The Associated Press says Responsible Transportation, the owner of the Sigourney, Iowa slaughterhouse, will halt its push for a horse slaughter license, and focus on its beef slaughter priorities.

The move comes a month after a federal judge filed a restraining order in a lawsuit filed by animal rights groups agains tthe USDA. The Iowa company was one of two – the other in Roswell, N.M. – seeking the ability to slaughter horses.

Meanwhile, about that plant in New Mexico – the company owners are saying arsonists set fire to a Valley Meat facility in late July. Chaves County officials are investigating what they characterized as a "very suspicious" blaze, the USA Today reports.