The new regulations allow the three plants, two in Texas and one in Illinois, to continue operating while paying for the inspections themselves, presumably passing along the costs to the consumer.

Animal rights groups that had backed the Agriculture Appropriations amendment have cried fowl and are filing suit. Led by the Humane Society of the United States, the groups are asking the courts to declare illegal the USDA regulations allowing the self funding of inspections. The groups and individuals filing the suit have said that the USDA's actions violate the amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill. The USDA has commented that that under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the agency must inspect horses, carcasses and meat for human consumption.

The animal rights groups and many in the horse industry will redouble their efforts to pass the bills presently introduced to ban the processing of horses for human consumption. House Bill 503 and Senate Bill 1915 would ban the sale, transportation and other commerce as it relates to the processing of horses for human consumption. Both bills have been assigned to their respective Energy and Commerce Committees and could see a hearing soon.

ANIMAL ID

Horse owners should keep abreast of developments regarding the National Animal Identification system - it will affect you! The USDA intends for horses to be included in this system, which will provide for a 48-hour traceback to origin of animals found to have a contagious foreign animal disease. This process is ongoing even though Secretary Johanns is backing off a bit regarding the deadline of 2009 for animal id to be mandatory. According to the American Horse Council, as of September 2005, more than 120,000 premises have been registered, which is the first step in the plan - to know where livestock is kept. Currently 50 states and 5 tribes have premise registration systems that are operational. The next step in the NAIS is the distribution of animal identification numbers. The database is set up and the numbers should start being distributed soon, starting with the cattle industry.

A recent outbreak of the Equine Herpes Virus at racetracks and other equine facilities in the United States has had many equine health professionals calling system that will allow for traceback in the case of a contagious animal disease outbreak.

The issue regarding the frequency of microchips and the ability of scanners to read different frequencies of chips has been on the forefront when dealing with animal identification. There are currently 2 frequencies of microchips commonly being used for animal identification and many manufacturers. The problems regarding this have arisen in the pet industry with some dogs that had chips implanted being euthanized because the agency didn't have the correct scanner to read the microchip. Due to patent and trademark issues, scanners cannot read all microchips. The Equine Species Working Group, which has been charged to come up with a plan for identifying equine within the NAIS, is recommending that is horse owners want to chip their horses they use the ISO/ANSI compatible chip (11784/134.2 kHz). This use of this chip will allow for the horse to be identified in other countries if needed. There is still much work to be done to solve the many issues surrounding the microchip.

For more information about the National Animal Identification System, visit USDA's website on the subject: http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml. Additionally horse owners should continue to keep up with the issue through the American Horse Council's website www.horsecouncil.org.

A CALL TO ACTION

These are a few issues that face the horse industry and animal owners as a whole. What horse owners must understand is that the animal rights movement is increasingly focusing on politics and is slowly making inroads: getting laws passed that take away the rights of animal owners. Animal People Magazine reported that donations to animal rights groups increased 40% from 2003 to 2004. The largest group of all, the Humane Society of the United States had $74 million in revenues in 2004 and they have not made it any secret that they will use their money and the power that comes with it to support candidates that share their views through their political arm and will be on the Hill in Washington, D.C. daily to get their voice heard. Animal owners need to be involved in the political process this year by supporting candidates that share similar views regarding animal ownership and use and by voting! As always, let your local, state and federal officials know your views on the issues as they arise.