SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 9 (UPI) -- Proposed legislation in Illinois would close the doors on the last horse-slaughtering plant in the United States.
Illinois has outlawed the human consumption of horse meat but still allows horses to be killed for consumption overseas. It became the only horse-slaughtering state in the nation after a federal court closed two plants in Texas earlier this year, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Wednesday.
The Illinois House and a state Senate committee have approved a bill banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The bill now goes to the full Senate for approval.
A lobbyist for Cavel International Inc. -- which owns the nation's lone horse-slaughtering plant in DeKalb, Ill. -- said the plant's euthanasia procedures met the humane standards of the American Veterinary Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
