SAVE AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN EQUINES (SAFE) ACT of 2023

H.R.3475 in the House S.2037 in the Senate

This bill prohibits a person from knowingly slaughtering an equine for human consumption; or shipping, transporting, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donating an equine to be slaughtered for human consumption or equine parts for human consumption.

THE LEGISLATION

For anyone who doesn't know what the SAFE Act is , it’s full name is the Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act.

This bill prohibits the transporting, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation by a person of an equine (e.g., horse, mule, donkey, burro) that the person has reason to believe will be slaughtered for human consumption. This would permanently shut down the slaughter pipeline for horses and force people finally to take responsibility for their horses and burros.

HOW TO HELP GET IT PASSED

Call your US House Representative and urge them to SPONSOR and SUPPORT the SAFE Act of 2023, H.R. 3475. Also, please call your Senators and ask them to support S2037. Call the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 and ask for your representative’s office. Reintroduced on May 18, 2023, the bill currently has 213 cosponsors in the House and 11 in the Senate.

Say “My name is *** I am a constituent of Representative *** Please protect American equines by cosponsoring and supporting the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, H.R.3475 .” Do the same with your Senators and ask them to support the SAFE Act S. 2037 - the same bill has different numbers in the two chambers.

This IS the holy grail of legislation to shut down the slaughter pipeline in the US. When we began campaigning for this years ago, 150,000 equines were shipping to slaughter in Mexico and Canada every year! BUT this is a demand driven business and that number has gone down to around 20,000 horses a year, due partly to EU legislation banning the import of meat from Mexico and controlling meat from Canada.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO EQUINES IN THE PIPELINE WHEN A BAN GOES INTO EFFECT?

A study done with these new figures shows that rescues could absorb the last horses out of the pipeline if a ban were to come into place. I have always said “necessity is the mother of invention” and when the need arises programs like hay banks, free euthanasia clinics, feed assistance for horse owners and rehoming programs would spring into action.

Please understand that humane euthanasia of horses is a million miles away from shipping to slaughter, the suffering before and during the journey. The way they are killed is barbaric and monstrous and should not be even used in the same sentence as humane euthanasia. Shockingly, two professional veterinarian organizations, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), stopped the SAFE Act from moving to a vote in the House last year by making this ludicrous argument.

The SAFE Act would finally make owners take responsibility for their horses and more importantly would continue the massive push and pressure that has been happening effectively for years to force the horse industry to breed more responsibly.

Most horses who ship are by-products of the Quarterhorse and Thoroughbred industries and they’ve already made strides, thanks to public pressure, to reduce over breeding, even without the legislation that’s coming down the pipeline.

I have all the confidence in the world a ban would continue to bring positive change, as the looming inevitability of legislation already has done so much to stop the flood.

DO MAKE THAT CALL - do it for 38-year-old Amelia, the last horse we rescued from a kill pen. She is asking you to make her one of the last equines to suffer the slaughter pipeline. #passthesafeact 

Do it for all horses and be the change you want to see in this world.

Call (202) 224-3121 especially if any of the members sitting on this House Committee are your representatives: Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry. Please make sure to call or email them and ask them, as their constituent, to support the SAFE Act H.R.3475 and stop horses shipping to slaughter in Mexico and Canada.

PLEASE NOTE - this is not legislation that will stop roundups or help wild horses on the range. This is an act that would stop the flood of wild horses (and all horses) in to kill pens and to slaughter in foreign countries. We have rescued, or helped rescue, over 150 wild mustangs we found in kill pens in the US in the last few years and we really want to put an end to this brutal trade in horse flesh.

MORE ON OPPOSING SLAUGHTER

Horse slaughter is currently illegal in the United States because most Americans don’t like it. The ban, however, is subject to annual congressional review and there is nothing to stop the transport of live equines across US borders to foreign slaughter plants. The Save Americas Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act would permanently ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and end the export of horses for slaughter abroad.

The bipartisan bill was reintroduced on May 18, 2023 in the House as H.R. 3475 by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Vern Buchanan (R-FL).

Click Here to find the list of current sponsors of SAFE Act H.R. 3475

Click Here to find the list of cosponsors in 2021

Click Here to find the list of cosponsors in 2019

If your representative was a co-sponsor in 2021, please call (202) 224-3121 and ask them to support the new version H.R. 3475 introduced on May 18, 2023. If your rep is not listed on the current list of co-sponsors please pick up the phone, call them and politely encourage them to jump on board as a co-sponsor of H.R. 3475. Simply tell them you are a constituent in their district and you would like them to sponsor H.R. 3475 the SAFE Act to stop horses shipping to slaughter.

Skydog is 100 percent committed to getting the SAFE Act passed and this year is crucial in pushing it through. Our goal is to raise more awareness and inspire more people to fight this brutal trade. But we cannot do it alone! 

