Americans are revolted by horse slaughter, it’s cruelty they just don’t desire to support,” said Lindsay Rajt of the Human beings for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In a report at the end year, the Administration Accountability Office documented an increase in horse neglect and abuse since slaughtering finished and found that by 2010 nearly 138,000 horses were being sent annually to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. Unified Equine hopes to open its slaughtering plant in Rockville in September, followed by one in Hermiston, Oregon. Another corporation, Valley Meats, intends to open a plant in Roswell, Fresh Mexico. The Missouri and Fresh Mexico plants both requested U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections, according to the agency’s Aliment Safety and Inspection Supply. However “a significant amount of age” will be required to update inspection procedures, the supply said in a statement on Wednesday. Much though Congress restored funding, the appropriations committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, which allocates how money is spent, again withdrew money for horse slaughter inspections in the fiscal 2013 budget. The proposal still would have to be approved by the complete House and Senate. Equine chief executive Sue Wallis said she has heard of human beings in 18 states and distinct Native American tribal areas exploring horse slaughter plants. Residents of Rockville, a town of about 150 human beings 100 miles south of Kansas Megalopolis, turned outside in energy at a meeting at the end month to support the fresh plant, said Mayor Dave Moore. “I don’t know of anyone (in town) who is not for it,” said Dennis Heiman, operator of a grain elevator that has been Rockville’s largest employer since 60 jobs were lost with the closing of the beef plant two years ago. The horse plant is expected to constitute 50 jobs. Owners of rescue ranches see the difficulty of neglected and abused horses first-palm. The Changing Leads Equine Rescue ranch just outside Kansas Megalopolis, Missouri, is at its capacity of eight unwanted horses, said Tina Weidmaier, president of the all-volunteer organization. Joe Black, a draft horse, was 700 pounds underweight by the age it was rescued from a pasture at the end August, Weidmaier said. Its owners went to Florida and left it alone to graze for nearly a year, she said. He is back to his healthy weight however has a chewing disorder, she said. Many human beings abandon or seek to give away their horses since of the cost, said Ericka Caslin, director of the Unwanted Horse Coalition. A horse costs an average of about $2,600 annually to feed and board, not counting veterinary bills, she said. There are an estimated 170,000 unwanted horses in the United States, Caslin said, yet her collection has no position on slaughtering plants. Neither does its parent collection, the American Horse Council in Washington nor do some rescue ranches, such as Changing Leads. “We’d rather focus on the difficulty than on everyone else’s solution,” Weidmaier said. Animal rights advocate Rajt said the number of unwanted horses going to slaughter is fueled by racehorse or rodeo breeders who dispose of dozens of animals not deemed “the following huge winner.” Horse slaughter and the shipping of horses to Mexico and Canada should be banned since it is cruel, she said. However Wallis of Unified Equity said banning horse slaughter or shipment for slaughter would place well over 100,000 more horses per year at risk of abandonment, abuse and a slow death. “It’s dense to imagine the magnitude of that,” Wallis of Equine said. “It would be an unmitigated disaster.” (Editing by Greg McCune and Jackie Frank)Glance at More…
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Hope this town goes ROTTEN!!