| Updated: 3/07 5:24 pm |
Published: 3/07 3:33 pm
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Two controversial bills making their way through our state legislature has animal activists up in arms.
House bill 1999 and Senate bill 375 would make horse slaughter legal.
Horses have been a passion for Jena Raymer for more than 30 years now. She hates to think Oklahoma could be a horse slaughter state.
"They are part of American history, and it's just not something that I want to be proud of as an American,” says Raymer.
Jena is one of many horse owners’ statewide urging legislators to reconsider bills that have already been approved in the House and Senate that would end Oklahoma’s 50-year ban on horse slaughtering.
Pam Smith says the fate of her spunky Arabian horse could have been much different.
"He wasn't perfect and he wasn't a mare so they were going to sell him, but actually an organization came in and took him or he would have gone to slaughter,” says Smith.
Those who support opening a horse slaughtering facility in Oklahoma say they agree horses should be treated humanely. They say the slaughter house option would provide a more humane option for horses that have been abandoned, neglected or are suffering. Proponents say it would also be better than shipping horses to Mexico to be killed.
Eric Blevins says he loves horses too and supports the bills.
"The actually slaughterhouse, I approve of because of how many horses per person there actually is,” says Blevins.
However, the way it’s looking now, Oklahoma could be the first state to lift a ban on horse slaughter since Congress legalized it. The House bill would allow horses to be slaughtered in Oklahoma, but ban the sale of horse meat for human consumption here in our state.
For Jena, the thought is just too much.
"There are too many dogs and cats too so are we going to start slaughtering them too,” she asks.
If both the House and the Senate agree, the bill will head to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
