U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL), the only two-time recipient of the Humane Society’s Legislator of the Year award in 2015 and 2020, recently co-sponsored bipartisan legislation permanently banning the slaughter of horses for consumption. human.

The Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, HR 3355, which Representative Buchanan introduced on May 19 with the sponsor of the bill, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), would amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, buying, selling or donating horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, according to the summary of the congressional bill.

“Slaughtering horses for human consumption is a barbaric practice that has no place in America,” said Representative Buchanan, co-chair of the Congressional Animal Care Caucus. “I look forward to continuing to lead the effort with Congresswoman Schakowsky to ban the slaughter of domestic horses and end the export of horses abroad for the same purpose.”

Although the practice is currently illegal in the United States, the ban is temporary and subject to annual congressional review, according to the Buchanan Representative’s Office, which noted that there is no federal law prohibiting the transporting horses across US borders for slaughter in Canada or Mexico.

HR 3355 has received approval from the Humane Society, Animal Welfare Institute, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation. The bill has been referred for review to the US House Energy and Commerce Committee.