Plants in Texas - closed

[fancyherd@gala's]

This is GREAT news!
I heard a rumor that the 2 slaughter plants in TX were closed, so I called Dallas Crown 972.932.3436 and she said yes they are not killing horses and not sure when or if they will re-open
also the PR firm for Dallas Crown is 202-518-6321 ;D - recorded message...they aren't to chatty!!

[jaybird]

fantastic news....!!!!!!!!!!!

[safehorses]

I heard elsewhere that Beltex has built a new plant in Mexico, but I haven't seen that verified anywhere.

[cardicorgi]

Do you mean one in addition the plant they already own? (which I just discovered from reading part of the 5th Cir. Ct. of App. opinion)

[safehorses]

I just read an update from Gail Vacca on the against slaughter board:

As Jerry stated, this may not hold for very long. We dont yet know what next
week might bring.

In the meantime, there is little reason to celebrate. Beltex owns a
slaughter plant in Mexico, where the conditions for slaughter horses are much, much
worse than they are here in the US.

Until HR 503 is passed, Beltex, Dallas Crown and others can and will
continue to LEGALLY export horses to the plants in Mexico.

We need to ramp up our efforts to get HR 503 to the Floor for a vote. Please
call your Rep and two Senators. Impress upon them the absolute urgency of
this situation and the need for HR 503 to quickly be passed in order to protect
American horses. Please, make the calls today!

Gail

[fancyherd@gala's]

with the money they make -building another plant is very likely. Correct or enlighten me...I thought that it is illegal to transport to Mexico/Canada for slaughter - or is that murky waters with lots of loop holes?

[diamondindykin]

It is not illegal YET to transport out of the country. It is a Texas law that makes horses slaughter illegal. If we can get legislation passed to end horse slaughter in the US it would make it illegal to export horses for slaughter.

[fancyherd@gala's]

ahhh - that IS what it was...I was trying to recall what the 'twist' was...Thanks!

[fancyherd@gala's]

This is an email received from Dallas crown, part of a post on another group………

“For the moment we can not take any horse. We will have more information next week.”

Gaelle Mauroit

Sales Manager

Dallas Crown

2000 West Fair

Kaufman, TX 75142

Tel : [phone]

Fax : [phone]

Mobile : [phone]

[fancyherd@gala's]

well the sneaky jerks are up to something......be prepared to rally for what may be the battle that ends the war....

[fancyherd@gala's]

Both Beltex and Dallas Crown slaughter houses
have confirmed they are not closed, but are NOT taking horses at this time!

Several people have called and confirmed that they are not slaughtering horses today or tomorrow.

Dallas Crown phone# [phone]
Beltex Beltex's phone# [phone]

[fancyherd@gala's]

There is no room on the land to expand. Never has been more room to
expand and: CAVEL would have had to apply for an expansion permit
and it would have been all over the papers here. CAVEL would never
be allowed to expand due to the waste issue and the fines for water
issues which the $25,000 in fines has been issued and is being held
in escrow.

Last but not least CAVEL knows they are on their last days and would
not invest further monies just to be thrown out the door, bad
business decision, and we all know they are not that stupid.

CAVEL may have expanded their hours but that is it.

