Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell held a hearing Tuesday in his agriculture subcommittee on the treatment of farm animals. Boswell, a Democrat, says he held the hearing to answer concerns of animal welfare groups. Boswell says people from the Humane Society and other groups continue to come to lawmakers with information on the treatment of animals, "which is fine, this is America, you can do that."
But, Boswell says some of the information being shared "has not been satisfactory from my perspective." Boswell says mistreatment of animals is "the exception, not the rule." Boswell is a farmer and says farmer have to take good care of their animals to be successful.
Boswell says the American farmer with livestock and ranches is "doing a pretty darn good job." Boswell says one the hearing pointed out some of the "dilemma" caused by the animal rights groups. As an example, he says the slaughtering of horses for meat and the inability to send horse meat overseas has created a problem.
Boswell says there are some 40,000 horses in a feed lot that taxpayers are paying to feed, and thousands more range horses that aren’t being controlled. Boswell says it’s a realistic problem that needed to be talked about. Boswell says there hadn’t been a hearing on the issue of animal welfare since 1989. Boswell says he hopes both sides were able to present their information on the issue.