Proposed bill aims to end slaughter, human consumption of Colorado's wild horses

Americans' tax dollars ultimately fund the slaughter and human consumption of some wild horses from Colorado, advocates say. But a bill up for debate this legislative session in Colorado is aiming to put an end to that. 

The government program meant to manage wild mustangs in the American west has faced significant controversy. Federal tax dollars pay for the animals to be rounded up and removed from the wild, so the land they're designated to roam isn't overrun, and can be shared with local ranchers.

Once the horses are removed from the wild, they end up in holding facilities. From there, they are adopted out, and many go to loving homes. But many others, advocates have found, are going to auctions where they're sold to be shipped to Canada or Mexico for slaughter and human consumption.

"The horse slaughter process is inherently very cruel," said Roland Halpern with Colorado Voters for Animals. "Unlike a cow that has a shorter neck, horses have a long neck, they're very skittish by nature, and when they get into a killing facility, they try and escape, they thrash, they get injured, and it's very hard to render them unconscious. In some cases, it takes up to 11 attempts to stun a horse before it can be slaughtered, and a lot of them are dismembered, while they're still alive."

Halpern is pushing for Senate Bill 23-038, a bill that would close the horse slaughter loophole in Colorado and prevent wild and domestic horses alike from ending up in the slaughter pipeline. 

Even though it's illegal to slaughter horses in the U.S., it's not illegal to ship them out of the country for that reason.  

"Can we condone people making money off of animal cruelty? We've already said you can't do that in the United States, so why should we say it's okay to ship it somewhere else?" Halpern asked. 

So far, Halpern says only four other states have similar legislation. 

Groups previously opposed to similar proposed legislations have said laws like these don't address what to do with unwanted horses, thus, they could actually negatively impact the welfare of unwanted horses, and increase their numbers.

"The horse is the symbol of the west, and we need to preserve that," Halpern countered. "It's just really compassion, and really just saying, 'I wouldn't do this to my dog, I wouldn't do this to my cat, why should we do to a horse?'"

Further, a study published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research stated, "if the United States is unable to put in place a regulatory program to remove horses administered banned drugs as exists for all food-producing animals, the exportation of American horses across both borders for the sole purpose of slaughter for human consumption must end."

The American Wild Horse Campaign issued the following statement about the proposed legislation:

"The American Wild Horse Campaign supports efforts by Colorado lawmakers to ban the slaughter of wild and domestic horses for human consumption. Too many loopholes exist that create an inhumane, unjust, sinister system where horses are trafficked, even in Colorado, and exported to Canada and Mexico for human consumption in foreign markets. This practice flies in the face of the over 80 percent of Americans who oppose horse slaughter.

We applaud the bill sponsors for positioning Colorado as a leader to reform this cruel and outdated way of treating horses when humane approaches to wild horse management exist and when most Coloradans revere these animals as majestic symbols of the West." 

The bill was scheduled to be debated in a senate committee hearing Thursday afternoon, but Halpern says the hearing has been postponed to an undetermined date to work out a few more details of the bill. 

Wild horse advocates say another bill is also in the works that would enhance opportunities and management of wild horses in Colorado, but details on that are also still in the works.