 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
December 28, 2004 The Honorable William J. Shafer Allamakee County Attorney 110 Allamakee St. Waukon, IA 52172 563-568-3813 RE: Livestock Abuse and Neglect at AgriProcessors, Inc., Postville, Iowa Dear Mr. Shafer: I am writing to direct your attention to conduct in Postville, Iowa-recently witnessed and documented by an investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)-that violates Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2, which prohibits the abuse and neglect of livestock. The conduct at issue occurred between July 22, 2004, and September 12, 2004, at a slaughterhouse owned and operated by AgriProcessors, Inc., 220 West St., Postville, IA 52162. AgriProcessors, which sells products under the labels "Rubashkin's," "Aaron's Best," and "Iowa Best Beef," is the self-proclaimed largest manufacturer of glatt kosher meat, poultry, and provisions in the world. 1, 2 Enclosed is edited video footage containing examples of violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2 that transpired during the course of a seven-week PETA investigation and were documented in their entirety, along with scores of additional violations, in a series of videos filmed by the investigator.3 PETA initiated this investigation after concerns about animal welfare at AgriProcessors surfaced last year and after PETA's subsequent offers to work in confidence with AgriProcessors to implement more humane methods of handling and slaughter at the facility were dismissed with the claim that "[k]osher slaughter is being conducted [at AgriProcessors, Inc.] in accordance with the letter and spirit of Jewish law, which prescribes the most humane treatment of animals that has been known throughout human history." 4 The enclosed video footage belies AgriProcessors' claim and, instead, reveals that animals are routinely, and with the full intent of AgriProcessors, subjected to standard operating procedures that cause unnecessary pain and suffering and are inconsistent with customary animal husbandry practices, including such practices as have evolved within the Jewish faith. In a procedure that is representative of the most egregious abuse, unstunned animals remain fully conscious-some for more than three minutes-after their throats have been slit. After the cut has been made, cattle can be seen writhing in distress as a metal hook is inserted into the open wound and their tracheas and esophagi are yanked out of their bodies, as they are dumped onto the floor from the restraining pen that has held them immobile and upside-down, as they struggle to stand and flee, and as they are hoisted and hung by a single leg for further dismembering. Attached are statements from experts in the field of animal science, including Dr. Temple Grandin, the foremost expert in all aspects of the kosher (and standard) slaughter of farmed animals. Dr. Grandin serves as an advisor to both the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Meat Institute and has been instrumental in improving the operations of numerous kosher slaughter facilities. These experts unequivocally declare that the procedures depicted in the edited video footage (1) subject the animals to pain and suffering and (2) do not conform to customary animal husbandry practices. The complaint against the actions of AgriProcessors, Inc., and the Orthodox Union (OU) and the K'hal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ)—the kosher certification agencies that supervise all stages of the production of meat at AgriProcessors, Inc.—and the employees of these entities, is detailed below. The video provides incontrovertible evidence of chronic and intentional abuse and neglect of livestock and, thus, violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2 at the above-referenced facility and so warrants an investigation and criminal prosecution of all culpable parties. I. IOWA CODE SECTIONS 717.1A AND 717.2Iowa Code § 717.1A provides that a person is guilty of livestock abuse if the person intentionally injures or destroys livestock owned by another person, in manner. This section also applies to a person acting with the consent of the person owning the livestock, if the action constitutes livestock neglect as provided in section 717.2.5Section 717.2 defines the offense of livestock neglect to include failure to provide livestock with care consistent with customary animal husbandry practices and the injury or destruction of livestock by a means which causes pain or suffering in a manner inconsistent with customary animal husbandry practices. Livestock abuse is classified as an aggravated misdemeanor. Intentional neglect that results in the serious injury or death of livestock is classified as a serious misdemeanor. 7 The definition of "livestock" includes both cattle and poultry. 