Another Downer Cow Abuse Video Comes To The Surface
The Humane Society of the United States(HSUS) has released a new video allegedly depicting downer cattle being abused at a livestock auction in New Mexico.
The video allegedly depicts downer cattle being subjected to electric prods, dragged by a chain and otherwise mistreated at the Portales Livestock Auction in Portales, N.M., according to the HSUS.
It was the sixth livestock facility this year ensnared in video depictions of animal cruelty in the ongoing HSUS campaign to expose what it calls “widespread abuse of livestock across the country... This gross mistreatment of spent dairy cows should turn your stomach, and they have been uncovered in location after location."
USDA Secretary Ed Schafer called the situation “unfortunate” and deplorable, adding that the weakened conditions of the animals would have prevented their delivery to a slaughter facility.
“Furthermore, they would not have passed ante-mortem inspection by the highly trained Food Safety Inspection Service inspection program personnel. Simply put, the condition of these cattle would prohibit them from even entering the first phase of a multi-phased process of approving cattle for slaughter,” he says.
“Of the nearly 34 million cattle that were slaughtered last year, under 1,000 cattle that were re-inspected were actually approved by the veterinarian for slaughter. This represents less than 0.003% of cattle slaughtered annually. However, to eliminate further misunderstanding of the rule and, ultimately, to make a positive impact on the humane handling of cattle, it is sound policy to simplify this matter by initiating a complete ban on the slaughter of downer cattle that go down after initial inspection.”
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=IJ1gVHCJGi8]
It's unfortunate that HSUS is trying to depict this video as representative of the agriculture industry, when the industry itself is clearly outraged. It's also unfortunate they try to drag down a specific packer, Caviness, with no real link and even try to tie in the School Lunch Program with no connection their either. Clearly they're trying to use scare tactics to sway public opinion. If animal welfare was really their goal, why didn't the person taping do anything to stop these incidents?
ReplyDeleteExcellent point Chelsea! This video is attempting to label the entire livestock industry as abusive to animals. Granted, the animals should not have been mistreated, as with any large operation there is bound to be people who will act wrongly and make mistakes. The U.S. livestock industry moves vast numbers of animals throughout the country everyday and the video captured a situation that is very uncommon, compared to the whole industry picture. If individuals were to go undercover in some HSUS animal shelters to see exactly how they treat EVERY animal. They would quite possibly find a similar situation. Much like the “one bad apple will ruin the whole basket” theory in the sense that it is the abnormal, minority that will tarnish the rest of the group.
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