The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which has been campaigning to ban the slaughter of American horses for food exports, hailed a decision by the United States Supreme Court denying the foreign-owned horse slaughter industry’s final appeal to resume slaughtering horses. The decision upholds a federal appeals’ court ruling that Illinois can ban slaughtering horses and the sale of horsemeat for human consumption.

The slaughter plants had claimed that the Illinois law at issue was somehow unconstitutional, an argument that was brushed aside by the Seventh Circuit in its 2007 opinion upholding the law. The Supreme Court’s denial of the plants’ petition renders the Seventh Circuit’s decision final, and reinforces the right of states to prohibit the slaughter of horses and the sale of horsemeat within their borders.

“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a major milestone in our long-fought campaign to keep American horses from being slaughtered and shipped overseas for food," said Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president of animal protection litigation for the HSUS. "Texas, California, and Illinois have all passed laws declaring that this cruel commerce has no place in our country, and now it’s time for Congress to finish the job and pass nationwide legislation halting this barbaric practice once and for all.”

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311), would end the inherently cruel slaughter of American horses for human consumption and prohibit their export for slaughter in other countries. The last three foreign-owned slaughter plants in the U.S. were shuttered when Texas and Illinois state laws were enforced, but the horse slaughter industry continues to haul American horses to slaughter in Mexico and Canada. Our horses endure an agonizing transport, and once they arrive at the slaughter plant, often they are stabbed to death or are shot in the head. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act would prevent horse slaughter from resuming in the United States and would ban the export of live horses to slaughter in other countries.