2 SoCal men charged with abusing cattle

[lligrd]

Source: Associated Press

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Two former slaughterhouse workers were charged Friday with abusing ailing cattle in a case based on undercover video footage showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.

Bench warrants for the arrest of Daniel Navarro and Luis Sanchez were issued after they failed to appear for arraignment. Prosecutors did not know if they had retained lawyers.

Authorities said Navarro and Sanchez were seen in the Humane Society video, which showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downer" animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos said.

<snip>

The slaughterhouse in Chino is operated by Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., which supplies meat to the federal school lunch program and to major hamburger chains. The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after the video surfaced earlier this year, and lawmakers in Washington called Thursday for an investigation

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080216/ap_on_bi_ge/slaughterhouse_charges;_ylt=AiY5IW4DHZ1iH0Xmv3h7z82s0NUE

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Truly disgusting.

[pipoman]

1. This is a followup from a previous thread

A few facts about cattle slaughter

Every kill floor regardless the size of the slaughter facility is required to have usda inspector(s). A beef must be able to walk into the kill room under it's own power (a decade ago cattle could be pulled in with a forklift)or it isn't allowed in the facility nor will it be butchered for human consumption.

The cattle in the video were worn out dairy cattle which just came in on a semi truck. There is a certain amount of loss which is associated with transportation especially of old cattle.

There are ways to get some of these cattle up and get them onto the kill floor. These methods aren't pretty but undoubtedly required by upper management at this and every other large packing plant.

The only prosecutions are of two likely immigrants/aliens who were probably just following procedure.

The animals in the video were all outside the facility, the article tried to make readers think that the cattle in the video were put into the food chain and ultimately into the school lunch program. The cattle in the video, if they never did stand on their own were undoubtedly moved to a holding area reserved for animals going for rendering, usually for pet foods and other non human consumption uses.

Regardless of what is said we are not a wasteful society at this level and these cattle must be utilized in some way. Animal slaughter ain't pretty but those hamburgers and steaks sure are tasty.

Lastly, just so we are all aware what we are talking about as far as numbers go, for the week ending Feb. 2, 2008:

Animals Killed In USDA inspected slaughter houses in one week

Cattle 611,934
Calves 16,234
Hogs 2,273,028
Sheep 46,227
Goats 10,323
Bison 1,080

http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/SJ_LS711.txt

[flashl]

2. I agree with the oddity of transfering responsibility onto the workers and

the fact that many in America would become vegetarians, never eating a hamburger or steak if they had to do the killing.

And, although, I believe many inspectors are genuine gatekeepers of our food supply, I have become deeply suspicious about inspectors being suppressed insuring standards or worse fired for doing their jobs.

[sam sarrha]

8. the last i heard.. "Downed Cows" were sold at a discount to school lunch programs, but since >>Link>

the Red Zone got out of control, they probably did something..

http://www.maddeer.org click on the various links..

downed cows were sold for non human consumption, to feed Mink farms, prion disease organisms, that survive 1800* F and all other attempts to kill them can jump interspecies in 4 generations, the mink got CJD and escaped into the wild and infected deer, 10's of thousands of square miles of the usa forest and range land now contain infected deer that often share salt licks with range cattle, and hunters.

independent studies have shown that 12%+ of patients in Alzheimer's wards actually have CJD or wasting prion disease

i hve seen sick falling cows driven into the slaughter house with electric prods in the past.. i have seen huge tumors/cancers rejected by usda they had the tumor hacked off with a hatchet and they ran back thru and passed, many cancers are viral infections

[LeftyMom]

9. "A beef must be able to walk"

Well there's the problem. There's no such animal as a beef. If they were thinking of the cattle as feeling beings instead of hamburgers in their larval stage, perhaps they wouldn't mistreat them.

[pipoman]

10. It was at the processor

The term used for an individual bovine is gender/age sensitive (steer, cow, bull, heifer, calf) it is simply an easier term.

On the same note though I believe many people who go about their daily life half eating their hamburger or steak and throwing the rest away, run to the supermarket to pick up a lb of burger who have never seen a live bovine or who have never taken a bovine to a slaughterhouse then gone back a few weeks later and put the same bovine in the trunk of their car to take home and eat for the next year can't handle the truth. If the people who kill animals EVERYDAY considered them "feeling beings" on too grand of scale you wouldn't want those people living among us in society.

Now I know A LOT of cattle ranchers. They all treat their animals with care. They don't mistreat them. They work tirelessly to be sure they are fed and watered and their needs are met. When I first moved onto my acreage I was given 2 orphan calves which I, my wife and sons bottle fed until they could take grain and forage. We fed them everyday rain, shine, snow, sleet..at that time we only had water at our house. For a year and a half I carried buckets of water every day, 20-40 gallons in 5 gallon buckets 100 yards. We went and got them when they got out of their pasture once. We cared for them. A year and a half later we (the whole family) loaded them into a stock trailer and took them to the processor. We all have an appreciation for where our meat comes from, we don't waste because waste is a disregard for the life that brought us our food. One of my sons is applying to veterinary programs, the other wants to be a rancher of organic meat and is applying to top ag programs..go figure.

None of this is to excuse the treatment of these animals but again I state most of society can't handle or don't want to face the truth.

This is the view from my front door taken a few weeks ago.

[Honeycombe8]

3. Oh, God. The awful, cruel people in this world. The group mentality of...

it's always been this way...or this is the way it's done....or we're superior to animals according to the Bible....etc.

How do these evil people sleep at night?

[bluerum]

4. Pharmaceuticals.

[pipoman]

5. One of my favorite movie quotes

by Michael Madsen in Renegade, "Animals are beasts, Men are monsters".

I have been on a kill floor in a slaughter house before. It is impossible for most people to understand the reality of getting up every morning, going to work, and killing one creature after another until your shift is up. How can you not objectify the creatures you are killing? If you don't you go mad. Most slaughter houses have a time limit that a person can work on the kill floor because of the disregard for life that can come from doing this job. A necessary evil? I don't know but I do like a nice smoked brisket or delicious hamburger off the grill.

[flvegan]

6. This is far from an isolated incident.

In animal agriculture, cruelty is common practice.

Big thanks to HSUS for exposing this particular case and getting this slaughterhouse shuttered. I hope it bankrupts the company. Fuck 'em.

[Kajsa]

7. Fivegan, this should do it.

As far as I know, ALL the school districts ( including mine) here in OC
have canceled their orders with this company.

There is no beef/beef products in the school lunches right now.

Yep, Kudos to the HSUS!

:applause:

[bitchkitty]

11. I do not eat beef

anymore, for some time. This video doesn't record something out of the ordinary.

Consider this - where would a pedophile's dream job be? In a day care. Where would a sick fuck who gets off on torturing dumb animals like most to work?

[daleo]

12. This increases the risk of mad cow disease

"crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts." Keeping downer cows out of the slaughterhouse was supposed to be the first line of defense.

[panzerfaust]

13. Cattle were Water Boarded.

"...using several abusive techniques to make animals stand up and pass a pre-slaughter inspection. These included ramming cattle with forklift blades and using a hose to simulate the feeling of drowning."

From: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1760137220080217

Proud to be 'Merican. Is this a Great Country or what?