Thread: O/T Abused/Sick Cows Being Fed to Our Children

Undercover Investigation Reveals Rampant Animal Cruelty at California Slaughter Plant – A Major Beef Supplier to America’s School Lunch Program

January 30, 2008
©The HSUS

See video from the undercover investigation, and take action to stop this cruelty. WARNING: Very graphic images of cruelty.


Video evidence compiled by The Humane Society of the United States shows inhumane handling methods that may have endangered the health of children.

A shocking undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States reveals widespread mistreatment of "downed" dairy cows—those who are too sick or injured to walk—at a Southern California slaughter plant.

The investigation at the Hallmark Meat Packing Co., of Chino, pulls open a curtain on the scandalous treatment of animals slaughtered to supply the National School Lunch Program and other federal aid programs.

Video evidence obtained by an HSUS investigator shows slaughter plant workers displaying complete disregard for the pain and misery they inflicted as they repeatedly attempted to force "downed" animals onto their feet and into the human food chain.

Cruelties that Defy Belief

In the video, workers are seen kicking cows, ramming them with the blades of a forklift, jabbing them in the eyes, applying painful electrical shocks and even torturing them with a hose and water in attempts to force sick or injured animals to walk to slaughter.

"This torture is right out of the waterboarding manual. To see the extreme cruelties shown in The HSUS video challenges comprehension," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS.

"This must serve as a five-alarm call to action for Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Our government simply must act quickly both to guarantee the most basic level of humane treatment for farm animals and to protect America's most vulnerable people, our children, needy families and the elderly from potentially dangerous food."

Beef Distributed for School Lunches and the Needy

Hallmark's Chino, Calif., slaughter plant supplies the Westland Meat Co., which processes the carcasses. The facility is the second-largest supplier of beef to USDA's Commodity Procurement Branch, which distributes the beef to needy families, the elderly and also to schools through the National School Lunch Program. Westland was named a USDA "supplier of the year" for 2004-2005 and has delivered beef to schools in 36 states. More than 100,000 schools and child care facilities nationwide receive meat through the lunch program.

Hallmark Meat Packing has no connection to Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Temple Grandin, a renowned expert on animal agriculture and professor at Colorado State University, called the images captured in the investigation "one of the worst animal abuse videos I have ever viewed."

A Demand for Action

The HSUS recently completed its six-week undercover investigation at the federally-inspected slaughter plant. Videotape evidence and investigative background have been given to law enforcement authorities in San Bernardino County, Calif.


©The HSUS

See the extended first-person investigator's video and take action to stop this cruelty. WARNING: Extremely graphic images of cruelty.
In releasing footage from the investigation, The HSUS demands that the USDA move swiftly to tighten its confusing regulations on the slaughter of downed cattle. Downer cows must not be used for food—plain and simple. As The HSUS video shows, this is necessary to protect animals from suffering. As science has made clear, this is necessary to protect food safety. The practice of slaughtering downed cows is especially troubling now that the link between downed cattle and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, has been firmly established. Of the 15 known cases of BSE-infected animals discovered in North America, at least 12 involved downed animals.

At the same time, The HSUS is urging Congress to intervene. The Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act (H.R. 1726) would set modest animal welfare standards, including humane euthanasia of any downed animals, for producers who sell food to federal government programs, and the Downed Animal Protection Act (S. 394 and H.R. 661) would ban any slaughtering of downed animals for human consumption.

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/CA_ ... estigation

Very SAD story, poor Cows! Makes me sick just reading I can't bear to watch the vid.

My Son's friend has a ranch and they slaughtered their own cattle, he said that the method is very cruel, you stand over the cow and slam a sledge hammer on their heads!

That video was disgusting. I kept trying to see who was beating the cow in the beginning of the video, but it's too fuzzy. I can't help but think this will evolve into another illegal alien story.

Cruelty charges filed against slaughterhouse boss
A video taken at the Chino facility prompted schools nationwide to pull beef from their menus.
By Victoria Kim
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

February 16, 2008

San Bernardino County prosecutors on Friday filed felony charges against a former Chino slaughterhouse manager who allegedly used cruel methods to force ailing cattle into the slaughter box. The charges follow last month's release of a video showing treatment of animals at the plant, which led to schools nationwide pulling beef from cafeterias.

In what prosecutors called unprecedented charges, Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, of Pomona faces up to eight years and eight months in prison if convicted of five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal. Navarro, who was a head pen manager at Hallmark Meat Packing, was shown using forklifts, electric prods and high-pressure water hoses to force cows to their feet in the video surreptitiously shot by the Humane Society of the United States.

"It makes your stomach turn to see what they did to the cows in this situation," Dist. Atty. Michael A. Ramos said at a news conference Friday. "We want to send the message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated."

