A New Hampshire boy toting more than 1,000 letters from other children joined representatives from three equine welfare advocacy groups and a Virginia Congressman in Washington, D.C., this week to urge federal lawmakers to ban the processing of horses for human consumption.

Horse slaughter has not taken place in the United States since 2007, but processing again became possible in November when President Barack Obama signed a federal funding bill that did not contain language specifically denying the USDA funds for horse processing plant inspections. Since then, processing plants have been proposed for Missouri and Oregon, but plants have yet been established.

On March 27 Virginia Congressman Jim Moran, representatives from the Equine Welfare Alliance and the Wild Horse Freedom Federation, and 9-year-old Declan Gregg called on Congress to reinstate the funding ban on USDA horse processing plant inspections. Gregg carried more than 1,000 letters opposing horse process written by children and submitted to Gregg though the Children4Horses campaign launched earlier this year on Gregg’s website. The letters were later submitted to Congress members.

During the press conference Gregg said he and the other children who submitted letters opposed horse processing on humane grounds: "I think horse slaughter is inhumane, cruel, and unnecessary. Horses and all animals should be treated with love and respect