slaughterhouse video gets hallmark meat packing co. employees charged

source: the post chronicle

watch the video here: humane society undercover video

 

A California prosecutor filed animal cruelty charges Friday against two former employees of Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., reports UPI.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture shut down the Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse last week after a video from the Humane Society of the United States showed slaughterhouse workers at the Southern California facility forcing disabled cows to their feet using sticks, electric prods and water hoses.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos said five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanor counts were filed against Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, of Pomona, Calif., and three misdemeanor counts against Luis Sanchez, 32, of Chino.

"It doesn't matter whether the mistreated animal is a beloved family pet or a cow at a slaughterhouse," Ramos said in statement. "Unnecessary cruelty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law."

USDA issued a statement Friday in support of the charges. "It is regrettable that these animals were mistreated and I am encouraged and supportive of these actions by the San Bernardino District Attorney in response to this mistreatment," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said.

As the USDA investigated animal cruelty charges brought about by the release of the horrifying video - taken by an undercover agent for the Humane Society investigating the Hallmark Meat Packing Co. slaughterhouse - the plant had their license suspended.

Background

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an investigation into charges of inhumane treatment of disabled cattle at a California slaughterhouse after the Humane Society released a videotape taken by one of their undercover workers showing the cold-blooded abuse of already sick and injured cows unable to walk to their own deaths.

Employees at the slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif. were caught on film kicking sick or injured cows, ramming them with the blades of a forklift, shocking them with electric prods, forcing them to walk on their broken hind legs, power-spraying them with water, and even jabbing them in their eyes in attempts to force the animals to walk to their own slaughter, reports UPI.

"The attempt was to make them so distressed and to cause them so much suffering that these animals would get up and walk into the slaughterhouse," Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, told reporters.

"I am deeply concerned about the allegations made regarding inhumane handling of non-ambulatory disabled cattle in a federally inspected slaughter establishment," said Agriculture Department Secretary Ed Schafer.

Shafer said the Westland Meat Packing Co., who is supplied by meat from the slaughterhouse, had their federal contract indefinitely suspended pending completion of the investigation.

The Westland Meat Packing Co. issued a statement saying it was "shocked, saddened and sickened" by the videotape. The two employees involved have been fired, said the company, and their supervisor suspended.

Humane Society President Pacelle said the plant supplies meat to the Westland Meat Co, which is the second-largest supplier of beef to the USDA Commodity Procurement Program Branch. This branch distributes beef to needy families, the elderly and to the national school lunch program, reports Forbes.

This information has prompted the schools to pull all beef received from that plant from their shelves.