Amy in Illinois/DeKalb

--- In [e-mail], Jules StJohn <dekalbpoet@...>
wrote:
>
> CAVEL HAS ADDED ON ANOTHER BARN (AS BIG AS AN
> INDOOR ARENA) AND EXPANDED THEIR
> BLOOD-FILTER PIPELINE, SO THEY PROBABLY GOT WIND OF IT
> AND ARE NOW TAKING THE HORSES THAT TEXAS CAN NO LONGER KILL.
>
> THEY ARE SHIPPING HORSES IN ONE-DECKER CATTLE TRUCKS AND STOCK
> TRAILERS, AND WORKING OVERTIME. THIS IS ALL EXTRA MONEY
> FOR CAVEL, AND NO HORSES ARE SAVED, THEY'RE JUST SHIPPED TO
> ILLINOIS.
>
> PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN/WOMAN AND URGE THEM TO CO-SPONSOR
> AND SUPPORT THE AMERICAN HORSE SLAUGTHER PREVENTION ACT!
>
> thanks, John, for the report!
> I'll keep y'all posted on what goes on in Dekalb.
> JS
> kami_brooks15059 <groups@...> wrote:
> For those who aren't seeing this on other lists:
>
> Posted by: "John Holland" hollandtech@... hollandtechserv
> Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:36 pm (PST)
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> I had hoped for a more complete picture before sending this
> out, but given all the speculation I will tell you what I know.
>
> Both Texas plants ceased operations shortly after midnight
> this morning. Confirmations have been flooding in that both
> plants have stopped accepting horses. I called Beltex and
> they confirmed this.
>
> They are both saying they are "temporarily" closed. We
> do not have confirmation as to whether they have actually stopped
> slaughtering (their own horses) but it appears they have stopped.
> This is very different than just not buying and killing off their
> feedlots.
>
> There are horses in the pens at Dallas Crown. This is not
> normally a slaughter day, but tomorrow is. But interestingly,
> there are no shipping containers there!
>
> They are telling their buyers that this is just temporary and that
> they have something planned. However, they were sending out
> big buy orders on Monday, and the plants were telling their buyers
> to "buy everything" at 80 cents per pound!
>
> This is very abrupt and it caused both plants to close at the
> same time, so this means some event happened since
> Monday. This has caught everyone by surprise as we expected
> slaughtering to go on for some time and apparently so did they.
>
> There are several possible explanations including their lawyers
> advising them they should suspend operations pending some
> action. The injunction was dissolved by the appeals panel, and
> they might be vulnerable to action if they operate during the
> period when they are working for an appeal of some sort. But
> none of these explain the sudden action leaving horses in the
> pipeline to the plants.
>
> The most likely reason from all we know is that the airlines
probably
> informed them that they would not accept any more horse meat.
> Many of you may have seen the press release from HSUS
> saying they had informed the airlines that they were breaking
> the law by shipping the meat.
>
> This appears to be confirmed by the absence of the ubiquitous
> shipping containers. If it is the airlines, they will have to stay
> closed until they successfully appeal the decision (and their
> appeal will be a long shot).
>
> Whatever the truth is, and whatever the outcome, this will
> save a lot of horses. This brings up the issue of the horses in
> the system now. There are several thousand at buyers lots
> and in the feedlots like Morton and even standing at Dallas
> Crown.
>
> If anyone read my recent post about what would happen to
> the horses in the pipeline, I said they would normally be
> killed off in the weeks leading up to the end unless the end
> came unexpectedly and suddenly. This may be just what
> happened. Some dealers may offer to sell theirs if the plants
> do not promptly reopen. Even if the plants do not reopen they
> may well ship their horses to Mexico, Cavel, or Canada.
> Mexico causes the most concern because of the way they
> treat horses.
>
> Mexico is also obviously closer, but they can't just dump them
> there because it would be like the Mexican operations trying
> to drink from a fire hydrant. Last year Mexico took only about
> 200 horses a week on average. It would take time to build up
> capacity even if that were the plan. The same goes for Cavel
> and Canada. Last year we had average net exports to Canada
> of 353 horses a week.
>
> When Cavel burned in 2002 the statistics show that the rate
> of slaughter from the other plants rose only very slightly and
> about 50,000 fewer horses were slaughtered in that year
> and a half. This indicates that there probably is not excess
> capacity that can take up the slack in the short term.
>
> So my guess is that the buying at auctions will now stop and
> the industry will begin slowly shipping its inventory of horses to
> Cavel, Mexico and Canada. That is, of course, if the shut
> down is anything but very temporary. This of course leaves
> the killer buyers with no income, and it will be hard on the
> places like New Holland.
>
> I will let you know as soon as we can get a handle on this.
> Thanks to all the folks who fed this information in to us!
>
> And there is more good news. Cavel reportedly has a new
> USDA inspector who takes her job seriously. We are told
> that she actually sent a horse that arrived dead off for necropsy!
> She is said to fully inspect the horses and records all injuries.
> Dealers who repeatedly bring in injured horses will be in trouble
> if this keeps up. The law is finally being obeyed!
>
> These are great developments, but without the passage
> of the AHSPA they will all be temporary, so lets resolve
> to finish this as soon as possible.
>
> John Holland