Sources:  Miamiherald.com, ABCnews.go.com

On Thursday, April 22, a bill was passed unanimously in the Florida Senate that will increase penalties for horse slaughter or the sale or purchase of horse meat within the state.  The governor of Florida, Charles Crist, will need to sign it before it takes effect.

This legislation follows upon twenty-two cases where owners found their horses dead and butchered.  In September, 2009, a man was arrested in Miami after police received information that he was involved in killing privately owned horses and selling the meat.  At the time 18 year old Miguel Cordero was arrested, he was charged with armed robbery, animal cruelty, and killing a registered horse.  Police suspected that there were additional people involved in the crimes.  

The crimes were extremely brutal with horse owners finding hacked up remains of their animals inside their stalls or in their pastures.  In some instances, horses were butchered on the sides of roads with the limbs chopped off, or chunks of meat removed.  The killings went on for at least six months before Cordero was caught.

The legislation will increase the penalty for such crimes from misdemeanors to felonies with higher fines and jail time.