Florida Horse Protection Bill Signing

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The Florida Horse Protection Bill, Chapter 2010-87 of Florida Statutes becomes effective July 1, 2010 increasing penalties from a misdemeanor to a felony and now criminalizing the butchering of horses for commercial and personal uses.

The minimum sentence will be one year in prison and a $3500 fine for each offense.

The bill has been a legislative priority this year after more than 22 horses were found mutilated in the Miami-Dade area of South Florida. Representative Luis Garcia sponsored the measure, and the bill has come to be known as the Ivonne Rodriquez Horse Protection Act.

" My horse had been tied to a palm tree and slaughtered. This is something that has to be stopped," wrote Rodriquez in 2009 about the slaughter of her personal horse Geronimo.

Representative Maria Sachs ( D-Delray Beach) spoke in favor of the bill and told about breaking the hearts of children when their ponies were butchered. Miami Republican Senator Alex Villalobo sadly told the story of a friend who found her beloved horse chopped to pieces in a nearby forest.

The new bill will also protect polo ponies as a result of the deaths of 21 horses belonging to the Lechuza Caracas team from Venezuela that died from overdoses of an incorrectly mixed vitamin supplement. The new law requires substances used to be administered by a qualified equine veterinarian.

*celebrates* Now we'll just have to wait and see if they actually enforce it or not.