More than 80% of United States citizens are opposed to equine slaughter. Yet, when legislation is proposed to end this gruesome practice, it takes just a few lawmakers acting heartlessly to stop such bills. We must understand how and why this happens to find ways to end this.

When a bill is introduced into a legislature, it is first assigned to a committee deemed appropriate for the subject of the bill. Not surprisingly, bills are often dropped into environments with legislators openly hostile to their success. An animal welfare bill assigned to an agriculture committee has problems that begin there.

Such a case happened last month in Colorado’s legislature. Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis introduced a bill into the Colorado Senate to stop transporting horses out of state to slaughter. It would also have effectively prohibited the operator of Colorado's active "kill pen" Fabrizius Livestock, from selling horses to kill buyers. Jason Fabrizious said that if the bill passed, he would have to move his operation to a different state.

SB23-038 was assigned to the state Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, which is stacked 4-3 in favor of ranching interests. A public hearing was held where many, including In Defense of Animals, supplied fact-filled testimony regarding the horrors of equine slaughter. We also provided a veterinary research article and detailed the unscrupulous practices of kill buyers. We debunked the lies about equine slaughter being "humane euthanasia" with graphic truths.

The public testimony was overwhelmingly in favor of the bill. After testimonies, the pro-horse slaughter members of the committee snuck in an amendment that totally changed the bill's intent. Amendment L.007 completely removed anti-slaughter language and inserted transportation language. This ineffective version of the bill passed in committee and moved on to the whole state Senate.

On the Senate floor, Sen. Jaquez Lewis was able to reject the version of the bill that the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee passed. She then successfully passed a new amendment that restored the original intent to stop the sales to slaughter. 

At this point, the pro-slaughter committee members introduced yet another amendment to kill the bill entirely. They argued that passing a bill different from the one moved forward out of committee would set a dangerous precedent. The bill was voted down on this argument.   

If you might like to contact these four committee members who first totally changed the bill to eliminate the anti-slaughter provisions, and then voted to kill the bill entirely after it was returned to its original intent to prohibit equine slaughter, here is their information:

• Byron Pelton; Capitol ph: 303-866-6360; email: byron.pelton.senate@coleg.gov
• Rod Pelton; Capitol ph: 303-866-4884; email: rod.pelton.senate@coleg.gov
• Cleave Simpson; Capitol ph: 303-866-4875; email: cleave.simpson.senate@coleg.gov
• Dylan Roberts (Committee Chair who allowed this all to happen); Capitol ph: 303-866-4871; email: dylan.roberts.senate@coleg.gov

Please be polite, but you might wish to say something like 

“It is disgraceful that you killed SB23-038, to prohibit the sale of equines to slaughter for human consumption. The vast majority of people in Colorado, and the United States as a whole oppose equine slaughter and you knew that if the bill made it to the full state assembly intact, it would pass easily.  Your special-interests votes and actions in favor of people and businesses that benefit from horse slaughter do not reflect the majority of Coloradans and you should not have killed that bill.”

It is disgraceful that a handful of special-interest legislators can kill a bill that the vast majority of citizens want. Please help us keep up the fight for equines, both wild and domestic. 

Find ways to help by visiting our Wild Horses campaign.