We know you’ll agree that horses aren’t food. We don’t raise them so we can eat them, and horses hold a special place in our country’s heritage.  While no horse slaughterhouses currently operate in the United States, the threat of their return looms constantly and few realize that approximately 150,000 American horses are trucked across our borders every year to be brutally slaughtered for food.

These horses often endure painful, repeated blows to the head prior to dismemberment, sometimes while alive and still conscious. This is a terrifying end for animals who are beloved companions to millions, and it must be stopped now.

Congress is considering the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, legislation that would finally enact a federal ban on horse slaughter for human consumption in the United States and prohibit the export of horses abroad for that purpose. The measure also addresses the health hazards that could arise for consumers, given the drugs and medicines horses are routinely administered. Until this ban is in place, no horse is safe from meeting this grisly fate.

That’s why, just last month, we were onsite at the Hampton Classic Horse Show in New York for our annual ASPCA Equine Welfare Town Hall to educate show-goers about this critical issue and how they can advocate for the protection of horses.  We need your help, too!

The coming months will be absolutely pivotal for horses, so we’re asking for your help in preventing this cruel and predatory industry from establishing roots in America. Please visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center now to contact your federal legislators and ask them to cosponsor and support the SAFE Act today.

You can learn more about this critical issue and watch the ASPCA Equine Welfare Ambassadors team of top international riders speak out against horse slaughter in the video below. Please be sure to share it with your friends and family to spread the word that this cruel practice must be stopped.