Ruling stops horse slaughter

It's a topic that has horse advocates steaming - the slaughter of horses. Now, those horse-lovers appear to have scored a victory - a federal appeals court ruling has upheld a Texas law that bans horse slaughter for the purpose of selling the meat for food. The ruling involves two of the nation's three horse slaughtering plants, both in Texas. A third plant in DeKalb, Ill., is not affected by the ruling. All three facilities are foreign-owned. The owners of the plants are considering an appeal. Their argument according to the AP: "The nation's patchwork of horse rescue facilities would be overwhelmed," said spokesman for the plants, former U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm.
"They can barely manage to care for the approximately 6,000 horses already in the system."