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LEAD-IN BY HOST: A bill pending before the state senate is stirring up emotions among horse lovers. The bill could pave the way for more horse slaughterhouses if it passes. Renee Feltz has more: STORY: Currently, Texas is the only state with horse slaughterhouses... Beltex in Kaufman County, and Dallas Crown in nearby Tarrant County... But the legality of these is questionable. Texan Mary Nash lives across from the Dallas Crown Horse slaughter plant: "For years I've been seeing these horses arrive in coffins, in these cattle haulers. Lean, healthy fat horses being taken to slaughter. I knew this was crazy, but I didn't think there was anything I could do to stop it. Until last summer, I found out about the John Cornyn attorney general's opinion that said it was a crime in Texas to slaughter horses for human consumption. I was so thrilled. And so the next thing that happened was the Tarrant County prosecutor started investigating Beltex in Fort Worth, which is in Tarrant County, to try to shut them down. Meanwhile, my state representative Betty Brown has filed a Texas house bill that would legalize the criminal activity of these horse slaughter plants. So that's why we're in Austin, we're trying to stop Betty Brown's horse slaughter bill that's making its way to the capital of the state of Texas." Tarrant County district attorneys filed suit to keep from being prosecuted for letting the plants operate. They say the law doesn't apply to them because they export their horsemeat. The case is now pending before a federal judge. In the meantime, Texas representatives passed House bill 1324 earlier this session, which would legalize horse slaughterhouses and make the lone star state - famous for its cowboy image - the only state in the union where such facilities can operate. Regulations against the slaughter of pet horses at the plants are in force under a horse inspection program instituted in 1997. Three dollars goes to the program for every horse slaughtered in Texas. The program is meant to identify and rescue stolen horses that are sent to slaughter and is overseen by the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association. According to Vice President Matt Brockman, over 75 horses were discovered in 2002. He argues the program allows for a reality horse owners have to deal with: "Producers who own horses need to have a humane means of dealing with horses that come of age, become crippled. In their old age, or because of something that may occur to them, they ... they have to be dealt with. And facilities offer a humane process, we're subject to the humane slaughter act, and consequently they are a good venue to alleviate what could be a major potential problem. We could end up with a situation where a lot of unwanted animals exist and suffering could be prolonged. And it's a situation we certainly would like to avoid." Brockman himself is a horse owner and other horse owners agree with him. Membership director for the American Quarter horse Association says failure to pass the bill would send their product elsewhere where conditions are less favorable: "The horses probably would get shipped to Canada or Mexico, thus we wouldn't be able to enforce the regulations that we have in place on the horses, that are being transported to the two Texas plants." But other horse owners disagree with these arguments. They note conditions in Canada are the same as those in the US, and that buyers generally don't purchase meat from Mexico because of a stereotype of unclean slaughterhouses there. Shelly Sawhook is a member of the United Equine Foundation, a horse rescue organization: "The horses that are going into the slaughter are very healthy, youngish horses, but the most popular breed, because it is on e of the most popular breeds in the United States, is the American quarter horse." Sawhook's argument that healthy horses are being killed may explain this why their meat is sold for such high prices overseas. Mary Nash describes how horse meat is bought and sold: "What they do is they cut the legs off of the horses, cut the heads of the horses, they freeze the torsos and ship them to Asia and Europe, where wealthy European and Asian diners pay up to $15 a pound for this American horse meat delicacy." Both Nash and Sawhook say they know people who've found their pet horses in the kill line at a slaughterhouse and are afraid this problem would increase if House Bill 1324 passes through the state senate. They argue there are more options that simply slaughtering their pets: "When my horse got old, I called the vet - she was down, she couldn't get up - I called the vet who came over and he put her to sleep and I buried her. Now, some horses can be taken to rendering plants, I think that's probably what a lot of people do. Rendering plants receive horses that have already been euthanized humanely and they render them up for zoo meat, dog food, fertilizer; I mean there's a lot of things that can be done with horse caucuses. They don't have to be slaughtered for human consumption. The horse slaughter bill now resides in a subcommittee on agriculture in the Senate Natural Resources committee, where it lacks a sponsor and may not reach the senate floor. Protests by animal rights activists and horse lovers across the country are scheduled for tomorrow night from 7 to 9 p.m. central time, including in Houston downtown in front of City Hall. Renee Feltz, KPFT News, Houston. E-mail Renee Feltz at chickpea_@ziplip.com . This story was broadcast on May 9, 2003.