Bo Derek: Stop Horse Meat Exports

Actress-turned-activist Bo Derek is spearheading a campaign to stop the export of horsemeat to Europe and Japan.

Three European-owned factories in the U.S. send some 26 million pounds of horsemeat overseas each year.

Now Derek, who first came to national attention in the 1979 movie "10,” has joined other celebrities and horse lovers in an attempt to shut down the plants — two in Texas and one in Illinois.

In September, the House of Representatives passed the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which bans the transportation and sale of horses for human consumption. But it’s unclear whether the Senate will vote on a similar bill before Congress adjourns for the year.

So Derek is in Washington meeting with senators to urge passage of the legislation. She joins celebrities including Willie Nelson, Christie Brinkley and Whoopi Goldberg in the effort, which is backed by the Washington-based Society for Animal Protection Legislation.

The issue is a personal one for Derek, 49, whose 2002 autobiography is called "Riding Lessons: Everything That Matters in Life I Learned from Horses.” She oversees a 130-acre ranch in Santa Ynez, Calif., that was once home to more than 30 horses. She now has six.

"I am not a member of any animal rights organization,” she told the Washington Post. "I am a big red-meat eater. I live in cattle country.”

She tells lawmakers she meets with that horses deserve a respectful death and burial. Horses that veterinarians put down with a lethal injection are not consumed because toxins remain in the meat. Their remains are cremated. When used for food, horses — like cattle — are stunned with a bolt gun and bled to death.

Most Americans are not even aware that horses are slaughtered in the U.S. for consumption overseas, several polls have revealed. Opponents of the horsemeat ban say horse owners should be able to do whatever they want with their horses, and they claim a ban would lead to the unregulated handling of unwanted horses.

Derek believes that concern is unwarranted. Last year about 90,000 horses were slaughtered out of a population of around 9 million, and if they weren’t bought by slaughterhouses the horses could be adopted by someone for riding because 90 percent of the horses sold at auctions are in sound condition, according to Derek.

But former Congressman Charles Stenholm, a lobbyist for the horsemeat industry, told the Post that "with all due sincerity to the naivete of Bo Derek, it is a horse welfare issue. Somebody has to take care of unwanted horses. There are just not enough people who want to adopt horses.”

He also said it could cost as much as $2,000 to have an unwanted horse disposed of.

But Derek is continuing the fight. She recently met with Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and convinced him to co-sponsor the bill in the Senate.

Anne Russek, a horse breeder in Virginia, is also working to get the legislation passed. She told the Post that while she has been able to lobby her own congressman, "Bo Derek can get to anybody’s congressman.”