Washington Town to Become Horse Slaughter Capital?

Stanwood is right near where we live in Seattle and, sadly, home to Pigs Peace Animal Sanctuary which rescues all kinds of animals. I can only imagine how they feel.

From the Sky Valley Chronicle....

A new report in the Staug News of St. Augustine, Florida doesn’t mince any words when it comes to what’s afoot in the Stanwood area.

The story, by author and animal rights activist Ernest Dempsey calls Stanwood, Washington “Death Row for horses” because of the location not far away of a “major buying station, collection point and feedlot for U.S. horses destined to die and be butchered in one of Canada’s equine slaughterhouses for human consumption abroad.”

Dempsey says if rumblings of a new plan by the giant Canadian horse meat packing company Bouvry Exports-Calgary to reopen the Florence Packing plant on Florence Road for equine slaughter are true, Stanwood soon might become better known as the region’s “Butcher Shop for Horses”.

The rumor mill has it that Bouvry wants to reopen the plant to service more inexpensively developing markets for its product in Russia, China and other Asian nations.

Update on National Meat Association vs. Brown

Did anyone know this was going on?

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently heard arguments in National Meat Association v. Brown, a case in which the meat industry is attempting to invalidate a California law designed to reduce animal suffering and protect public safety.

At issue is Section 599f of the California Penal Code, which, among other things, prohibits slaughterhouses from purchasing, receiving, selling, dragging, or pushing non-ambulatory animals, also known as “downers,” and requires immediate euthanasia of such animals. The industry sued California, arguing that Section 599f is preempted by the Federal Meat Inspection Act. A coalition of animal protection groups consisting of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Farm Sanctuary, and the Humane Farming Association (HFA), intervened in the case to ensure that the interests of animals and the public were represented.

Escaped Cow Goes to Sanctuary

A cow that escaped from a slaughter house in NY City has been allowed to go to an animal sanctuary.

Two Beef Processors Hit With Humane Violations

Looks like someone forgot to contribute to the Bush Library.

Two of the nation's largest beef processors were slapped with humane handling violations during a government review of meat providers to the National School Lunch Program, records show.

One of those companies' violations was rescinded after the company appealed, and the other company's appeal is pending.

Audits by the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service resulted in "noncompliance" determinations for a National Beef Packing Co. plant in Dodge City, Kan., and a Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Fresno, Calif., according to information obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request.

USDA Issues Biggest Beef Recall Ever

It's amazing that we don't have more meat recalls in this country considering the vast number of animals being slaughtered on a daily basis. Too many animals, too many slaughtering plants, not enough inspectors to go around regularly.

These kinds of stories make me happy to be vegetarian. It's one less thing to be worried about.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the recall of 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef from a troubled Chino meat-packing company, deeming it unfit for human consumption because of lapses in required inspections.

The cattle "did not receive complete and proper inspection," according to a news release issued by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service in Washington. Information received by the federal agency shows that Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. "did not consistently contact the FSIS public health veterinarian" as required when cattle became non-ambulatory after being inspected, the release said....

Problems at the plant first went public following the release of a video showing treatment of animals at the plant between Oct. 11 and Nov. 9.

The video, taken surreptitiously by the Humane Society of the United States, led to schools nationwide pulling beef suppled by the company from cafeterias.

In the video, a manager is shown using a paddle to hit a non-ambulatory cow in the face and eye, in an attempt, authorities said, to get the animal to its feet to be taken to slaughter.

By law, cattle that cannot walk are banned from the human meat supply...

Photo by bellabellinsky.

David's Story: Working at Tyson Meatpacking

Daily Kos has an interesting article about a man named David who worked at Tyson. It's more a story about how he was treated rather then the animals, but it's worth reading to see what kind of companies these are. It's worth a read.