Healing Our World: Burgers, Pain and Slaughter

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Burgers, Pain and Slaughter

"There will come a day when men such as myself will view the slaughter of innocent creatures as horrible a crime as the murder of his fellow man."
-- Albert Einstein

For years, those of us who follow factory farming issues have known that animals have been butchered alive in slaughterhouses. Finally, video footage has been obtained from a worker in a Washington slaughterhouse showing fully conscious cows being skinned alive and having their legs cut off while struggling for freedom.

Cattle in California

On May 26, 2000, television station KING channel 5 in Seattle, Washington broadcast video footage obtained by a worker in the Iowa Beef Processor (IBP) slaughterhouse in Wallula, Washington showing live cows being tortured by electric cattle prods, being skinned alive and even being conscious at the cutting station where legs are removed.

In a signed affidavit, a slaughterhouse employee said "The chain goes too fast, more than 300 cows an hour. ... If I can't get the animal knocked right, it keeps going. ... The chain doesn't stop. It keeps running. It never stops. The cows are getting hung alive or not alive. They keep coming in. They just keep coming, coming, coming."

In a horrifying admission, the employee goes on to say, "I estimate that 30 percent of the cows are not properly knocked [stunned with the electric prod] and get to the first legger alive. ... To still be alive at the second legger the cows have gone alive from the knocker to the sticker to the belly ripper (he cuts the hide down the center of the cow's abdomen) to the tail ripper (he opens the [rectum]) to the first legger (he skins a back leg and then cuts off the foot) to the first butter (he skins from the breast to the belly and a little bit on the back) to the worker who cuts off both front feet. Those cows then go to a worker who sticks a hook into the joint where the first legger took off the foot and the cows are hung from the trolley hook. I can tell that these cows are alive because they're holding their heads up and a lot of times they make noise."

Seventeen employees signed affidavits reporting cruel conditions at the plant.

At the slaughterhouse, cows are hung upside down, their throats are cut, and they are bled to death.

Fewer than 1,400 of the slaughterhouses are in compliance with the law. With few inspectors, it is impossible to properly inspect and monitor slaughterhouses.

The Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 sets the guidelines for the slaughter of some animals. However, contrary to popular belief, it does not require the animal to be dead before the cutting begins! According to the Act, the animal must be "insensible to pain" before being chained and cut up. The accepted method to render the animal "insensible" is to use an electric shock delivered by a probe.

Many advocates of humane treatment for animals question whether this renders the animal insensible to pain or just unable to move and respond. We make so many convenient assumptions as a society to keep the dollars - and the meat - flowing.

A team from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) conducted a spot check of the IBP plant on June 7 and reported that they found no abuses.

This comes as no surprise since the inspectors were detained outside the plant for over an hour while IBP officials checked the credentials of the inspectors. This would give plant officials plenty of time to get everything in order at the front of the line where stunning is done.

I don’t expect much from the WSDA. This is the agency led by Jim Jesernig who ignored the concerns of thousands of citizens, doctors and politicians and ordered biological pesticides to be sprayed over Seattle neighborhoods in May. See Healing Our World Comment on this issue at: http://www.ens.lycos.com/ens/may2000/2000L-05-20g.html.

This downed, disemboweled calf is left to suffer at a Pennsylvania stockyard. Workers refused to euthanize it. (Photos courtesy Farm Sanctuary)

But is it ever acceptable to allow a practice that results in horrific pain and suffering for another, whether human or non-human?

I don’t think so, but many people think that it is OK to allow an animal to suffer if someone benefits economically, if a human life can be saved as a result, or if people are fed.

But what value does the money earned from the suffering of another have? What value does the human life have that was saved because another life was sacrificed? What have we gained to feed someone on the pain and suffering of another life form?

Dead calves behind a veal farm

Yet government sponsored studies clearly show that consuming meat and dairy products negatively impacts our health, increasing risks of heart disease and cancer.

It takes 10 pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water in order to produce one pound of meat.

Lab tests have found that meat from supermarkets has measurable levels of the growth hormones, antibiotics and other drugs used to raise cattle.

Developing countries where cancer rates are historically low begin to develop the cancers found in the West when fast food burger chains move in.

Although society cannot seem to resolve these big questions, many individuals have found answers by choosing lifestyles that try their best to cause no harm to another.

Vegetarians are people who have chosen to not eat meat, thus improving their health and not participating in a meat industry that is built on pain and suffering.

Vegans go a step further by trying to have no animal products in their lives. They don’t use dairy products, leather, or any items made from the use of an animal - even honey.

Whatever lifestyle you choose, we all must consider the pain and suffering that our choices cause other beings. No scientist can prove that animals do not feel pain, sadness or horror. Yet any pet owner can swear that they do.

We cannot create a life style based on the suffering of another creature. If we do, how can anything really matter?

RESOURCES

1. Read about the television story – and see the video – on the IBP slaughterhouse abuses at: http://www.king5.com/investigators/storydetail.html?StoryID=1386

2. The "Seattle Times" article about the issue can be seen at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/html98/cows01m_20000601.html

3. Many people erroneously believe that Kosher slaughter is somehow better. See the Healing Our World commentary called “Vegetarians Beware ...” on ENS at http://www.ens.lycos.com/ens/may99/1999L-05-23g.html and learn otherwise.

4. Get involved in this issue. This is a particularly complex one that will require contacts on a number of fronts. Send a copy of all your communications to the Washington Congressional representatives as well as your own state lawmakers:
Write Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire at: emailago@atg.wa.gov or telephone her at 360 753-6200. Tell her to investigate the IBP plant. Write Washington Senators Slade Gorton, Email: senator_gorton@exchange.senate.gov and Patty Murray, Email: senator_murray@murry.senate.gov

5. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and email them. Tell them that the entire USDA inspection system must be overhauled. There are many former USDA inspectors who have high paying consultant jobs working for the meat industry helping them find loop holes in the system. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by state at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html. You can also find your representatives at http://congress.nw.dc.us/innovate/index.html

6. Stay involved with humane issues involving food animals through the:

• Humane Farming Association at: http://www.hfa.org/index.html
  
• Meat Stinks website, a project of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, at: http://www.meatstinks.com/
  
• Farm Sanctuary at: http://www.farmsanctuary.org/
  
• Meat Source website at: http://www.meatsource.com/index.htm
  
• Northwest Animal Rights Network at: http://www.narn.org/

{Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and the manager of Discovery Park for the City of Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation. He can be found in his new home in Seattle, perplexed at how we can allow animals to suffer in our rich world. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his web site at www.healingourworld.com}