NTRA supports federal ban on horse slaughter

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which conducts federal lobbying efforts on behalf of a broad spectrum of Thoroughbred racing constituencies, will now lobby in support of a federal bill that would ban the slaughter of horses in the United States.

The announcement of support for the federal legislation is a change for the NTRA, which in the past has been neutral on similar bills, reflecting a lack of consensus among the constituencies that fund the organization. In a press release, the NTRA said the change in position was approved by the association’s board of directors at a meeting June 6.

The last horse slaughterhouse in the United States closed in 2007 after legislation was passed defunding inspections. However, horses of all breeds in the United States are routinely shipped to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada, where the practice remains legal. The defunding legislation has consistently been reapproved over the last 12 years.

The current legislation would permanently ban horse slaughter and ban the shipment of horses to slaughterhouses abroad. It has been introduced to the Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture.

The change in position was approved at a time when racing has come under intense criticism from some quarters due to a spate of horse fatalities at Santa Anita Park in Southern California. The spate has renewed criticism of a wide spectrum of aspects of the racing industry, including the shipment of horses over the border for slaughter.

In the past decade, many racetracks have put in place house rules that ban trainers who have been found to have directly sent a horse to slaughter. At the same time, many tracks and horsemen’s groups have begun to fund programs that place off-the-track horses in retraining or retirement programs.