S.1281, the Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2011

Two Layers of Unlucky Horses

S.1281, the Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2011 has been introduced by Illinois Senator, Mark Kirk.  This Republican Senator is standing behind eliminating the tortuous practice of loading horses bound for slaughter onto two tiered semi trailers. Currently the overhead clearances are between 4’7″ to 5’11″. A typical horse trailer starts at being 7′ high. The conditions horses travel to Canada or Mexico in these death traps is off the charts.

You may not like the idea of horses going to slaughter. And you may believe that whole practice must be stopped. Or worse you may hide from this reality because it is simply to hard to think about. I know I did for a long time. Ignorance is bliss my friends. I know it.

We have to step up and start dealing with these issues from the inside out. We may not support equine slaughter and rail hard against it – but what happens to the horses caught in that system right this very minute? The ones in those trailer right now?

Who else is going to speak for them? It is incumbent upon us to join Mr. Kirk in his quest to get the majority of Senators on board with this bill. Call yours today and say “Please support S.1281, The Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2011″. You know what else might be good to do? Contact Senator Kirk even if he isn’t your Senator, and thank him for this and offer your willingness to support even tougher restrictions. Maybe restrictions that would make it unfeasible or uneconomical to transport horses bound for slaughter anywhere.

Contact your senator here.