8 II. OVERVIEW OF VIOLATIONS OF IOWA CODE §§ 717.1A AND 717.2The following sections recount the incidents in the enclosed video, "AgriProcessors, Inc., Postville, Iowa." The edited video is not an exhaustive catalog of every incident witnessed and documented during the course of the investigation; rather, it should be viewed as a condensed, representative summary of routine conduct involving violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2.The PETA investigator was assigned by AgriProcessors to work in two separate departments at the facility in which animal carcasses are processed. The enclosed video footage was taken on five days during which the investigator was able to be absent from his assigned department and enter and observe the procedures in the kill room. On each of these five days—spanning a period of 42 days—the same violations, discussed fully below, recurred with regularity. The standard procedures for shechitah (kosher slaughter) and the related handling of the animals at AgriProcessors are documented on the video. Each scene depicts an animal as he is restrained in the Facoima pen, a device that rotates the animal's body 180 degrees prior to slaughter so that the animal is upside-down when the shochetim (the member of the Jewish religion who executes the cut) slits the throat with a knife.9 When shechitah is executed properly and within the parameters of the federal and state humane slaughter acts, it appears all but painless and achieves "practically instantaneous unconsciousness."10 In fact, the whole purpose of shechitah—which is a more expensive and difficult method of slaughter—is to avoid causing the animal unnecessary pain in accordance with the Jewish principle of tsa'ar ba'alei chayim (the prohibition of unnecessary animal suffering). 11 However, at AgriProcessors, the PETA investigator documented a below-average performance by the shochetim. As a result, animals regularly remain fully conscious as a second AgriProcessors employee uses a knife to enlarge the initial cut and reaches inside the animal's neck with a hook to pull one end of the trachea and esophagus free from the surrounding tissue. The free ends of the trachea and esophagus are then pulled outside the animal's body, where they are left to dangle. Next, the animal is rotated to the upright position in the Facoima pen and dumped onto the cement floor. Eventually, a shackle is attached to one of the rear legs of the animal, who is then hung on the "bleed rail" and conveyed to another room to be decapitated and skinned prior to further processing. Assuming that the estimates of experts in shechitah are correct and that it takes 10 to 20 seconds for an animal to be rendered insensible, all the animals in the video are still conscious when their tracheas and esophagi are ripped from their bodies. And as documented in the video and expert statements, many are still conscious when they leave the kill room on the bleed rail, just prior to decapitation. The unedited video also depicts turkeys and chickens who are left to writhe in pain as the result of improperly executed slaughter and chronic malfunctions in equipment. A. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES AT AGRIPROCESSORS CAUSE PAIN OR SUFFERING TO ANIMALSObviously, a procedure whereby internal organs and other tissues are removed from a fully conscious animal causes great pain and suffering and is not condoned by the law. Nonetheless, AgriProcessors authorized and implemented such a procedure, and its officers, employees, and the other parties named above turned a blind eye to the high percentage of failed shechitahs and, thus, the high percentage of conscious animals who were being subjected to this torture on an hourly basis at the facility.That these animals are conscious cannot be questioned. Dr. Temple Grandin and other experts in animal physiology note, and the USDA concurs, that indications of consciousness in animals include vocalization, rhythmic breathing, movement of the tongue, natural blinking, raising the head, and attempts to right the body.12 Of the 278 slaughters that PETA's investigator documented on the unedited video, approximately 25 percent of the cattle exhibited one or more of these signs of consciousness for a significant period of time (e.g., as they were dumped from the pen well after their throats had been slit).13 Some were still conscious when they were hung on the bleed rail, minutes after slaughter began. Indeed, the video includes a conversation in which a supervisor in another area of the facility tells the PETA investigator that he has witnessed, "several times," cattle who escaped from the building after shechitah and were left to bleed to death wherever they ended up. Dr. Temple Grandin herself has viewed the video and agrees that many of the cattle were fully conscious when their tracheas and esophagi were ripped from their bodies and that the period of consciousness—and, thus, the period during which each animal experienced "great suffering and pain"—was likely prolonged by performing such a "dressing procedure" on a conscious animal.15 Dr. Holly Cheever, a large-animal veterinarian with extensive experience with cattle, states that the video "unequivocally and unarguably indicate[s] that the cattle were conscious and suffering an agonal and inhumane death."16 Dr. Cheever concludes, "Even more disturbing than the actual evidence of their consciousness is the length of time it can persist."17 Gary Dahl—who has worked for the federal Food Safety and Inspection Service as an inspector for 21 years, with 11 years in slaughter facilities, and who speaks on behalf of the Federal Meat and Poultry Inspection Union—concludes that "most of