A comment about a recent blog raised an interesting question regarding on-going state attempts to re-introduce horse slaughter to the United States. The writer wondered how the Missouri legislature could try and pass a law authorizing horse processing facilities in the state when there is no federal funding for inspectors at the plants. The answer depends on the often confusing interplay between federal and state law.

There currently is no federal law prohibiting the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the United States. The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009 would do that, but the legislation is stalled in committee in both the Senate and House of Representatives, has been for a year. With Congress a partisan quagmire these days, the future of these bills is not promising