Farmed
Animal Watch
A Project of Animal Place
November 7, 2002
(To Search This Page Press Ctrl F)
Issue #92
CONTENTS
1. Gestation Crate Ban Passes
2. Cockfighting Banned in Oklahoma
3. Federal Efforts Against Cockfighting
4. Newcastle Disease Update/Cockfighting Connection
5. Expose': Nonambulatory Animals & the USDA
6. Inspectors Cautioned Against Stopping Slaughterlines
7. Cited Slaughterplants Not Taking Effective Action
8. Meat: Risks, Costs, and Suggestions
9. Man Gets 10-Year Prison Term for Animal Assault
10. Conference: "Our Animals and Their Plight"
1. GESTATION CRATE BAN PASSES
Floridians approved a ban on gestation crates for pregnant pigs with a 55% vote
(see issue #51) amending the state's constitution. The ban prohibits pregnant
pigs from being kept in enclosures that are too small for them to turn around
in. Florida is the first state to put any limitation on the intensive
confinement of farmed animals. About 64% of the country's 80,000 pig operations
use the crates. (In September, more than 900,000 sows gave birth in the U.S.) Of
Florida's 10 commercial pig operations, only 2 use the crates and one is
reportedly going out of business. Advocates hope the ban will prevent
large-scale pig operations from opening in Florida, and that other states will
follow suit. An attempt to ban gestation stalls in Oregon earlier this year
failed to obtain enough signatures to make it onto the ballot.
"Animal rights groups applaud Florida hog crate ban," Reuters,
November 6, 2002
http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2002/11/06/rtr786169.html
"Oregon Stall Ban Defeated," National Hog Farmer, Joe Vansickle,
August 15, 2002.
http://nationalhogfarmer.com/ar/farming_oregon_stall_ban/index.htm
2. COCKFIGHTING BANNED IN OKLAHOMA
With 55% of the vote, Oklahomans banned cockfighting in their state. In
addition, with 53% of the vote they rejected a proposal to nearly double the
number of signatures needed to get animal protection initiatives on future
ballots (see issue #85). The ban makes it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years
in prison, to participate in cockfighting, possess equipment or facilities for
it, or keep birds for that purpose. Cockfighting was approved in Oklahoma in
1963 when the state Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that fowl were not animals.
Now, only Louisiana and New Mexico still allow cockfighting. Proponents say the
petition process for the recent ballot initiative was illegal and they will
pursue it in federal court.
"Oklahoma bans cockfighting," Associated Press, November 6, 2002.
http://www.news-star.com/stories/110602/New_37.shtml
3. FEDERAL EFFORTS AGAINST COCKFIGHTING
The Farm Bill, passed earlier this year, bans interstate and international
transport of fighting roosters, with a maximum penalty of $15,000 per bird. Last
month, legislation was introduced in the Senate to amend the Animal Welfare Act
to increase penalties for violations of federal anti-animal fighting law,
prohibit the interstate shipment of cockfighting implements, and update language
regarding the seizure and disposition of animals used for fighting. A companion
bill is in the House. The felony provision is being sought since prosecutors are
often unmotivated to pursue misdemeanor offenses. In over 25 years, the federal
government has pursued only 3 dogfighting and no cockfighting cases.
In California, it is a misdemeanor to keep birds for fighting or participate in
such activity. However, unless law enforcement officers can link roosters on a
property with cockfighting, or find fighting paraphernalia nearby, they can't
search said property. A lengthy article in the Napa Valley Register discusses
the illegal practice of raising roosters in California to sell for cockfighting
in Mexico.
"Senate Introduces Animal Fighting Bill," Humanelines, October 17,
2002.
http://www.hsus.org/ace/15478
"Oklahoma bans cockfighting," Associated Press, November 6, 2002.
http://www.news-star.com/stories/110602/New_37.shtml
"Fighting Cocks May Be Exported to Mexico," Napa Valley Register,
Roseann Keegan, 10/27/02
http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=1FBE1537-D22F-4F10-AC38-F3024E8C36C2
See also: http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=0D8A2DC9-A9D9-4F04-8D3C-3C015683AA00
4. NEWCASTLE DISEASE UPDATE/COCKFIGHTING CONNECTION
Authorities suspect that roosters smuggled from Mexico into California for
cockfighting are the cause of the Newcastle epidemic currently affecting
Southern California (see issue #90). Infected birds have been confiscated at the
border. There is a thriving trade in these birds at swap meets and shows in the
Los Angeles basin. The Ca. Department of Agriculture has suspended all poultry
exhibitions at fairgrounds, and has requested a halt on the movement and sales
of "backyard birds." [As of the beginning of the month, approximately
9,600 affected and exposed birds had been killed because of the disease. Up to
200 people on any given day are involved in the eradication and control effort.]
