Official: Horse Slaughterhouse Unlikely in ND

• Equine Rescue Founder and Horse

Cheri White Owl, founder of Horse Feathers Equine Rescue, is pictured with one of the 33 horses she is currently caring for in Guthrie, Okla., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Slaughterhouses could be ready to kill horses within a month if the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides funding for meat inspectors, days after Congress quietly opened the door to the practice by lifting a 5-year-old ban on spending federal money on such inspections. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — It's unlikely that North Dakota will open a horse slaughterhouse in the wake of Congress lifting a ban on funding horse meat inspections, a state official said.

Pro-slaughter activists have said they are looking to open a plant soon — possibly in North Dakota.

But John Mittleider, manager of ag and bioenergy with the state Department of Commerce, said that a study funded by the Legislature and completed last year showed it wouldn't be feasible for a horse slaughterhouse to be operated in North Dakota, according to a story posted Thursday by the Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/rJ6e4V ).

Mittleider said the first phase of a study found there were a number of barriers, including legal issues, to building such a facility in the state. A second phase of the study, if deemed necessary, would determine the economic feasibility of a processing plant.

The study's first phase read in part: "... it is our view at this time that there are significant impediments, if not outright barriers, to the establishment of a horse processing facility in North Dakota to produce horse meat for human consumption ..."

However, Mittleider acknowledged that the study — approved during the 2009 legislative session for $50,000 — wouldn't preclude a private individual or group from studying the issue further.

The Associated Press reported earlier this week that a congressional lifting of a ban to fund horse meat inspections could open the door for slaughterhouses in some states.

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