Released June 22, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released its 18 month report “Horse Welfare: Action Needed to Address Unintended Consequences from Cessation of Domestic Slaughter.” In 2009, Congress directed GAO to examine horse welfare following the end of domestic slaughter in 2007. The complete report is at http://www.gao.gov/Products/GAO-11-228.
Among the findings in the 63 page GAO report
• The U.S. slaughter market has changed since domestic slaughter ceased in 2007. Exports to Canada and Mexico have increased with nearly the same number of U.S. horses now processed in those countries (138,000 in 2010), as were in the U.S. before the state bans on slaughter and the restrictions on paying USDA employees involved in the process were put in place.
--continued on American Horse Council news, http://www.horsecouncil.org/GAO_report.php