Authorities also filed three misdemeanor counts against Navarro's assistant, Luis Sanchez, 32, of Chino. Sanchez faces up to three years in prison if convicted. Hallmark fired Navarro and Sanchez last month after the video's release.

Neither Navarro nor Sanchez appeared at their arraignments Friday afternoon at a Chino courthouse. Warrants were issued for their arrest.

Reached at his home Friday, Sanchez, a father of two, said he regretted his actions and that he was only following orders.

"I did it because they ordered me to. I obeyed them; if not, I lost my job," Sanchez said in Spanish. "I knew it was illegal but they obliged me to do it." Sanchez said he is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico and that he worked at Hallmark for six years before he was fired last month. He is not represented by an attorney.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week suspended inspections at Hallmark, which in effect closed the plant. The USDA inspector general is investigating the case, but this week several members of Congress also called for an independent federal investigation of the safety of food the USDA supplies to schools.

Hallmark was the second-largest supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program, which provides commodities and cash subsidies to schools.

The Humane Society presented the video to the San Bernardino County district attorney's office Dec. 19, officials said. Chino police department Rural Crime Task Force detectives, who are trained in humane treatment of cattle, conducted investigations at the plant and interviewed witnesses to verify the Humane Society's allegations, according to police reports.

Ramos said investigations were continuing and that his office was also cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's office.

Police identified in the video 11 instances of alleged illegal activity between Oct. 11 and Nov. 9 of last year. The actions were documented by a Humane Society investigator working undercover at the plant. He shot footage with what was described in police reports as a pen camera attached to a button on his chest."

In one scene, where Navarro is shown using a paddle to hit a non-ambulatory cow in the face and eye, detectives determined "it is obvious by the video that Navarro is attempting to get the animal to her feet and subsequently to the kill floor to be slaughtered," according to police reports.

Cattle that cannot walk on their own are banned from the human meat supply because they are at higher risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.

In voluntary interviews with the police, Navarro appeared to be "minimizing his role in the improper handling of the live animals by saying that it was Sanchez who had mistreated a cow by pulling it with a chain," according to police reports. Navarro seemed to have a good understanding of state and federal regulations on the treatment of cows, investigators wrote in the report.

Navarro told Chino police that a former owner of the plant, Donny Hallmark, instructed him to use techniques such as forcing animals up with the forklift or holding water hoses to the nostrils of cattle.

In four instances, the videos showed so-called "downer" cattle being executed after workers were unable to force them to their feet, police reports indicate.

Those cows did not enter the human food supply. In another instance, however, a cow that had collapsed was shocked with a cattle prod until it eventually stood up and entered the slaughter box, according to the reports.

Authorities are also considering action against the management of Hallmark for alleged unfair business practices, Ramos said.

"For so many district attorneys, animal cruelty issues are very new," Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, said Friday. "It's a process. . . . Today we heard that he treats it as a serious issue."

The plant may not reopen until a plan for corrective action is submitted and approved by federal authorities.

School districts nationwide have pulled suspect beef from their cafeteria menus, although the USDA has said no evidence was found that so-called downer cattle had entered the food supply.

www.latimes.com

I saw this on the news a while back. Made me literally sick to my stomach and I couldn't sleep for a few nights after seeing it.
Wouldn't surprise me if IA's were involved with this also with so many of them working at slaughter houses....animals are low on the totem pole in mexico.

"I did it because they ordered me to. I obeyed them; if not, I lost my job," Sanchez said in Spanish. "I knew it was illegal but they obliged me to do it." Sanchez said he is an undocumented immigrant (ILLEGAL ALIEN) from Mexico and that he worked at Hallmark for six years before he was fired last month. He is not represented by an attorney.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... &cset=true

I can't watch the video. I have the feeling from comments it would send my blood pressure way too high. I hope ICE is checking every one of their employees and I hope the book is thrown at them.

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"I did it because they ordered me to. I obeyed them; if not, I lost my job," Sanchez said in Spanish. "I knew it was illegal but they obliged me to do it." Sanchez said he is an undocumented immigrant (ILLEGAL ALIEN) from Mexico and that he worked at Hallmark for six years before he was fired last month. He is not represented by an attorney

Which is why I say big business suddenly "needs" these people......Americans will usually walk if they know they are being told to do something illegal or atleast cause a stink and bring it to light. They have been firing people who they even think might rock the boat for nothing and the word gets out......people don't have the money to fight a big company and the ACLU isn't there with free legal help for all the infractions.

Hmmm.............maybe there is a job American want no part of (torturing cattle).

Originally Posted by MW

Hmmm.............maybe there is a job American want no part of (torturing cattle).

I am afraid to say, there are Americans willing to do that too.