My mom and I landed in DC on Tuesday morning and took a taxi to the ASPCA, so we could meet some of the people who are working on stopping horse slaughter. They were all working really hard for the big event and it was great to see and meet all the people working to stop horse slaughter. We met, Nancy Perry, Richard Patch, Carolyn Schnurr, Jessica Johnson, Valerie Angeli, Andrew Binovi, Evan an intern for the ASPCA.
After lunch, I got ready for my meeting with Congressman Guinta so I could thank him for co-sponsoring H.R. 2966, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Mr. Richard Patch (ASPCA) went to the meeting with us and thanked Congressman Guinta and then asked him about helping with the double decker transport legislation, which would stop double decker transportation of horses. Congressman Guinta said he would look in it and that he wanted to help. The Congressman said that my going to Washington DC on behalf of the horses had made him think about horse slaughter and that he thought of it as a regional issue, so he hadn't researched it much before I went and talked to him. Now I hope he understands that it's everyone's issue, not just a certain part of the country. I really hope he does what he said and helps get other co-sponsors so we can get horse slaughter banned in the US for good! I also hope he looks more into the double decker transport issue, so horses don't have to be transported so inhumanely.
While we were walking around the Congressional building, I told Mr. Patch about a school report I am doing on Hawaii and he took us to the office of Congresswoman Mazie Hirono from Hawaii. She wasn't available, but we met her Senior Office Manager, Pamela Okimoto and she was very kind to give me things like maps and brochures on Hawaii for my report. Ms. Okimoto, also gave me a letter from the Congresswoman and after I was done reading it, I found out that Congresswoman Hirono is against horse slaughter and is already a co-sponsor on the bill! YAAAAAAAAAA! While we were waiting for Ms. Okimoto to come back out I looked out the window and saw the outside of the building and it was so cool! There are some really interesting buildings in DC.
Next we went back to the ASPCA, to get ready for an ice cream social that Congressman Guinta had invited us to. It was super fun and we even saw a family from our church! I thought I had seen them walking around earlier when we riding in a taxi, but I wasn't sure. I guess it really was them!
When we got to the hotel, we had some dinner and then crashed in our beds after a great first day back in DC!!
I will work on day two later, we are still getting pictures and trying to get videos to post on my blog. Stay tuned!!
~Declan
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