the animals shown on the tape were so conscious and aware of what was happening that if the floor wasn't slippery with blood and the door was open, they would have made a beeline for daylight in order to escape."18 He concludes that "the suffering of these animals was obvious."19 Dr. Brenda Forsythe, a veterinarian who also holds advanced degrees in animal science with large-animal behavior as her area of expertise, observes: "In my expert opinion, turning frightened animals upside down for the convenience of the slaughterer, cutting body parts out of conscious animals, dumping struggling dying animals out of chutes onto a blood soaked kill floor, using electric cattle prods on immobilized animals, and suspending heavy animals by a single limb prior to unconsciousness all result in unnecessary pain, suffering, or distress."20 Bernard E. Rollin, professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University, characterizes the scenes on the video as "evidence of brutality at a level I could not have imagined."21 Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge has declared that the scenes in the video are "disturbing" and noted that neither she nor state veterinarians would condone the conduct documented in the video.22 The opinions set forth above have been echoed by 100 percent of the animal welfare experts and veterinarians who have viewed the video. Yet, just last week, AgriProcessors, the OU, the KAJ, and other parties with a vested interest in the financial health of AgriProcessors issued a news release in which they maintain the absolutely indefensible position that the animals depicted in the video are insensible and merely exhibiting "reflexive actions."23, 24 The evidence indicates that the parties acted intentionally to ensure that this procedure was performed without regard to the animals' state of consciousness and that they have acted to cover up these violations of state and federal law. The evidence also indicates that a plan to safeguard profits may have been at the root of the cruelty. As AgriProcessors and its accomplices have admitted, the purpose of the procedure is to reduce blood spots on the meat and, thus, increase the wholesale and retail value of the meat (without the procedure, the meat is less likely to be marketable as glatt).25 Moreover, when shechitah fails to render animals unconscious (as happens often at AgriProcessors) and they must be stunned or killed by some other means in order to spare them additional pain and suffering, the meat of those animals is rendered treif (nonkosher) and, thus, becomes less valuable. In either case, AgriProcessors' profit margin is decreased substantially. The behavior of AgriProcessors' employees, the OU, and the KAJ with regard to this procedure was intentional and, thus, warrants prosecution for abuse to livestock pursuant to Iowa Code §§ 717.1A.1. AgriProcessors' role, as the owner of the cattle, subjects the company to prosecution for serious misdemeanors pursuant to Iowa Code §§ 717.2. Moreover, as Dr. Grandin notes, the facility also has "serious cattle handling and restraint problems," including the improper use of electric prods to position the heads of cattle in the restraint pen.26 Dr. Forsythe agrees that the use of electric prods depicted in the video is unacceptable, and, thus, this behavior constitutes additional violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A.1. and 717.2.1.27 Also included in the unedited video are scenes of countless live chickens with their necks and/or legs trapped in the conveyor belt used to unload them from the delivery trucks. Dr. Grandin remarks that the equipment is "obviously poorly maintained," and Mr. Dahl notes that this abuse could have been prevented by a maintenance person with as little as 10 minutes and $5 to spare. 28, 29 Again, the failure to maintain equipment constitutes violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A.1 and 717.2.1.c. B. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES AT AGRIPROCESSORS ARE NOT CONSISTENT WITH CUSTOMARY ANIMAL HUSBANDRY PRACTICESNone of the conduct detailed herein can be attributed to "customary animal husbandry practices." To the contrary, the conduct of AgriProcessors, the OU, the KAJ, and their employees has been condemned unanimously by experts in the fields of animal science and animal husbandry and evidences the intentional infliction of unnecessary pain and suffering on the animals depicted in the video.In the most shocking example of animal abuse, each steer slaughtered at AgriProcessors is subjected to the procedure, discussed fully above, in which immediately after his throat is slit, the initial cut is enlarged, and the trachea and esophagus are torn free from the body. This is a standard operating procedure implemented by AgriProcessors and condoned by the kosher certification agencies; few animals at the facility escape this practice. And as discussed above, many animals are still conscious when they are subjected to this painful and unnecessary practice. This "atrocious" procedure, as Dr. Temple Grandin describes it, is not practiced in any other kosher slaughterhouse and, thus, cannot be characterized as "customary."30 Clearly, the excruciating pain and suffering that undeniably befall the animals