WATCH the video.

A poll conducted this year revealed that 80 percent of Americans are “strongly opposed” to horse slaughter. But Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) remains one of the federal policymakers who hasn’t taken a position against this inhumane practice and signed on to the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

The poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). It confirms why passing the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act is a pressing national concern.

In this We Make It News special report, you’ll learn the truth about horse slaughter and what you can do. From the trend of kill buyers flocking to auctions to buy horses, to the transportation-and-slaughter pipeline through which these animals endure horrible injuries and treatment, horse slaughter remains a cycle of cruelty.

Members of the public need to contact Senator Cardin and ask him to take a stand against horse slaughter. Call (202) 224-4524 and ask him to do the right thing.

The fates of hundreds of thousands of horses hang in the balance. Horses have worked our land, transported us, gone with us to war, been faithful companions, are used in sports, entertain us, and trust us. “They deserve better,” says Valerie Pringle, an equine protection specialist with The Humane Society of the United States.

You Need to Know

Citizens can help stop horse slaughter by asking their legislators and President Obama to make it illegal to slaughter a horse for human consumption and/or transport and export horses for slaughter.

Maryland’s Senator Barbara Mikulski has been praised for her support of the bipartisan legislation, introduced in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, to ban horse slaughter. She joins other elected officials who have responsibly separated fact from fiction in an increasingly controversial debate fraught with skewed information from the pro-slaughter faction.

Tell Cardin to support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act based on these undisputed facts:

• A majority of horses sent to slaughter are healthy and young – not starving, neglected and abandoned, as the myth goes;

• Horse slaughter supports overbreeding, irresponsible ownership and questionable practices among some in the horse industry;

• Race horses and show horses, such as Quarter Horses, are among the victims of horse slaughter;

• Horse slaughter is inconsistent with how veterinarians say animals should be put down;

• American horses are not raised as food and are given medications and products that are not meant for human consumption; and

• Stopping horse slaughter does not prevent a horse owner from humanely euthanizing his or her horse when necessary.

Video and audio pieces for We Make It News are produced by Tobin Communications.