It is feared that the disease could spread to the state's $1 billion/year
commercial poultry industry. The virus is often spread by vaccination and beak
cutting crews, manure haulers, and employees. A 1971 epidemic led to the killing
of 12 million birds at a cost of $56 million. Trade from the state has already
been restricted by some countries.
"Exotic Newcastle Disease Strikes Game Birds in California," The
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, R. Scott Nolen, November
15, 2002.
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/nov02/021115b.asp
5. EXPOSE': NONAMBULATORY ANIMALS & THE USDA
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News recently broadcast a report of its months-long
investigation of a slaughterplant in southern Washington. The station videotaped
USDA meat inspectors routinely
allowing suspect animals to enter the plant, some too sick or injured to stand.
The report explains: "Because downers can't walk into the plant, they are
routinely shoved, dragged and hoisted while still alive....[One] old dairy cow
was dragged from [her] trailer into the parking lot. There [she] struggled in
pain for about five minutes before being lifted off the ground by [her] neck.
Workers swung the wide-eyed, still kicking animal straight into the plant while
a white-coated USDA meat inspector watched." Midway Meats owner Bill
Sexsmith claims such animals are "anesthetized" with a captive bolt
gun prior to being hoisted from the vehicle they arrive on, but the
investigators say they witnessed either ineffective stunning or no stunning at
all.
The USDA considers nonambulatory animals to be "high-risk" or
"suspect," but allows them to be inspected for use in the human food
supply. Congress recently banned the use of meat from these animals in the
school lunch program. Federal law requires that animals in a dying condition be
condemned. Former USDA veterinary trainer Lester Friedlander says federal meat
inspectors, under pressure from plant owners and the USDA, routinely ignore this
food safety regulation. KIRO's report considers food safety implications, noting
that "Downers are delivered by pick-up truck to slaughter horizontally, in
a pile of manure." Dr. Friedlander comments: "When [she's] dragged
across the ground, you see what kind of environment [she's] in....feces, urine
and mud....then all of a sudden [she's] going to be fed to your kids." He
believes this is the main source of fecal contamination.
KIRO tells that weeks before the broadcast, it had offered to show several hours
worth of unedited tape to the USDA. The agency refused the offer. In the 3 weeks
prior to the broadcast, the station called and spoke with at least 6 federal
investigators about the matter, including the agent in charge of West Coast
investigations. After the report aired, the USDA sent KIRO a fax stating:
"Your station repeatedly refused to provide any evidence or even the name
of the plant in question, thus completely impeding our ability to conduct an
investigation." KIRO counters that, in addition to its communications with
the agency, its September 5th Freedom of Information Act request to the USDA for
inspection reports and other information about Midway Meats has yet to be
fulfilled.
KIRO and Pasado's Safe Haven are petitioning the Attorney General of Washington
for animal cruelty charges to be filed against Midway Meats. The National Meat
Association has pledged its support for this "very small slaughter plant
that is viewable from Interstate 5."
"Meat From Dying, Sick or Diseased Cows Getting into Food," KIRO 7
Eyewitness News, Chris Halsne, October 31, 2002.
http://www.seattleinsider.com/partners/kirotv/specialreports/downers.html
"Downer Cows' Treatment May Be Illegal," KIRO 7 Eyewitness News, Chris
Halsne, 11/1/2002.
http://www.seattleinsider.com/partners/kirotv/specialreports/downers_3.html
"Volatile Reaction from Viewers, Feds, to Meat Investigation," KIRO 7,
Chris Halsne, 11/1/02.
http://www.seattleinsider.com/partners/kirotv/specialreports/downers_2.html
"Spurious Statements," Herd on the Hill (NMA), Kiran Kernellu,
November 4, 2002.
http://www.nmaonline.org/PUBLICATIONS/Newsletters/Headlines/headlines.html
(Article not yet available on-line.)
6. INSPECTORS CAUTIONED AGAINST STOPPING SLAUGHTERLINES
Consumer advocates and union officials are calling on the USDA to disavow
instructions given to meat inspectors in Kansas. The instructions reportedly
cautioned inspectors that they could be held accountable for lost production if
they failed to justify slowing slaughterplant lines, whether to examine possible
fecal contamination or to wash their hands. The USDA could not confirm that the
instructions were part of an official document. The memo was made public by the
meat inspectors union, and is said to have been distributed by 2 USDA
veterinarians to inspectors at the Farmland National Beef Packing Company in
Liberal, Kansas. (Twenty percent of the red meat in the U.S. is produced in
Kansas.) The memo states: "stopping production for 'possible' cross
contamination.is unjustifiable unless you can verify that there is direct
product contamination. Verification is OBSERVATION of gross contaminate not
SUSPECTED contaminate....verifiable ingesta or feces is as follows: a material
of yellow, green, brown or dark color that has a fibrous nature." An
inspector spokesperson cautions that "a small smear of feces can have
deadly consequences just as easily as an amount large enough to have 'a fibrous
nature,'" and that the odds of contaminating employees, machinery and other
matter are increased if immediate action is not taken when a problem is
suspected. The memo can be accessed via the Public Citizen link below.
