Workers at the Hallmark slaughter plant kicked, shocked, jabbed at the eyes, dragged with chains, and rammed dairy cows too sick or injured to walk with a fork lift in an effort to get them to stand to pass USDA inspections. “Downed” animals are by law not supposed to be added to the food supply. This is because in random USDA testing, 12 of the 15 cows who tested positive for mad cow disease, were downer animals, meaning downed animals far more likely to carry this tragic brain-wasting diesase.
The undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States shows that this Chino, California plant — which supplies meat to schools, and has twice won a USDA “Supplier of the Year” award — was slaughtering downed animals, and jeopardizing the health of children and others, for a few extra bucks.
As a result, 143 million pounds of beef have been recalled, making this the largest beef recall in U.S. history. Much of the potentially-contaminated meat has already been consumed. Skeptics point out that we have not suffered any major food poisoning scares lately, and wonder why all the fuss? What they don’t realize is that the incubation period for mad cow disease in humans can be 10 or more years. That’s how long it can take before this disease, which cannot be killed by cooking, starts to riddle your brain with holes.
If contamination of the food supply and animal abuse happens at this award-winning Hallmark plant — a facility with five federal inspectors and a veterinarian on staff who are there to prevent these things — it is hard to believe that it is not happening elsewhere as well.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the best thing anyone can do to prevent animal abuse and protect their health is to go vegan.
Another video featuring the investigator explaining the abuses he witnessed can be found by clicking the second picture near the bottom of this page. showing more of the abuses at this facility. If you want a humorous video with information on the problem with farming, check out Doreen the Downer.
A Mercy For Animals volunteer in a human-sized gestation crate with a splint on her leg and scars on her face to represent the horrors that pregnant pigs suffer.
On February 5th, members of Mercy For Animals protested the Annual Ohio Pork Congress in Columbus. We were protesting the Pork Industry’s use of gestation crates–barren 2-foot wide metal stalls where breeding sows are forced to spend most of their adult lives before being slaughtered.
Sows in gestation crates are unable to walk or turn around and are forced to stand and lie on concrete slated floors covered in their own excrement for the duration of their four-month pregnancies. Barely able to move, the pigs develop crippling joint disorders, bruises, open soars, and lameness.
Pigs in Gestation Crates.
This protest is part of an increasingly successful movement to ban gestation crates in the United States. Florida, Arizona and Oregon have recently passed legislation outlawing the abusive confinement system. Major restaurant chains including Chipotle and Panera Bread won’t use pork from producers who confine pregnant pigs, and producers have been listening. Both the world’s largest and Canada’s largest pig producers — Smithfield Foods and Maple Leaf Foods respectively — are phasing out their use of the cruel crates.
Many people eat pork, bacon, ham or Spam without much thought. But who are these animals whose flesh we eat, and what are their conditions like on the farm? This essay tries to answer these questions.
Pigs are Amazing Animals
Like dogs, pigs are friendly, intelligent, and loyal. Researchers have found that pigs are as intelligent as a three-year-old human child. They are good at video games, have exceptional memories, and complex social relations.
Pigs are actually very clean animals. If given sufficient space, pigs will be careful not to excrete near where they sleep or eat.
Pigs are also very social animal. Researchers have identified the meaning of approximately 20 different grunts, oinks and squeaks that are used in different situations, from wooing their mates to expressing, “I’m hungry!”
Pigs have saved human and nonhuman animals’ lives. Priscilla the pig rescued a boy from drowning. Snort the pig saved her human family from dying of carbon monoxide poisoning in their trailer. Spammy led firefighters to a burning shed to save her calf friend Spot. And Lulu found help for her human companion who had collapsed from a heart attack.
Just like dogs and cats, pig are feeling beings with intelligence, emotional lives, friends and family, and an interests in enjoying life and not being harmed.
“Each time a [person] stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, [she or] he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
Mercy For Animals had a banner year in 2007. We held over 220 outreach events, distributed over 200,000 pieces of literature, and had 450,000 visitors check out ChooseVeg.com. Our television and subway car ads reached millions of people with a message of compassion.
(BTW, Mercy For Animals was so hopping during 2007 that I’m still working on getting my Holiday Card together and sent. Hopefully I will get it out before Earth Day. Wish me luck! )
Help Mercy For Animals do more in 2008. Become a member and get active!
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