Making Hay

More Change Possible for Downed Animals – You Can Help

 

By Alison

It all began with the rescue of Hilda, a downed sheep left to die on a dead pile 25 years ago. With a little kindness and compassion, this suffering sheep, who had been callously tossed aside at a stockyard, regained her health and became an ambassador for farm animals everywhere. Ever since Hilda’s rescue, Farm Sanctuary has been dedicated to ending the suffering of animals too ill, injured or weak to stand or walk, and making great strides in changing laws and policies to protect them through our No Downers Campaign. Now, with your help, we have the opportunity to inspire another big step forward.

Like Hilda, more than a million farm animals become downed every year. And, sadly, they are often subjected to extreme abuse and neglect. In 2009, recognizing the enormous potential for inhumane treatment and food safety risks associated with slaughtering downed animals, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a rule to prohibit the slaughter of downed cattle and require that they be humanely euthanized at U.S. slaughterhouses. Though this rule was a step in the right direction for cattle, other farm animals, including pigs, goats and sheep, were left unprotected.

Last year, Farm Sanctuary submitted a petition for rulemaking to the USDA requesting that the agency extend the 2009 rule to include other farm animals. What ultimately became a ban on downed cattle slaughter was inspired by an undercover investigation revealing horrendous abuse of downed cows at a California slaughter plant that Farm Sanctuary had also investigated in 1993. Video footage and other evidence showed workers kicking cows, forcefully prodding them with the blades of a forklift, jabbing them repeatedly in the eyes and other sensitive areas, and even forcing water up a cow’s nose to simulate drowning and force the animal to rise. What the USDA has failed to recognize, however, is that countless pigs, goats and sheep are subjected to similar abuse and deserve the same protections.

Because a downed pig, sheep or goat who doesn’t make it to the kill floor could mean a loss in profits, and because, unlike cattle, they are still eligible for slaughter, workers often stop at nothing to force them through the disassembly line. As cited in our petition, slaughterhouse non-compliance reports demonstrate time and again that workers treat suffering downed pigs, goats and sheep with horrific cruelty – shocking, kicking, beating, and dragging them to slaughter. One report details workers allowing pigs to trample a downer in an alley, while others recount downed pigs squealing and struggling as workers beat and kick them. Still more describe ailing sheep and goats being left to suffer without food, water or veterinary treatment. And beyond these non-compliance reports is the extensive evidence Farm Sanctuary has collected first hand while carrying out investigations of our own through the years – starting way back in 1986 when Hilda was rescued and the organization was first born.

It’s time that the USDA recognizes that all farm animals are capable of suffering and that the same basic protections currently afforded to cattle should be extended to other animals as well. Fortunately, we may be one step closer. On February 7, 2011, the USDA responded to our petition by announcing that it will accept public comment on the issue. Now is our chance to show the agency that our nation’s citizens won’t ignore the suffering of downed animals and demand that they extend the rule to include pigs, sheep and goats. Please join us in urging the USDA to take this logical and necessary next step.

They’re at it Again: The USDA’s Latest Slaughterhouse Violations

 

by Gene

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is under fire yet again thanks to whistle-blower Dean Wyatt. A supervisory veterinarian for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Wyatt testified before members of Congress last Thursday, stating that he has been chastised and undermined by the FSIS for just doing his job. Wyatt claims he was overruled and reprimanded for citing slaughterhouses for violations, including shocking and butchering days-old calves too sick or weak to stand and illegally butchering pigs while they were still conscious. Despite laws and regulations against these practices, the USDA has turned a blind eye toward these egregious abuses.

Butchering downed cattle for food violates USDA regulations. Animals who are too sick or weak even to stand can be ridden with illness and disease, and allowing these incapacitated animals into the food supply poses a danger to human health. Among the ailments that could afflict these sick animals is mad cow disease, which was confirmed in the U.S. in a downed cow in 2003.

The slaughter of downed animals for human food is grossly inhumane. These sick animals are commonly denied necessary veterinary attention and suffer unconscionable cruelties at the hands of slaughterhouse workers who use any means necessary to get these animals onto the killing floor, from kicking and beating to shocking and dragging. Additionally, the idea of animals, whether they are downed or not, being butchered and cut up while still alive is intolerable. This is animal abuse and it must stop. Like cats and dogs, farm animals experience pain and suffering and deserve to be protected from cruelty.

In March of last year, the Obama administration placed a ban on sick and injured cattle entering the food supply. But thousands of pigs, goats and sheep – and cattle, as Wyatt has reported – face this fate every single day. This latest news underscores the need for a federal ban on all downed animals entering the food supply. Tell President Obama and the USDA to end the routine abuse of all downed farm animals, including pigs. Spread the word and sign our Petition for the Pigs today.

Help End the Slaughter of Downed Pigs

By Delci

In March of this year President Barack Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack closed a loophole that allowed downed cattle – those too sick to stand or walk on their own – to enter the human food supply. While this was an historic step in the right direction, our long-term battle to protect downed animals is not over. Despite the downed cattle ban, as many as one million downed animals enter the food supply annually. Pigs are at a particularly high risk for becoming downed, because they are bred to gain weight rapidly, making them more prone to leg problems. Downed sheep, goats and other animals also continue to be slaughtered for human food.

By allowing for the slaughter of these downers, the government disregards important animal welfare and human health concerns. Due to their size, it is often extremely difficult to move downed farm animals (pigs, for example, typically weigh more than 200 pounds), so industry workers will use any means possible – no matter how cruel – to get these animals from one place to another. Downers may also languish for several hours or days before they are slaughtered. Often left to lie on ground soiled by urine and manure, these animals typically suffer the unrelenting torment of broken limbs, painful infections, burning fevers, or other maladies. When it’s their turn to be slaughtered (if they haven’t already died from neglect), they’re often dragged, beaten, pushed with forklifts, or shocked with electric prods to get them to the kill floor, where the fast pace of slaughterhouse operations leads to even more mishandling and extreme suffering.

 Every year in the U.S., tens of thousands of sheep like this one become "downed."

Slaughtering downed animals also poses risks to consumers. The inability to stand is a strong indicator of disease. Most cases of mad cow disease identified in cattle have been discovered in downers. Slaughterhouse records also show that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved meat from downers with gangrene, hepatitis, malignant lymphoma, pneumonia, and other diseases. One review of USDA records revealed that more than 70 percent of downers were approved for human consumption. While a broken leg or other injury can easily be identified, such injuries are often secondary to more serious health problems. In fact, sick animals are more likely to fall and become injured than healthy ones. Finally, because downed animals are often left to lie in filthy conditions, their skin can easily pick up fecal bacteria and other pathogens that can contaminate their flesh as it is cut apart.

More than seven years ago, Congress amended the Humane Slaughter Act, requiring that the USDA address the treatment of all downed animals by preparing a report on the issue and then establishing any regulations needed to ensure that downers are treated more humanely. Despite this mandate, the USDA has failed to take action and continues to allow downed animals to suffer unnecessarily and be killed for human food. That’s why we are petitioning President Obama to hold the USDA accountable and extend protections to downed pigs and other animals. Please join us by taking a moment now to sign our petition, and ask your friends, co-workers and family members to do the same.