Horse slaughter debate not over yet

Depending on the point of view, this fall's shutdown of the nation's last horse slaughtering plant will leave thousands of unwanted horses with no place to go, or will simply shift the animals to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.

All Barbara Chmielewski knows is that demand for space at her horse rescue center is up significantly this year.

"It's probably increased 20 fold. Everybody is calling us, wanting to dump their horses on us," said Chmielewski, founder and executive director of the Lazy Maple Equine Rescue & Rehabilitation Center.

The center, near the community of Leland, is about 25 miles south of the former Cavel International slaughtering plant in DeKalb. The plant closed in September.

Chmielewski and husband, Steve, have found homes for nearly 190 horses since they started the not-for-profit center on their farm 6 1/2 years ago. But now they find themselves with too many horses and too little demand for adoption.

The DeKalb plant's closing has been only one factor, and maybe not the biggest factor, in the overflow, said Barbara Chmielewski. A shortage of hay and the high price of horse feed also have contributed.

"Hayfields have been plowed up to plant corn because of ethanol. I am getting calls on a daily basis from people saying their neighbor's horse is getting thinner. People don't have the money to buy hay," she said.

The shutdown of the slaughtering plant ended an operation that at one point handled 40,000 to 60,000 horses a year. The meat was primarily sent overseas for human consumption. Federal law prohibits the sale of horsemeat for human consumption in the United States.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation in May that banned the import, export, possession and slaughter of horses for human consumption in Illinois. A series of lower-court decisions upheld the law, but attorneys for Cavel International plan to seek a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cleveland attorney J. Philip Calabrese, who represents Cavel, said last week the company is only "at the very front end of the process," but hopes to learn early next year whether the Supreme Court will take the case. If the court accepts the case, a formal appeal on claims the Illinois law violates interstate and foreign commerce laws could take months.

Opponents point to the court's refusal to hear a similar case from Texas earlier this year as evidence the justices will decline a hearing on the Illinois law.

The issue of what becomes of horses once destined for the plant arose early this month, when members of the Illinois Farm Bureau called for creation of a not-for-profit foundation to care for abandoned and unwanted horses.

The resolution was based on projections by the Horsemen's Council of Illinois that the Midwest alone would generate at least 1,500 "unwanted" horses in the first year after the plant shutdown, and thousands more would follow in years to come.

Both groups opposed the state ban.

The Farm Bureau resolution also called on animal-rights groups to contribute to the foundation.

"If we get them to spend money keeping horses alive, that's less money they'll spend opposing us," Adams County delegate David Dedert told FarmWeek, a publication of the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Stark County Farm Bureau president Daryl Knobloch, who sponsored the resolution, said it was important to raise the question of unwanted horses with the public.

"We wanted to get this out in front of people to try to figure out what we are going to do with these horses. They may have a lifespan of 10 or 12 years and nobody wants them -- where are they going to go?" said Knobloch.

Knobloch, a grain farmer, owns no horses. But he said the shutdown of the DeKalb plant forced the closing of a longtime horse sale-barn in his county.

'It killed the horse market," he said.

A representative of the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington D.C. called the forecast of thousands of unwanted horses "disingenuous." He pointed out Cavel still ships horses to facilities in Mexico and Canada.

"Unfortunately, the sources of these figures have been groups that are pro-slaughter to begin with. They give out these astronomical numbers, and we don't know where they came from," said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the institute.

"Cavel is still buying an equal number of horses. It's a myth to say all of a sudden it isn't happening," he said.

The institute is among groups backing a nationwide ban in Congress on shipping horses for slaughter.

The legislative debate over the state ban drew dozens of proponents and supporters to the Capitol, including actress and animal-rights activist Bo Derek.

The Horsemen's Council organized a May rally of livestock and horse owners at the Capitol, arguing the DeKalb plant provided a humane way to cull unwanted animals. The council said supporters in the General Assembly amounted to "star-struck urban legislators with no agricultural constituency" making policy that affected rural Illinois.

Whatever the reasons behind the surge in shelter requests, Chmielewski said she and her husband, a full-time diesel mechanic, now can care for only eight to 10 horses at a time, rather than 15 to 20.

She said they have even discussed the possibility of closing the shelter if costs don't come down or donations don't increase.

While she considers herself a defender of animal welfare, Chmielewski said, she never felt strongly one way or the other about the DeKalb plant. But if there is to be a ban on shipping horses for slaughter, it should be nationwide, she said.

"These horses are still being shipped to Mexico, and what kind of cruelty are they enduring there?" she said.

Tim Landis can be reached at 788-1536 or tim.landis@sj-r.com.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture expects to license the state's first two emergency shelters for horses soon after the first of the year.

Dr. Colleen O'Keefe, veterinarian and manager for food safety and animal protection at the department, said rules for "equine shelters" were finalized last spring.

"We routinely work with animal control and animal shelters, but the guidelines were set up for dogs and cats. Obviously, if you're talking about a horse, it would not meet the guidelines," said O'Keefe.

She said the licensing process is near completion for two of four equine shelters - in Woodstock and Barrington - that traditionally have worked with the department. The centers are used as referrals for abandoned or mistreated animals, while attempts are made to find a permanent home.

"We've inspected their facilities, and there's a little bit of paperwork to be completed," said O'Keefe.

State licensing requirements are based on detailed guidelines established by The American Association of Equine Practitioners (www.aaep.org). More than 8,000 veterinarians and veterinary students in 57 countries belong to the association, which is based in Lexington, Ky.

O'Keefe said the Illinois rules also were patterned after horse-shelter rules in New Mexico, adding that the detailed applications require an inspection of the facility by department field staff.

She said the state has not detected an increase in reports of abandoned or mistreated horses following the closing of a horse slaughtering plant in DeKalb in September, or as a result of high hay and feed prices.

"We are getting some, but our peak time tends to be at the end of the year," she said.

O'Keefe also said shelters for horses battle the same capacity problems as traditional animal shelters.

"It's the same as dogs and cats. There's so many horses out there, and nowhere for them to go," she said.