Equine Protection Network
www.equineprotectionnetwork.com
February 22, 2009

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Horse World Expo -Booth 819
Christine Berry Seminar Hall B on Thursday 4PM

Permission to Cross Post.

Please contact your US. House Rep member asking them to OPPOSE HR 305
bbecause it has CIVIL, not CRIMINAL penalties.

Send the above letter to any horse or mainstream publication that has
reported on HR 305.

Contact any organization or group that you are a member of and ask
them to OPPOSE HR 305

Ask your friends and family, co-workers, employers, to join us in
opposing HR 305.

The EPN needs your help to stop the doubles for all horses and to
stop legislation that is NOTHING MORE THAN A PUBLICITY VICTORY &
FUNDRAISER FOR ANIMAL WELFARE GROUPS from becoming law! We will be
told doubles are banned, people will become complacent, and the
doubles wlll continue to roll with the horses on board!

OPPOSE HR 305


My name is Christine Berry and I am the founder of the Equine
Protection Network, an organization who has focused on the transport
of horses in double deck trailers since 1995. I am asking for your
help, the same help that you provided us that resulted in the passage
of the PA Horse Transport Law of 2001, the strongest law in the U.S.
banning doubles to transport any horse, no matter what its final
destination.


IL Rep Mark Kirk introduced HR 305 intended to ban the use of double
deck trailers to transport any horse no matter what its final
destination. The language is modeled after the PA Horse Transport
Law, the strongest law of its kind in the US and successfully
enforced. The problem with the bill, and why we are opposing, is
CIVIL the penalties which makes the law impossible to enforce.

HR 305 has civil penalties which means that the police CANNOT enforce
any violations!

Until Rep Kirk amends HR 305, changing the penalties from civil to
criminal, we MUST OPPOSE.

Without criminal penalties, passage of this legislation is nothing
more than a publicity victory. I have provided Rep Kirk's office with
the justification and proof that without criminal penalties the law
will not achieve the goal of banning doubles because it is
unenforceable. The reason provided to me for the civil penalties was
that it would be easier to pass.

For several years, I provided the New York State and PA State Police
with information on the location of double deck trailers transporting
horses in violation of the law. I know what it takes for law
enforcement to make an arrest and for the prosecution to win in
court. As one who has observed these laws being violated and has
worked to have the violators stopped, arrested and successfully
prosecuted week in and week out for several years, I know what it
takes to have a double carrying horses stopped, offenders arrested,
and successfully prosecuted. The State Troopers and Assistant
District Attorneys who have enforced the New York and Pennsylvania
laws banning double deckers agree that without criminal penalties,
there will be NO enforcement.

Here are the problems with civil penalties & the solution:


• Public cannot call 911 to report a violation upon observing a
double decker with horses on board.
o How will the U.S. Attorney General know how many violations
unless the trailer is stopped by law enforcement so the number of
horses can be counted and documented for court?
o Is the Public expected to investigate, collect, document, and
then provide the evidence of the violation to the U.S. Attorney
General's Office?
o Unless a trailer is stopped, it is impossible to document the
number of horses on the trailer.
o Private citizens often observe these trailers while traveling
the opposite direction on a limited access highway making it
impossible for them to observe or obtain a license plate or any other
identifying information. Without this information, how can the U.S.
Attorney General's Office know who to arrest?
o Past experience has demonstrated that even with a description
of the truck, law enforcement has been unable to locate a truck
reported to be transporting horses in a double deck trailer.
o Private citizens have reported violations of the Commercial
Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Act of 1996 only to be told by
APHIS that APHIS does not accept reports of violations from the
public!
• State and local law enforcement cannot enforce a law with
civil penalties, only criminal penalties
• State and local law enforcement have no incentive to contact
the federal government on a law with civil penalties and no related
state or local law.
• The federal law enforcement agencies do not respond now to
calls from state law enforcement agencies regarding motor vehicles
stopped with illegal aliens. If the feds will not respond for a van
full of human cargo, why would they respond for a truck loaded with
horse cargo?
• Enforcement will only happen when:
o there is an accident because law enforcement will investigate
the accident, thus collecting the evidence needed to prosecute.
o In states where there is a law banning doubles, PA, NY, MA,
MD, RI, VT, state and local law enforcement can enforce the state
law, and the U.S. Attorney General could file federal charges because
the evidence will be collected by law enforcement.
o At the U.S. border, if the U.S. border patrol, USDA, and U.S.
Customs officials are aware of the law. Again, the Commercial
Transportation of Horses to Slaughter Regulations demonstrates that
this does not happen. U.S. D.O.T and Motor Carrier inspectors are not
aware of the law and do not report suspected violations to APHIS.
• The failed enforcement of the federal regulations, which has
Civil Penalties, compared to the successful enforcement of the NY and
PA state laws with criminal penalties proves that Civil Penalties are
not effective.
• State legislators will point to a federal law banning doubles
as a reason not to pass state legislation. As pointed out above, in
states where there is a law in place, is where the federal law could
be enforced.

The SOLUTION

Amend the law to a chapter in Title 49 Transportation that has
criminal penalties. Title 49 Chapter III Part 393 provides criminal
penalties and would allow law enforcement state law enforcement
officers who have been trained and authorized to enforce the federal
motor carrier safety program laws.

Kirk's office maintains that the high fines will be a deterrent.
Facts prove that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent. Facts
prove that Arlow Kiehl and Don Nickerson, Nickerson Livestock, were
not deterred by Carper's conviction and $11,000 fine in NY, or Three
Hills Rodeo was not deterred by New Holland and Sugarcreek
Livestocks' convictions.

For more information on double deck trailers please visit the Equine
Protection Network's website:

http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com/transport/transportindex.htm

The EPN opposed the PA Horse Transport Law for 5 years because if
passed, it would have been nothing more than a publicity victory. We
stood our ground despite criticism and the result was the strongest
law in the country; One of PA's strongest criminal laws praised by
police and prosecutors alike, and successfully enforced and
prosecuted.

I urge you to please contact Rep Kirk's office requesting that HR
305 be amended with criminal penalties as recommended above.

If you have any doubts regarding what I am telling you, contact law
enforcement agencies tasked with patrolling the interstates and ask
them if HR 305 will be enforced with civil penalties. Contact the
U.S. Attorney General's Office and ask them what evidence they would
need to file charges and what they would need to successfully
prosecute a case.

Please alert your supporters and other animal welfare advocates
asking them to withdraw their support until HR 305 is amended with
criminal penalties.

Something is not better than nothing…

Christine Berry
Equine Protection Network