You can make a difference. Please join Jillian Michael's by sending a letter and voicing your support for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, which would prevent U.S. horses from being transported to slaughterhouses, effectively ending the slaughter of U.S. horses for food.

Every year, tens of thousands of American horses are killed for their flesh. Worse still, they are forced to endure journeys of hundreds of miles in cramped trucks—often in extreme weather without food or a drop of water—before reaching slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. It is a cruel industry that has been hidden from sight—until now. This spring, PETA investigators rode with and followed a transporter from a meat buyer's property in Iowa to the Les Viandes de la Petite Nation Inc. slaughterhouse in Québec. U.S. law permits horses to be hauled for 28 hours and sometimes longer without being off-loaded. PETA's investigator witnessed how the 33 horses aboard the transporter endured a 1,100-mile, 36-hour journey in subfreezing conditions and were never given food, water, or a chance to unload.

This long, grueling ride is only a small part of the torment that many tired, injured horses endure. Panicked horses— including thoroughbreds, standard breeds, quarter horses, and draft horses—are crowded inside "kill pens" at livestock auctions across the country. At an auction in Iowa, horses waited for hours before they were corralled toward the auction ring, weighed, and finally sold. The heavy hydraulic gates used to separate the horses as they entered the auction area frequently slammed shut on their heads and necks—just one more ordeal in the long and traumatic journey to their deaths. Click here to read more of this article and to voice your support for the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, which would prevent U.S. horses from being transported to slaughterhouses, effectively ending the slaughter of U.S. horses for food. The bill is currently sitting in committees in Congress and may fall through the cracks if we don't act fast. Jillian Michaels has penned letters to the committee chairs urging each to consider the bill. Join her in contacting the committee chairs and sign your letter that she has penned on this website.