USDA's Latest Slaughterhouse Violations Heighten Urgency for Federal Ban on All Sick Animals Entering Food Supply

In response to the
United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) widely reported failure
to act on reports of illegal, inhumane and unsafe slaughterhouse practices
cited by one of its Food Safety and Inspection Service's supervisory veterinarians,
Gene Baur, president and co-founder
of Farm Sanctuary, the
nation's leading farm animal protection organization, issued the
following statement:

"Yesterday members of Congress heard testimony from Dean
Wyatt, a supervisory veterinarian at the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection
Service, about instances in which he and other inspectors were overruled when
citing slaughterhouses for violations such as shocking and butchering days-old
calves that were too weak or sick to stand and butchering conscious pigs,
despite rules that they first be stunned and unconscious. In addition to being
illegal, inhumane and unsafe, this behavior falls well outside the bounds of
what most Americans consider acceptable conduct, and the USDA's repeated
decision to turn a blind eye toward it is cause for national outrage and
concern.

"For nearly a quarter century, Farm Sanctuary has
worked to end the suffering of 'downers,' animals too sick, weak or
injured to walk on their own. It is one of our cornerstone campaigns because these
animals suffer the greatest abuse at the hands of slaughterhouse workers, who will
use any means necessary to get them onto the killing floor, including beating,
pushing, prodding, hitting and dragging. If cats or dogs were treated in this
manner, public outcry would demand that swift action be taken to protect these
animals and punish those responsible for allowing the abuse to occur. Having
cared for thousands of rescued farm animals at our shelters in Watkins Glen, NY
and Orland, CA, l can assure you that cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens and
turkeys experience pain and suffering the same as dogs and cats, and deserve to
be treated with respect.

"It's completely understandable that the
American people should feel betrayed by the USDA for allowing its allegiance to
the profit-driven interests of big agribusiness to undermine its duty to protect
the health and safety of both humans and animals, but we have the power to
channel this frustration and disappointment into positive change. I urge
everyone to express their disapproval of the USDA's unconscionable conduct
by signing our petition to President Obama to ban downed pigs and all other
downed livestock from entering the food supply. This month marks the one year
anniversary of the Obama administration's ban on allowing sick and
injured cattle to enter the food supply, and the USDA's most recent
failures only serve to underscore the critical urgency that President Obama ban
all other downed livestock from entering the U.S. food supply."