Horse Slaughter
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CT Law 1976
MA Law 1977
MD Law 2006
MN Law 1983
NY Law 1980
PA Law 2001
RI Law 2008
VA Law 1987
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PA Horse Transport Law Cards
Transport Related Violations
PSP Enforcement at New Holland
Federal Law
Commercial Transportation of Horses to Slaughter
Proposed Legislation
IN Horse Transport Law SB86
EPN Testimony
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Did You Know?
"I personally think the double-stack trailer being used to convey horses ... has to be changed,"
Representative Jere Schuler from Lancaster County, New Holland's Representative
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Double Deck Possum Belly Trailers
Double Deck Trailers Diagrams & Photos | Investigations
State Horse Transport Laws | State Horse Transport Laws Violations
Legislative History of the Commercial Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Regulations
Federal Commercial Horse Transportation Regulations | Federal Commercial Horse Transportation Regulations Violations |
Double Deck Trailer Accidents with Horses | Proposed Horse Transport Legislation
Legislation Information Died in the Senate even though Senate sponsor was the Senate Majority Whip. |
EPN OPPOSES IL Horse Transport Bill HB 4489 This bill is nothing more than a vehicle for the pro slaughter forces to repeal the IL Horsemeat Act that prohibits the slaughter of horses in Illinois. |
Double Deck Trailers for Horses? Not in PA, NY, MA, MD, RI, & VT!
Act 64, the PA Horse Transport Bill went into effect on August 25, 2001 making double deck trailers illegal in PA to transport horses under Title 18, Section 5511(e)1. PA law applies to all horses, no matter what their final destination.
Rodeo stock contractors, low end horse dealers and "killer buyers" have been known to use double deck trailers to transport horses.
Three Hills Rodeo
Paid $5000.00 in fines for violating PA Horse Transport Law!
"The Commonwealth does not tolerate violations of the animal cruelty law in Pennsylvania, and the police did an excellent job in enforcing this law. "
Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Aliena Gerhard:
The prohibitions are clear. Subsection e1 of the animal cruelty law,(found at 18 Pa.C.S.A. 5511) otherwise known as the "double decker" law, is one of Pennsylvania's strongest criminal laws.
The law on its face is clear. Its language is definitive.
Further, the statute ensures that violators are charged for each and every equine animal they illegally transport.
The escalating penalty for a subsequent violation means violators face up to one year in prison for each count charged.
People do not get to choose which laws should apply to them.
Violators caught in Pennsylvania will be prosecuted and may go to prison."
Criminal Cases
Arlow Kiehl - Press Releases | PSP Arrests
Nickerson Livestock -Press Releases on Arrests |News Stories with Photos |
Frank Carper - Horse Popsicle Case |FDA Warning Letter Tainted Horsemeat | Arrests PSP
Sugarcreek Livestock Trucking - Convicted under PA Horse Transport Law | Safety Records
PA
Horse Transport Law Cards | NY
Horse Transport Law Card | Rhode
Island Horse Transport Law Card |
Vermont
Horse Transport Law Card |MA Horse
Transport Law Cards | MD
Horse Transport Law Card
Download
a card and carry
in your car.
Help enforce PA, NY,
RI, MA, MD, & VT
Horse Transport Laws banning
the use of double
deck trailers
to transport
any horse,
no matter what its
final destination!
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you can download. 
EPN Horse Transport Posterboards demonstrating the difference between a trailer designed to transport horses and a double deck possumbelly trailer designed and manufactured to transport cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs, not horses.
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Diagram of Double Deck Possum Belly Trailer
PROPERTY OF THE CALIFORNIA EQUINE COUNCIL.
This Drawing IS COPYWRITED.
NO COPYING WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION!
Double Deck Trailer Accidents Carrying Horses
Any accident involving horses is a terrible scene. Due to the number of horses on double deckers, and due to a history of floor collapses where the top deck collapses onto the bottom, and or the bottom deck collapses and horses legs are dragged on the highway, these accidents result in the deaths of numerous horses and horrific injuries to those who survive. For rescuers the problem is magnified due to the sheer number of horses that have been packed into an overcrowded trailer.
