newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

New Jersey has made a firm statement that the state does not eat horse meat, and the animals will remain in the stable.

Examiner.com reported that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has signed legislation that makes it illegal to slaughter horses for human consumption in the state. The bill forbids transportation of live horses to be used for slaughter, and bans the sale and transporting of horse meat for human consumption.

The ASPCA was appreciative of Christie’s signing of the measure. Debora Bresch, of ASPCA Government Relations for the Mid-Atlantic region said, according to the Sacramento Bee. "By signing this bill into law, Governor Christie has spared New Jersey exposure to the extreme cruelty of horse slaughter and the trade that has made the state a major artery for the transport of horses to slaughterhouses in Canada.”

There are no slaughter houses in the United States, but over 100,000 American horses are sent to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered.

“This bipartisan measure ensures that no horse is slaughtered in New Jersey for human consumption. It also ensures that our highways will not be used to transport horses to slaughter in other states which have not enacted a similar ban on the practice,” said Christie, according to NorthJersey.com.

The new law assesses fines of at least $100 and 30 days imprisonment for anyone convicted for slaughtering or selling horse meat for human consumption, and imposes civil fines of $500 to $1,000 for each horse that is slaughtered.

The governor’s decision may have been influenced in some small part by the 20-year-old daughter of Christie favorite, Bruce Springsteen.

According to an Associated Press report in the Washington Post, the ASPCA says that accomplished equestrian Jessica Springsteen’s name is on a letter urging Christie to sign the bill to ban horse slaughter in New Jersey.