If someone else has already diaried this, I'll delete this entry. Video footage from an undercover investigator working for an animal rights group has uncovered systematic abuse and torture of sick cows at a California slaughterhouse, in violation CA law and USDA regulations, in an attempt to get them to pass inspection. Link to the Washington Post after the jump.
From the Washington Post, Video Reveals Violations of Laws, Abuse of Cows at Slaughterhouse
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.
These were not rogue employees secretly doing these things," the investigator said in a telephone interview on the condition of anonymity because he hopes to infiltrate other slaughterhouses. "This is the pen manager and his assistant doing this right in the open."
All of these actions were violations of the law; however, it is testimony to the Bushian vision of government that the USDA obviously has inadequate funding and is no longer able to effectively monitor slaughterhouse operations. According to the article, these violations occured on a daily basis, but when the USDA inspector was not present.
The investigator said a USDA inspector appeared twice a day, at 6:30 a.m. and about 12:30 p.m., to look at each cow to be slaughtered that day. The practices occurred before the inspector's appearance, he said, with the goal of getting the animals on their feet for the short time the inspector was there.
I, personally, am not a vegetarian, and have the occasionally weakness for a good Whataburger (go Texas!). However, we can all agree that animals must be treated ethically, both for the sake of the animals themselves and for our own physical and, dare I say it, moral health.
Here, of course, is the kicker of the whole article.
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.
Any surprise....?