Story by Vicki Tobin ~ VP of Equine Welfare Alliance
Dribble from Darkside Does Not Daunt Public
CHICAGO, (EWA) – In a spate of national polls targeting Congress, support for ending horse slaughter is holding steady on Popvox in the mid to upper 70 percentile with 79 percent favoring a slaughter ban on the house bill and 76 percent opposing slaughter on the senate bill. The results continue a decade long trend against the killing of horses for human consumption even though slaughter proponents had a significant head start on the poll and on legislative monitor sites. In poll after poll numbers have held steady in the 70 percentile range.A bill to ban double decker trailers for horse transport has 84 percent support on Popvox. transport of horses in the trailers designed for cattle which are shorter than equines. Such transport is deemed cruel by advocates of more humane treatment.
White House Petitions that requires 5,000 signatures by the end of October has the opposition to horse slaughter in the lead by 1,842 signees. The anomaly is one petition on Petition2Congress that is favoring horse slaughter by 454 signees but could be due to an ill-informed equine advocate that was asking supporters of a ban to sign the opposing petition but to comment against slaughter. I do not know how many advocates signed that petition not realizing they were only taking up the opposition’s numbers. Since every other poll or monitor reveals a significant lead against horse slaughter, we can only assume that the numbers are skewed by the error.
A bill to amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 is opposed by 79 percent of Americans on Popvox. This bill was introduced by Cynthia Lummis (R) WY and would basically make a tragic mismanagement policy permanent and immune to review. This is the bill that provides grazing rights at far below the cost to manage the program and is a government handout to special interests.
Also on the White House site is a petition to reinstate protections for America’s wild horses and burros that has 2,717 signees of the 5,000 required. I am not aware of an opposing petition.
For those monitoring the polls, the numbers are changing constantly but the general trends remain unchanged.
Story can also be viewed on Horseback Magazine
