New Law Will Protect Horses From Slaughter

The law is named “The Yvonne Rodriguez Horse Protection Law” after one of the victims of the wave of horse slaughters that gripped Miami-Dade ranch owners throughout most of last year.

The NBCMiami investigation into the slaughters uncovered grisly sights: more than 22 horses slaughtered, often stolen, sometimes killed right in their stalls, for human consumption.

Authorities acted early this year. Just after dawn on January 12th, an army of regulators and police deployed to shut down slaughter farms and everything that went along with the years of lax enforcement in the area of Northwest Miami-Dade County known as the C-9 Basin or “the lawless region.”

Days before the raid, NBCMiami cameras found slaughter farms operating openly. Those same properties are now leveled - every building, every shack gone. Other properties are still under enforcement action. Even illegal fill dirt is being ordered dug up and removed from what zoning and planning authorities said is suppose to be wetlands adjacent to the Everglades.

Many people who live and work in the C-9 Basin are not happy about it, accusing the government of conspiring to take their land for wealthy condo developers, even though the land cannot be used for anything but wetlands or growing crops.

"I think it's ridiculous!" said animal investigator Richard Couto, who pressured authorities to take action. "For me to go out there and see some of these buildings being cleaned up, it was one of the better days of my life, to be honest."

If Couto fought the slaughter farms, Yvonne Rodriguez was their victim.

Last year, Rodriguez was extremely distraught after her horse Geronimo was stolen, taken right from his coral.

"I just want him back, no questions asked” said a desperate Rodriguez back then. Her horse was found just hours later, a mile down the country road tied to a palm tree and butchered alive. Rodriguez said that she was living a nightmare, but that she hoped something good would come out of the misery.

It did.

Now she has a state law named after her: “The Yvonne Rodriguez Horse Protection” law. Once signed by Gov. Crist, it'll be a felony to butcher your own horse, which had been a loophole in the law where butchers claim the horses are their own, and therefore legal.

The law won't bring back their horses but owners like Rodriguez said they'll never forget their animals.

"[I think about him] all the time. I have his picture at work," Rodriguez said. "It'll always be there."

After months of mourning, Rodriguez finally got back in the saddle: she has a new horse.

There are still more illegal slaughter farms in other parts of the county, police said. More crackdowns and more arrests are expected.