"Critics Take Aim at Guidelines on Standards for Food Safety," The New
York Times, Elizabeth Becker, November 2, 2002.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/02/politics/02MEAT.html
"USDA Tells Inspectors to Give Deference to Meat Companies, Stop Production
Lines Only in Certain Circumstances," Public Citizen press release, October
31, 2002.
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1260
7. CITED SLAUGHTERPLANTS NOT TAKING EFFECTIVE ACTION
The slaughterplant to which the lethal Listeria outbreak was traced (see issue
#89) had been cited for more than 40 sanitary violations since January. (Last
month, the plant recalled 27.4 million pounds of cooked meat, constituting the
largest meat recall in history.) According to internal inspection documents,
"corrective actions were either not implemented or ineffective."
Consumer advocates say the spotty sanitation record is similar to that of many
large meat-processing plants around the country. Garry McKee, the new
administrator of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection System, says the recall
"was a wake-up call for the industry," and that some companies
"haven't been responding to what needs to be done to fix the
problems." McKee also warns that too many processors are not proving that
their self-monitoring systems work (see issue #78), noting "Some are not
even recognizing that pathogens exist." A July GAO draft report notes that
some inspectors allowed hazards to remain for months without insisting on
corrective action. The most common repetitive violation was for fecal
contamination.
"Food Plant Cited Before Outbreak," Philadelphia Inquirer, Oliver
Prichard & Aparna Surendran, November 3, 2002.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/4429354.htm
"How safe is that burger?" Consumer Reports, November 2002.
http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detailv2.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=163131&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=18151&bmUID=1036695196945
8. MEAT: RISKS, COSTS, AND SUGGESTIONS
"How safe is that burger?" is the feature article in the current issue
of Consumer Reports. Among its "Beefs about Beef," the extensive
article examines microbial contamination, BSE (including inadequate testing of
nonambulatory animals), antibiotics, hormones, and feedlot pollution. A taste
test of veggie burgers is also included. (See item above for source information
and link.)
"Appetite" is the title of the cover story of the current issue of
Adbusters. It consists of a series of articles about food. This includes one on
the environmental and societal cost of groceries, in particular beef, fish and
genetically modified crops. The politics of the government's Dietary Guidelines
and Food Group Pyramid are discussed in a brief piece entitled "A Diet Rich
in Profit." Another one, "Food Fight," concludes with the segment
"Expose," which comments on our "cold and inhumane"
relationship with animals. It suggests: "So, let's bring the bite of
reality back into our lives. Let's place photographs on packets of pork in the
supermarket. Let's swing open the slaughterhouse doors. On CBS, NBC, CNN and
ABC, let's run 30-second PSA's that show it like it is: chickens in their cages,
cattle fattened on corn and antibiotics and then shot in the head. What are we
afraid of? Let's move ever closer to the killing that's being done in our name,
and finally, something surprising may happen: we may start feeling just a little
more humane; a little closer to the sacred cycle of life and death."
"Appetite," Adbusters, November/December 2000.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/44/index01.html
9. MAN GETS 10 YEAR PRISON TERM FOR ANIMAL ASSAULT
After finding him guilty of stealing and killing a chicken he sexually
assaulted, an Indiana judge sentenced Michael Bessigano to 10 & ½ years in
prison, the maximum possible. Due to his prior criminal record of animal abuse
and theft, Bessigano was deemed a habitual offender and convicted of a felony
charge of cruelty to an animal. The 32-year-old man is known to have at least a
10-year history of abusing animals, including other birds and dogs. His lawyer
said Bessigano had spent nearly 3 years as a patient in a mental hospital
without being properly evaluated. Having already served 525 days for this
offense, he could be paroled in 4 years. His conviction is being appealed and
his case passed on to another public defender due to workload.
"10-Year Sentence in Death of Chicken," The Times, Bob Kasarda,
November 5, 2002.
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2002/11/05/news/top_news/411fc52df3220a2486256c680002fb3a.txt
"Animal Abuse Case Set for Trial," The Times, Bob Kasarda, October 9,
2002.
"Bessigano to Appeal Conviction," News Briefs, The Times, November 7,
2002.
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2002/11/07/news/porter_county/7c2f7e392c330d4186256c6a0021dd29.txt
10. CONFERENCE: "OUR ANIMALS AND THEIR PLIGHT"
The theme of this year's Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association Annual
Conference is:
"Our Animals and Their Plight." The conference, to be held November
8-10th in Eugene, Or., the conference will consider "ways in which we keep
and treat our domestic animals." The general fee is $125. For details
visit: http://www.biodynamics.com or call: (888) 516-7797.