CA Slaughterhouse Zaps Cows Too Weak To Stand

Washington Post:

Video footage being released today shows workers at a California slaughterhouse delivering repeated electric shocks to cows too sick or weak to stand on their own; drivers using forklifts to roll the "downer" cows on the ground in efforts to get them to stand up for inspection; and even a veterinary version of waterboarding in which high-intensity water sprays are shot up animals' noses -- all violations of state and federal laws designed to prevent animal cruelty and to keep unhealthy animals, such as those with mad cow disease, out of the food supply.

Moreover, the companies where these practices allegedly occurred are major suppliers of meat for the nation's school lunch programs, including in Maryland, according to a company official and federal documents.

The footage was taken by an undercover investigator for an animal welfare group, who wore a customized video camera under his clothes while working at the facility last year. [ View the video on the Humane Society Web site ] It is evidence that anti-cruelty and food safety rules are inadequate, and that Agriculture Department inspection and enforcement need to be enhanced, said officials with the Humane Society of the United States, which coordinated the project.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[CanCar]

Exists any sanction for those companies? Definitively is deserved it. humanesoci­etywashing­ton. info

[Sciguy]

Maybe I was wrong, and it's time to stop eating cattle and dairy products. At least when I eat eggs and poultry (both mine), I know for sure that the animals have been treated well in life, and are killed humanely. I can't control what meat packers do, but I don't have to contribute to the problem.

[JohnFromCensornati]

How is it that people do not view animals as sentient beings that experience pain and fear?
Why do people think it's necessary to eat animals that live short, horrible lives with brutal ends?
Be the change you want to see in the world.

[sheila]

this is incredibly disgusting and disturbing. the perpetrators of this torture, which also gravely endangers the lives of consumers, should be permanently shut down and never allowed to work in any industry relating to animals again.

how would we boycott them since they are a wholesaler and we rarely have information about where meat comes from?

[Jezdukowski]

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."

- Immanuel Kant

"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."

- Albert Schweitzer

This kind of behavior is just so typical of (most) Americans in these dark days of our country - uncaring, uncompassionate and cruel beyond belief.

...God help us all

[Sumocat]

"the companies where these practices allegedly occurred are major suppliers of meat for the nation's school lunch programs" -- Not surprising given our government's practice of buying surplus meat for school lunch programs. Considering all the so-called quality meat gets sold first, I'm surprised our schools get anything but substandard meat. (Nice thing about not eating meat is that I'm never affected by its quality.)