Results come after Congress took a step closer to allowing the nation’s wild horses to be killed and eaten. The House Appropriations Committee last week narrowly passed a measure that would see horse slaughterhouses reopen following a 10-year ban. Wild horses are currently protected by federal law, and killing healthy horses is forbidden.
The Department of Interior and Bureau of Land Management requested that the ban on destroying healthy horses and burros and selling them for slaughter be lifted.
“The American people have spoken, and they are resoundingly opposed to killing off our American iconic mustangs,” said Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign.
“These animals are a living link to this country’s frontier history, and there are many cost-effective and humane ways to manage these herds that don’t result in their indiscriminate killing.”
The poll was carried out by Public Policy Polling and questioned 556 people. Separate measures that would allow the US Department of Agriculture to inspect horse slaughterhouses and lift the ban on the sale of horsemeat for human consumption is contained in the FY2018 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, although it must still pass the full House.