Oklahoma…OK? Governor Signs Bill Allowing Horse Slaughter
by Paulick Report Staff | 04.01.2013 | 8:33am
Supporting the belief that it’s in the “best interests of the animal,” Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday signed the Oklahoma Meat Inspection Act into law, which ends the ban on the processing of horse meat for export in the state.
The bill, which was sponsored by Oklahoma legislators Rep. Skye McNeil and Sen. Eddie Fields, passed 82-14 in the House and 32-14 in the Senate, according to a report by FOX6Now. The law will go into effect Nov. 1, 2013; at which time Oklahoma will join 46 other states that allow equine slaughter. However, no states have processed horse meat since the federal government passed measures prohibiting it in 2007.
In a statement to the press Fallin said, “Those of us who care about the well-being of horses — and we all should — cannot be satisfied with a status quo that encourages abuse and neglect, or that rewards the potentially inhumane slaughter of animals in foreign countries.”