Be a voice for our wild horses and burros and let the government know you love our mustangs wild and managed on our public lands. The BLM Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), as highlighted in the New York Times, has resulted in hundreds of young, unhandled wild horses being dumped in kill pens once the adopters have received their federal money. 

Let your representatives know that your vote is dependent on their support of the SAFE Act and their efforts to ensure that our wild horses are given the protections they deserve and are afforded by law. 

Constant roundups and holding are not the solution. The policy of the Biden and Trump Administrations on wild equines, “The Path Forward”, was written and supported by the National Humane Society, ASPCA, and Return to Freedom in cooperation with livestock industry representatives. It is a management tool for the extinction of our wild horses and burros with its goal to remove 130,000 wild equines within ten years. It is responsible for the injuries, deaths, and suffering of the animals during and after every roundup.

It is imperative that we act now. Contact Your representatives and urge them to cosponsor he SAFE Act and do all they can to secure and support its passage. Let them know you oppose horse slaughter for human consumption in the US as well as the export of American horses for slaughter. 

You can phone, email or write a handwritten letter. Many elected officials are active on social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, so that’s another way you can make your voice heard. 

In addition to contacting your local representatives, you can also contact President Joe Biden by following this link and completing the “contact us” form to ask him to please support H.R. 3475 and pass the SAFE Act. 

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORTERS

Please follow this Link to message President Biden or send him send a letter via the Postal Service: 

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

Horses Saved From Slaughter

Hold or Right Click on the images below to save to your desktop or mobile device to post on social media.

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Skydog Sanctuary teamed up with Jamie Baldanza (@thismustanglife) to make the short film on this page about three mares we pulled out of the pipeline. Along with narration by Daryl Hannah (@dhlovelife), many Friends of Skydog spoke up for the horses, donkeys, mustangs, burros, hinnies, mules, and minis of America:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr (@robertfkennedyjr)

Gerard Butler (@gerardbutler)

Kelly Reilly (@mzkellyreilly)

Kristin Davis (@iamkristindavis)

Zach Braff (@zachbraff)

Ian Somerhalder (@iansomerhalder)

Josh Groban (@joshgroban)

Julianne Hough (@juleshough)

Kaley Cuoco (@kaleycuoco)

Beth Behrs (@bethbehrs)

Christa Miller (@christabmiller)

Whitney Cummings (@whitneycummings)

Dougray Scott and Matthew Rhys to name a few….

Let's do this!

#passsafeactnow #passthesafeact

These are the real faces of some of the more than 100 horses and donkeys Skydog Sanctuary has saved from the slaughter pipeline.

Here is a growing list of names of equines that Skydog has pulled from kill pens:

Adeline, Aerial, Agnes, AJ, Alfie, Alice, Amelia, Angel, Archibald, Arthur, Aspen, Badger, Bambi, Bear, Bibi, Birdie, Bitsy, Blubell, Bobcat, Bonbon, Boots, Cinnamon, Cisco, Clare, Colorado, Commander, Curly Girl, Dalton, Denver, Dollar, Dorothy, Eastwood, Eden, Faith, Feather, Francis, Gabriel, Georgie, Goldie, Graham Cracker, Grey Goose (GG), Harry, Hedy Lemarr, Honey Paleuse, Ireland, Jack Sparrow, Kennedy, Ladybug (carrying Firefly) Leonidas, Lewis, Little Girl, London, Louisa, Love, Lucy (carrying Marcie Marshmallow), Luna, Mariah, Marley, Mary, Minnie, Missy, Monte Cristo, Moonshine, Moose, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Neo, Nutmeg, Onyx, Pearl, Peppermint Patty, Petula, Pony Boy, Poppy, Priscilla, Quinn, Rain, Rango, Read, Redford, Saint, Samson, Sally Brown (carrying Woodstock), Sarge, Scarecrow, Schroeder, Scout, Skye, Smokey, Spider, Star, Swayze, Sweet Pea, Tank, Tin Man, Toby, Twiggy, Waldo, Whiskey, Whisper, Wildflower, Woody, Zephyr, Ziggy, Zsa Zsa.

There are also those who broke our hearts by not having the strength to survive their mistreatment. We got them to safety, but they did not live long enough to reach Skydog: Buttons, Charlie Brown, Eleanor, Jacquot, Liberty, Rooster, Snoopy, Violet.

This trade in horses lives has to be stopped and Skydog hopes that sharing some of our stories of horses saved from slaughter will help people understand why protecting them needs to be restored and better solutions must be used to manage them in the wild. Successful marketing experts say “facts tell, stories sell” so it is our hope that instead of listing the dry facts about numbers of horses shipping, engaging people with the real stories of these horses will inspire them to take action.

These horses don’t understand about the merits, or lack of them, of killpen buys. They don’t understand why they aren’t protected by BLM contracts from being sold for 25 bucks or a dollar. They don’t know why their freedom and families were taken from them and why they are standing in a dirt pen, whether it be BLM holding, a killpen or a rescue. Please join us in taking action to help these precious souls.