who are subjected to this practice are prohibited and criminalized by Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2. Nor can it be argued that allowing one animal after another to languish, fully conscious, for minutes after a failed slaughter procedure and, in some cases, dismemberment, while employees stand by idle falls within the gamut of customary animal husbandry practices for a slaughter facility—or a kosher certification agency. As discussed above, at least 25 percent of the cattle on the unedited video remain conscious after the cut and after their tracheas and esophagi have been ripped from their bodies. Some remain conscious for as long as three minutes. The unacceptable number of cattle who remain conscious can only be the result of shechitah that is executed improperly because of the shochetim's lack of skill and/or lack of attentiveness. The OU itself unequivocally states that when shechitah is executed properly, the animal dies "in a matter of seconds."31 And Dr. Grandin opines that calm cattle will collapse within 10 to 15 seconds when shechitah is performed properly. In agreement, Dr. Forsythe stresses that "it is very important for the initial cut to be quick and clean with a very sharp knife to sever both carotid arteries and jugular veins in one cut, after which the animal should not be moved or disturbed until unconsciousness ensues, to result in the most humane and painless death."33 Dr. Forsythe concludes that "the methods employed at this slaughtering plant result in unnecessary pain and suffering and do not conform to the typical humane requirements for religious slaughter" (emphasis added).34 Yet neither AgriProcessors, the OU, the KAJ, nor their employees took any steps whatsoever to intervene or address the cause of the unacceptable rate of failed shechitah or to, at a minimum, ensure that those animals who remained conscious after shechitah were killed immediately rather than being subjected to additional pain and suffering. This callous response to the pain and suffering of animals is exactly the type of behavior that the legislature sought to criminalize when it enacted Iowa Code §§ 717.1A.1 and 717.2.1. Moreover, please note that is not customary animal husbandry practice to repeatedly permit live animals—such as the chickens who languished while their heads and legs were caught in conveyor belts at AgriProcessors-to become and remain trapped in machinery. While it should be obvious, this position is supported by the statements of the experts set forth above, and, thus, the behavior warrants prosecution pursuant to Iowa Code §§ 717.1A.1 and 717.2.1. III. REPRESENTATIVE SCENES OF ABUSE OF ANIMALSThe following are descriptions of representative scenes from the edited video. They further demonstrate both the extent of the cruelty and the repetitive nature of the violations of § Iowa Code §§ 717.1A.In scene #21 (August 27, 2004), the shochet slits the throat of a steer who is still conscious when his trachea and esophagus are ripped from his throat. When the animal is rotated out of the Facoima pen, he falls to the floor then stands and slips and slides in the blood as he maneuvers into a corner of the room; his trachea can be seen swinging from side to side as he struggles. The animal—still fully conscious—falls and remains trapped in the corner until an employee attaches a chain to one rear leg. The animal is then hoisted and can be seen flexing his neck to raise his head as he swings in the air, indicating that he remains conscious. This steer languished for approximately three minutes in the kill room (and perhaps longer after he was moved outside the camera's view), yet no attempt was made by the shochet or any other employee to end the unnecessary suffering of this animal after the botched shechitah. In the same scene, a second steer is slaughtered while the first animal huddles, still conscious, in the corner of the room. This animal also appears to be fully conscious when he is hoisted, as evidenced by the movement of his tongue and tail. A third conscious animal is seen immediately after his trachea and esophagus have been removed, and the shochet can be seen watching the animal as he lies, gasping for breath, on the cement floor. There is movement of the animal's tongue and tail immediately before he is shackled and hoisted. As this scene ends, a fourth animal bellows while he is restrained upside-down in the Facoima pen. In scene #28 (September 6, 2004), yet another steer remains conscious after his throat is slit and so experiences what Dr. Grandin concludes must be "great suffering and pain" when his trachea and esophagus are yanked from his body.36 He can be seen thrashing his head up and down while he remains restrained. The fully conscious animal, who is crying out, is dumped onto the floor and can be seen writhing and kicking his legs in an attempt to right himself. The animal vocalizes throughout the ordeal and remains conscious throughout the scene. In scene #30 (September 12, 2004), an animal is restrained in the Facoima pen and can be heard bellowing as he is flipped upside-down. After shechitah, the animal jerks in distress as he attempts to free himself from the Facoima pen, which has malfunctioned. When he is finally dumped onto the floor, he continually struggles to gain his footing, to no avail, before he is shackled and hoisted, a full minute after shechitah. In scenes #40 and #24 (September 12 and 6, 2004), two steers thrash violently on the floor after shechitah in an attempt to stand. Animals can be heard vocalizing in the background. The two steers remain conscious until they are shackled and hoisted, almost 2 minutes after slaughter. The steer in scene #40 is clearly conscious when he is lifted from the floor and when his head is slammed against the cement wall, as evidenced by the fact that his head is held upright. In scene #26 (September 6, 2004), yet another steer struggles to stand after he is released from the Facoima pen. More than a minute after the initial cut, he remains conscious on the floor. The employee is unable to shackle the animal, so a second steer is dumped onto the floor and bellows as he is shackled and swung onto the bleed rail. In the background (as the second steer is dumped onto the floor), there is a brief view of the adjoining room, where slaughtered steers hang from the bleed rail, and a steer whose rear leg thrashes in the air can be seen in the distance. In scene #32 (September 12, 2004), an animal is dumped from the Facoima pen. On first glance, the animal appears to be unconscious. However, in the subsequent three minutes, the animal can be seen attempting to right himself on the floor. In the background, a steer who hangs from the bleed rail repeatedly kicks his free leg and moves his tail. In scene #43 (September 12, 2004), a steer is dumped from the Facoima pen. The animal slips in the blood on the cement floor as he attempts to right himself. An employee repeatedly kicks the animal in an apparent effort to gauge the safety of approaching the animal to attach the shackle. The animal bellows as he is shackled and hoisted. In the background, there is a brief view of an animal whose free rear leg kicks as he hangs from the bleed rail in the next room. In scene #33 (September 12, 2004), once again, two cattle must endure the pain and suffering associated with an ineffective cut, removal of the trachea and esophagus, and prolonged consciousness. The first steer bellows as he hits the cement floor after being released from the Facoima pen. He is conscious as he is hoisted to the bleed rail, as evidenced by the fact that he repeatedly flexes his neck muscles in an attempt to raise his head. The second steer is clearly conscious after he is released from the Facoima pen, as he can be heard bellowing as he attempts to stand. The remaining scenes on the enclosed video, along with numerous additional scenes documented in the unedited video, offer, again and again, views of cattle who remain conscious long after the initial cut of shechitah and suffer through and beyond a procedure—the removal of the trachea and esophagus—that has been condemned by both scholars and religious leaders. The unedited video also reveals a turkey who is left to languish on the floor for several minutes after his throat has been cut by the shochet. The shochet and other workers proceed with the slaughter of additional birds, paying no attention to the fact that this bird is still conscious and suffering, a violation of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2. The statements of Dr. Grandin, Dr. Cheever, Dr. Forsythe, and other experts, as set forth above, discount the untenable claims made by representatives of AgriProcessors and OU that the animals depicted in the video are unconscious and that their movements are involuntary, like "a headless chicken running around," and that AgriProcessors operates "under the most sanitary and humane conditions possible." 37, 38 AgriProcessors and the other parties named herein are guilty of violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2 for their intentional implementation and approval of procedures that run afoul of state law, as well as their refusal to take corrective actions that would prevent the pain and suffering of animals—even though they had full knowledge of the routine, cruel circumstances within the facility. IV. CONCLUSIONThe PETA investigation not only disproves AgriProcessors' pronouncement that "neither Jewish law nor 'common decency' is being violated in the AgriProcessors plant," but, more importantly, proves persistent violations of state law.39 The egregious, repetitive nature of the violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2 carried out by AgriProcessors, the OU, the KAJ, and their employees are self-evident in the video and cannot be interpreted as anything other than intentional abuse. The violations evince an overt and callous indifference to the very purpose of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2—punishment for and, thus, deterrence of abuse and neglect of livestock.PETA respectfully requests that the state charge all culpable parties with multiple violations of Iowa Code §§ 717.1A and 717.2. Please do not hesitate to contact me at 757-962-8329 if you would like to discuss the content of this complaint or if you need additional information. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Sincerely, Lori E. Kettler Counsel Research & Investigations Dept.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
