February 3, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
John Holland
540-268-5693
Vicki Tobin
630.961.9292
Poll finds big Ag horse slaughter promotion has backfired
Chicago (EWA) - A
poll conducted in January by Lake Research Partners for the American
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) found that 80%
of Americans are strongly opposed to horse slaughter. The highly
respected research group based its survey on 1,008 voters giving the
results a 3% margin of error. The poll found opposition was consistent
across all sectors, including horse owners.
The
findings are all the more remarkable given the huge media effort that
was mounted by the horse slaughter lobby following the closing of U.S.
based horse slaughter plants in 2007.
While
the effort appeared to have worked on Congress, causing them to restore
funding for horse slaughter inspections, it had the opposite effect on
voter opinion. A similar poll performed a decade earlier indicates that
opposition to horse slaughter has increased by almost 10%.
The
slaughter lobby, supported by some of the most powerful agriculture
groups in the country including the Farm Bureau, the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), the Pork Producers Council (PPC),
the American Veterinary Medicine Association and the American Quarter
Horse Association has engaged some of the top lobbying and PR firms in
Washington in a concerted effort to push back against what they saw as a
victory for "animal rights" supporters.
EWA's
John Holland explains "The horse slaughter issue has unfortunately
become part of a much larger battle between big agriculture and animal
welfare advocates. Big agriculture has decided to protect itself with an
aggressive in-your-face strategy designed to preemptively crush its
opponents, real and imagined."
The
promotion of horse slaughter is just one of the proxy battles being
waged by the Ag giants. In July of 2011, the NCBA and the PPC opposed a
plan already agreed to by the United Egg Producers (UEP) and the Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS) to replace existing battery cages
with equally efficient environments that create better living conditions
for laying hens. The move showed a willingness to attack even other
animal agriculture associations who appeared to be bending toward better
humane standards.
Perhaps
the most bizarre example of this aggressive strategy is SB 610
introduced into the Virginia Legislature this year by State Senator Dick
Black. The bill called for working dogs to be reclassified as
livestock, effectively removing their humane protection as companion
animals. Following an avalanche of criticism, Black announced he was
pulling the bill and admitting that he had introduced it "to aid the agriculture and farming community at their request." He went on to mention the Farm Bureau and the Agribusiness Council by name.
"This
newest poll should serve as a warning to politicians who have yielded
to big Ag bullying" says EWA's Vick Tobin, "Voters are not with you on
the horse slaughter issue."
#
The
Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues-free 501c4, umbrella organization
with over 220 member organizations and hundreds of individual members
worldwide in 18 countries. The organization focuses its efforts on the
welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids.
