Horse slaughter banned in Illinois

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a bill Thursday that prohibits the processing of horses for human consumption in Illinois, effectively closing the only plant in the United States still slaughtering horses.

The plant, Belgium-owned Cavel International Inc. in DeKalb, will probably lay off all 55 employees if it can no longer slaughter horses, said the plant’s manager, James Tucker.

The bill takes effect immediately, said a spokesman for the governor.

Tucker declined to comment on the bill Thursday but said the plant was too small to slaughter cattle and too large to handle other animals such as sheep or lambs.

The Cavel plant is designed to handle 500 horses a week but recently had been processing more, he said. The plant produces horse meat for export to Europe, where its consumption is common.

Meanwhile Thursday, representatives from two horse rescue organizations -- Field of Dreams and Friends of Barbaro -- said they had raised $14,000 to buy horses being delivered to the Cavel plant Thursday morning. Their plan was to save the last batch of horses headed for slaughter before the bill was signed.

Animal rights groups had sought the measure -- which also was championed by actress Bo Derek -- for several years. Opponents said its passage would deprive owners of a way to dispose of unwanted horses.

When the Illinois Senate passed the bill this month, Michael Markarian of the Humane Society of the United States said his group was “absolutely thrilled” and would seek a national ban on such slaughter as well as on horses’ exportation for slaughter in Mexico and Canada. “The walls are closing in on the foreign-owned horse slaughter industry,” he said.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 100,800 horses were slaughtered in the United States for human consumption in 2006. Earlier this year, the nation’s other two slaughterhouses, both in Texas, closed under court order.

Illinois state Sen. Brad Burzynski, a Republican whose district includes the DeKalb plant, opposed the ban.