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Washington, D.C. (June 16, 2008) – The repeated
attempts by Illinois-based Cavel International, Inc. to continue
slaughtering horses in the face of a state ban on the practice and
the will of the people of Illinois were quashed for a final time
today, when the Supreme Court of the United States denied the
slaughterhouse’s petition for certiorari.
On January 18, 2008,
Cavel had appealed the earlier decision by the US Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit, which upheld the decision by the US
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to reaffirm the
constitutionality of an Illinois law preventing the slaughter of
horses for human consumption.
“We are relieved and
elated that the Supreme Court has decided this case does not warrant
additional review,” said Tracy Silverman, general counsel for the
Animal Welfare Institute (AWI). “We thank the Illinois attorney
general’s office for its efforts arguing to uphold the state law
preventing the slaughter of horses for human consumption.”
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311), a
federal bill to ban horse slaughter in the United States and the
transport of horses abroad for the same purpose, is pending in the
US Congress. Its enactment is now essential to ensure horses who
would have been sent to Cavel are not exported for slaughter in
Canada or Mexico.
“While we don’t expect
companies such as Cavel to stop trying to manipulate the legal and
political systems, we hope other pro-horse slaughter organizations
will now work with us to protect America’s horses from this cruel
and predatory industry,” said Chris Heyde, AWI’s deputy director of
government and legal affairs. “The American public has made clear
its desire to close this industry down, and AWI is proud to be
leading the charge to pass the urgently needed federal law to ban
horse slaughter.”
The renowned law firm of Patton Boggs is representing AWI in this
case.
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CONTACT:
Tracy Silverman, Esq. or Chris Heyde (703) 836-4300
Founded in 1951, AWI is an international non-profit organization
dedicated to reducing the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on
animals by humans. Its legislative division initiated, and has since
led, the national campaign to end horse slaughter, as well as
spearheaded the effort to enact the ban in Illinois. Please visit
www.awionline.org.
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