NewsOctober 6, 2002
FORT WORTH, Texas -- The last roundup for tens of thousands of American stallions and mares ends not far from Fort Worth's historic Stockyards. Their destination, Beltex Corp.'s peeling walled compound on North Grove Street, is becoming the focus of a growing campaign to end equine slaughter...
Barry Shlachter

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The last roundup for tens of thousands of American stallions and mares ends not far from Fort Worth's historic Stockyards.

Their destination, Beltex Corp.'s peeling walled compound on North Grove Street, is becoming the focus of a growing campaign to end equine slaughter.

For the past 27 years, trailers have hauled horses into the plant, the nation's largest horse slaughter and packing facility and one of just two left in the country. There, before the eyes of federal inspectors, the animals are slaughtered after first being stunned in a manner like that typically used on steers.

The carcasses are processed into steaks and other cuts for Europeans and Asians -- Germans eat sausages called "pferdwurst," and some Japanese consume thinly sliced, sushilike raw "basashi." In addition, some meat is sold to U.S. zoos, including Fort Worth's and the National Zoo, as the staple diet for cheetahs and lions.

The well-scrubbed kill floor and processing operation mirror that of any of the better, federally-regulated hog and cattle plants, insists Dick Koehler, the American general manager of the Belgian-owned Beltex.

"Same concept, just a different species," he said as he stood near a stack of corrugated boxes imprinted with "Taste of Texas." But the thought of eating such meat -- no matter how humanely the animals are handled -- upsets many Texans and other Americans, who love their horses and see them as companion animals, not a protein source.

Little support

Unsurprisingly, there is scant popular support for an industry that is entirely foreign-owned and dependent on overseas markets for demand.

And campaigners against horse slaughter have gained ground.

From a dozen facilities a decade ago, the U.S. horse meat industry has undergone wholesale consolidation, reducing it to just two companies -- Beltex, with about 100 workers, and Dallas Crown with 50 in Kaufman, southeast of Dallas and also Belgian-owned.

The number of horses slaughtered at packing plants in the United States has dwindled significantly -- to 56,332 last year from 346,000 in 1990 -- as the industry has consolidated, new competition has sprung up from countries such as Argentina and Australia, and demand from primary markets in Europe has swung.

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The two Texas plants have always avoided publicity, rarely giving interviews or plant tours to the news media. Their low profile and the relatively small size of their industry cripple efforts to combat what they say are misconceptions or untruths spread by critics.

Proponents of slaughter argue that it is done humanely. A pneumatic device shoots a stream of air into the animal's brain, rendering it unconscious, before the throat is cut. Proponents also argue that humane slaughter is the best option for horse owners who can't afford to have a horse euthanized and then have its carcass hauled away or cremated.

Finally, proponents argue that many horses would go neglected if not for the option of slaughter.

Packing houses such as Beltex typically purchase their horses at auction, competing against other buyers. Horses are not raised for slaughter.

What prompted Beltex to permit the tour was a move in Congress to ban the export of horsemeat following California's 1998 prohibition of equine slaughter.

No apparent opposition to the House measure has yet to materialize. And Beltex and Dallas Crown have no lobbyists.

But the bill needs to clear three committees before Congress' mid-October adjournment, which is looking less certain every day, legislative aides say.

"I would look to the Agriculture Committee," said Kate Dickens, a senior legislative aide to Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md., the bill's lead sponsor. "They don't have a tradition of passing animal legislation." Developments in Texas may change the picture.

Chris Heyde, a lobbyist for the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, said he was encouraged by an Aug. 7 opinion by Texas Attorney General John Cornyn -- a senatorial candidate -- that a 1949 Agriculture Code section makes the sale, possession or shipment of horsemeat a criminal offense. It carries a fine up to $1,000 and 30 days' jail time and clears the way for an injunction to close the processing plant.

Beltex's lawyers say that they are fully cooperating with the district attorney's office, and that the company "strongly believes that it is not violating the law."

In Calvin Schwabe's 1979 book, "Unmentionable Cuisine," the medieval English considered horses too holy to eat routinely. Others in Europe commonly ate horse for ages.

France has some 1,500 specialty horse butcher shops. But horsemeat's popularity has been hurt in recent years by health scares involving horses from Poland, which reportedly left some 900 people sick in recent decades.

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