The U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver yesterday lifted a Nov. 4 temporary ban on food-safety inspections at the slaughterhouses and denied a request by opponents of horse slaughter, including environmental groups and the state of New Mexico, to keep the stay in place while they pursue their appeal.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that the opponents hadn’t shown they were likely to succeed in the appeal and hadn’t presented “non-speculative” evidence that they or the environment would suffer irreparable harm from limited horse slaughtering operations, the appellate court said.

“On the other hand, the slaughterhouses have shown that they face a likelihood of cognizable harm” because barring inspections during the appeal would prevent them from running lawful businesses, the court said.

“We are very disappointed in the court’s ruling, but are undeterred and will continue to try to stop the dangers of horse slaughter from causing devastating harm to American communities, environments and horses,” Bruce Wagman, a lawyer representing the opponents of commercial horse slaughter, said in an e-mail.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek