by: Erin Ryder, TheHorse.com News Editor

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is considering a change to its regulations concerning the humane transport of horses being shipped to slaughter.

Current special regulations pertaining to slaughter-bound horses only apply to horses being shipped directly to processing facilities. If the horses will be stopping at a sale, assembly point, or feedlot en route to the facility, the regulations do not apply. This means that haulers are legally allowed to use double-decker trailers, as long as the animals are not going directly to a slaughter facility.

The proposed rule change would extend the protections in place for equids heading to slaughter to those moving within the pipeline, including horses going to an assembly point, feedlot, or stockyard.

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