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American Horses Win Again
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Judge Once Again Denies Request by Cavel
Rockford, Ill. (July 13, 2007) - US District Court Judge Frederick Kapala ruled in favor of America’s horses when he denied a motion for an injunction brought by Cavel International in an emergency hearing. The DeKalb, Ill.-based horse slaughter plant was seeking permission to continue killing horses, pending an appeal in the Seventh US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Immediately following the passage in May of a new Illinois law that makes it a crime to slaughter horses for human consumption, Cavel had filed suit in federal court to challenge the mandate’s enforceability. In early June, Judge Kapala granted Cavel a temporary restraining order, preventing the state from prosecuting the slaughterhouse under the law. He subsequently extended that protection for 10 business days, then later denied Cavel’s request for additional time.
Judge Kapala today denied the plant’s motion from the bench, explaining that he did not believe Cavel has a likelihood of success in its appeal in the Seventh Circuit. The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) argued its position on the record as the only amicus curiae in attendance.
“We are pleased with this latest victory in Illinois,” said AWI Legal Associate Tracy Silverman. “No matter how long Cavel keeps pressing to continue slaughtering horses for human consumption, there is no denying that a permanent end to the cruel practice is on its way.”
AWI is being represented in this matter by the nationally renowned law firm of Patton Boggs.
The Animal Welfare Institute, founded in 1951, is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans. AWI’s legislative division, the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL), is leading the national campaign to end horse slaughter and advocating passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. For more information, please visit AWI and SAPL.
CONTACT:
Tracy Silverman, AWI (703) 836-4300
Chris Heyde, SAPL (703) 836-4300
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July 19th, 2007 at 5:50 am
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
7th Circuit Court Gives Cavel Injunction
Cavel International has been closed since district Court Judge Kapala ruled that Illinois could enforce its new law banning horse slaughter in June 2007. However, in a surprise action today by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the plant was given yet another injunction allowing the plant to reopen and continue the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The decision states “In light of the irreparable harm that will come to the plaintiffs if the motion is not granted, and a degree of novelty raised by the appeal, the motion is GRANTED”.
The members and staff of the AHDF are disappointed in this decision. “The novelty is that the Court of Appeals would ignore the will of the people,” says Shelley Sawhook, president of the American Horse Defense Fund. “The plant has been given a number of injunctions and opportunities to allow them to plead their case. They will be opening once again tomorrow under 2 separate injunction,” says Sawhook “While the appeal was not unexpected, the awarding of the injunction was very unexpected”.
Cavel International slaughters horses for human consumption overseas. The Illinois state legislature passed a law banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption in May of 2007, but the plant appealed the law as being unconstitutional. Federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars from being used to inspect the meat and Cavel would be operating under the injunction issued to force the federal government to pay for the inspections, not the fee-for-service plan the USDA implemented after the federal ban on funding was passed.
“Issues like these show why it is important for federal legislation to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption is so very important,” says Sawhook. However, the bills to protect horses from slaughter are stalled in the Senate (S 311) and House (HR 503). Last session HR 503 passed the House by an overwhelming majority, but went unheard in the Senate because of blocks by a few Senators. This session the same Senators have again, let it be known that they do not wish the bill to get floor time and even though it passed through committee it has not been scheduled for a vote. “It is time that our government not have legislation held up because one or two people oppose a bill,” Sawhook said “All bills deserve an up or down vote and these bills have been left pending for too long. Let’s have a vote on them, so we can all move forward”.
July 20th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Even if this DeKalb operation gets shut down, there will still be a market, so now the horses will have to endure a boat ride to England before they are slaughtered.
August 3rd, 2007 at 5:21 pm
With approximately 80,000 a horses a year going for slaughter, I am curious as to how Willie and Bo plan to provide for all of these horses in the coming years (80,000 horses x 5 years = 400,000 horses). I have been to the small local horse auctions in Jan. and Feb. when the grass and hay has run out and you can hang your hat on the horses hip bones of many that are coming through. Yes, most of these horses wind up in the killer pens as opposed to just starving and freezing to death out in an open field with no shelter.
I am from the St. Louis area, you probably heard about the killer truck that wrecked near Union, MO almost a year ago. Many of the horses were killed in the accident, 18 horses and 1 mule survived. The city public was outraged to learn that horses were acutual slaughtered for food and the media fed into the frenzy. The first week there were over 100 inquiries about adopting these poor creatures to save them from their fate. Go forward 1 year to now, care to guess how many of these horses have found loving homes and how many are still unadopted? 2 of the horses have been adopted and 17, plus a new foal are still at the Humane Society. Why is this? Could be that most of the horses on that truck were there for a reason-old, crippled, poorly trained, health problems or poor temperment. I am sure that many people have looked these animals over, but they don’t want them any more than the owners who sold them to the slaughter buyer wanted them. And how long do you think that all of these soft hearted people will contribute to the up keep of these unwanted animals?
By the way JimBob, my understanding is that there are plans to set up slaughter ships that will do the butchering on the way to Europe and Asia. Live horses get on, and processed carcasses are carried off with the waste being dumped in International waters. I guess that beach combers can look forward to having horse heads washing up on the beaches.