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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 |
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, & 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 | Vermont
Horse Transport Law Card |
Maryland Horse Transport Law Card
Download
a card and carry
in your car.
Help enforce PA, NY,
MD, & VT
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. 
Coming Soon! Transport Law cards for every State Horse Transport Law!
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
Connecticut - Under Construction
Indiana -Ramey Accident - 50 Horses on Trailer, 21 Killed - 2004
Detroit, Michigan - Under Construction
Missouri I-44 42 Horses on Trailer,17 Killed - 2006
New York
North Dakota - 78 Horses on Trailer, 34 Killed
Ohio - 40 Horses on Trailer , 26 Horses Killed -1993
Pennsylvania Crash
from 1980's - 
Courtesy Reading Eagle
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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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
Violations
FOIA report of Slaughter Transport Violators
Investigations
Animal Angels Investigates Transport to Slaughter Colorado to Illinois
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Proposed Legislation
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- OPPOSE until House Amendment 02 is removed.
HB4166 - Molaro Bill - The EPN expects Molaro to possibly take the lead on this issue. Molaro is responsible for introducing and passing the 2007 legislaton that ended horse slaughter in Illinois.
and HB4489 -OPPOSE (This bill is a sheep in wolves clothing)
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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