Animal lovers who have fought for some time to ban the slaughtering of horses for human consumption may soon win.

In early June, Rep. John Sweeney (R-New York) and his colleagues were successful in passing an amendment to the House Agriculture Appropriations bill that would eliminate horse meat inspections by the United States Department of Agriculture.

If the horse meat is not approved by the department, it cannot be sold for human consumption anywhere, said Melissa Carlson, a spokeswoman for Sweeney.

The amendment has moved to the Senate and if it succeeds, the Cavel International Inc. plant in DeKalb would likely lose a big part of its revenue. Cavel is a Belgium company which slaughters horses for their meat.

In a press release shortly following the amendment’s approval by the House, Sweeney said he was highly opposed to slaughtering horses because it is a horrid and inhumane practice.

But the legislation has taken time to come this far because there are people who think differently. State Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, has voted against anti-horse slaughtering bills in the past, but supports the responsible treatment of animals.

“It is purely an elective option,” Pritchard said. “And it’s only a small portion of the horses that are euthanised or die each year.”

This amendment is not the first attempt to ban horse slaughtering.

Sweeney attempted to ban the human consumption of horse meat as recent as last year but was unsuccessful.

The amendment was successful because Sweeney is on the appropriations committee, Carlson said. Therefore he had more influence in getting the bill off the ground.