A new undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States reveals that sick and crippled dairy cows continue to be abused in the livestock industry, even in the wake of high-profile exposés that should have put auction managers and other animal-handling personnel on their best behavior. HSUS investigators have gone undercover at six locations in five states – the now-shuttered Hallmark/Westland slaughter plant and five livestock auctions – and uncovered appalling abuses at every location. The latest investigation occurred at the Portales Livestock Auction in Portales, New Mexico.
"No longer can anyone in government or industry reasonably claim that the abuses we documented at Hallmark were an aberration or an isolated case," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "This gross mistreatment of spent dairy cows should turn your stomach, and they have been uncovered in location after location."
Yesterday, at a briefing for Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer about the latest abuses, The HSUS renewed its request that the U.S. Department of Agriculture act immediately to implement a bright-line prohibition on processing any downed cattle for food. The HSUS also urged USDA to extend the prohibition on downers to the 1,200-plus livestock markets and auctions that operate around the nation, and require that operators of those facilities and slaughter plants immediately humanely euthanize downer cattle upon identifying them in that non-ambulatory state.
"The abuses of these suffering creatures must be stopped, to protect both animal welfare and food safety" added Pacelle.
In May, an HSUS investigator worked at the Portales Livestock Auction and documented cows and calves being mistreated and tormented in order to get them to stand and walk into the auction ring. During the time covered by the investigation, New Mexico brand inspectors were present at the auctions and apparently saw much of the abuse. In advance of today's public release, The HSUS also provided information on the investigation to the New Mexico Livestock Board and the USDA, as well as to national industry leaders.
The HSUS investigator observed the sale of three downed cows who had been tormented to get them into the auction area. It was the slaughter of downed cows at the Hallmark/Westland plant in Chino, Calif., that prompted the nation's largest meat recall and put that company out of business. Some of the downed dairy cows the HSUS investigator videotaped at the now closed Hallmark/Westland plant came from the Portales Livestock Auction. HSUS sources reveal that many cows sold at Portales are slaughtered at Caviness in Hereford, Texas, and further processed at Caviness' Palo Duro plant in Amarillo. Now that Hallmark/Westland is out of business, Palo Duro is the top supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program.
Details of the new undercover HSUS investigation include:
- downed cows repeatedly shocked in an attempt to get them to rise
- calves and cows with broken legs and laminitis
- a downed cow being dragged by a chain around one leg, pulled by a Bobcat tractor, with the animals' leg severely hyper-extended
- a calf being kicked repeatedly in the head
- a blind cow being shocked and struck and other cows with serious and grotesque eye injuries/diseases
- a downed cow forced to crawl on her front knees by workers who repeatedly shocked her
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