As time allows we will be uploading from our files news stories and police reports of these terrible accidents. These trailers needed to be banned 30 years ago as they were in the New England States. If you are aware of other accidents please send as much information as you can and help the EPN build a repository of information for media and the American Public demonstrating the horrors of this inhumane transport.
Colorado- Killed Two People |
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Connecticut - Under Construction |
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Illinois - , Wadsworth, IL |
10/27/2007 | SR 41 | 17 Killed | 59 |
Indiana - Ramey Accident |
09/15/2004 | SR 1 | 21 Killed | 50 |
Detroit, Michigan - Under Construction |
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Missouri I-44 |
09/27/2006 | I-44 | 17 Killed - Destination - Cavel in DeKalb, IL | 42 |
New York |
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North Dakota Rushmore, ND |
10/08/1991 | US 281 | 34 Killed - Destination Shelby, MT | 78 |
Ohio |
1993 | 26 Killed | 40 | |
Pennsylvania Crash |
1980's |  |
Double Deck TrailersPhotos and explanation of how horses are loaded into these trailers. Video of double deck loading
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Horses inside a double deck trailer on the bottom deck. Note the facial injuries these horses have received from being loaded into this inhumane trailer. |
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Arizona Law
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| New York State Police inspect horses on the bottom deck of a possum belly double deck trailer.
Note the 3" I beams located 12" on center to support the top deck. Also note the injury on the horse above his eye. |
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History of Commercial Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Regulations:
Read how animal welfare organizations legalized every inhumane practice identified in the transport of horses to slaughter, and put the very people identified as the abusers in charge of the horse's welfare. Fourteen years after it was first introduced in Congress, nothing has changed for the horses. As Cathleen Doyle of the CEC, SAVE THE HORSES, and HoofPAC stated way back in 1995, "the horses will not even get rubber mats" and sadly she was right.
Now in 2007 APHIS and other are calling for the inclusion of 'Intermediate Handlers" because after 15 years they have finally recognized that killer buyers and dealers would circumvent the regulations by transporting the horses in doubles to feedlots and collection points before the final trip to the slaughterhouse.
Commercial
Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Regulations 
The federal law, The 1996 Commercial Transportation of Horses To Slaughter Act, will not ban the use of inhumane double deck cattle trailers until 2007, eleven years after it was passed.
This law with it's"..guidelines to regulate.." and civil penalties if any, will do nothing more than legitimize the cruel and inhumane transport of horses to slaughter. Horses will continue to go 28 hours without food, water and rest. Pregnant mares will be slaughtered with their full term foals being "born" on the slaughterhouse floor.
"The Commercial Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Act is nothing more than a 'paper tiger' that has legalized every inhumane practice identified in the transport of horses to slaughter, and put the very people identified as the abusers, and in some cases convicted of cruel transport of horses, in charge of the horses' welfare."
Christine Berry, EPN -2002 ABCNY Conference on Horse Protection
Owner/Shipper Certificates as Required by the Commercial Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Act
These documents United States Department of Agriculture Veterinary Services contain the name of the owner/shipper, the slaughter facility, date and time of loading, vehicle description, and the horse identification including the backtag, breed/type, sex, color, markings, and remarks as required by the Federal Regulations mandated by the Commercial Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Act of 1996
Nickerson Livestock |
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Suppliers to Slaughterhouses
Violations
FOIA report of Slaughter Transport Violators
Investigations
Animal Angels Investigates Transport to Slaughter Colorado to Illinois
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Proposed Legislation
Federal Legislation to Ban Doubles
Illinois Horse Transport Bills
The twists and turns of legislation has forced this issue onto its own page linked above. Below is a brief summary with links to the IL General Assembly website.
HB4162- Died in the Senate after passing the House.
HB4166 - Molaro Bill - The EPN expects Molaro to possibly take the lead on this issue. Molaro is responsible for introducing and passing the 2007 legislation that ended horse slaughter in Illinois.
and HB4489 -OPPOSE (This bill is a sheep in wolves clothing)
Tenneesse Legislation
IN Horse Transport Law SB86
EPN Testimony
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Failed passage of this legislation resulted in the terrible wreck that resulted in the death of and no criminal charges for the use of an inhumane and unsafe double deck cattle trailer to transport over 50 horses.
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Save America's Horses!Action You Can Take to Save America's Horses!
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