For Fast Launch:
January 31, 2023
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
Augusta, Ga. – In response to a just-published report from the U.S. Division of Agriculture documenting {that a} cow, who remained aware at FPL Meals in Augusta after a number of pictures to the pinnacle, was slashed throughout the throat and dragged away, PETA fired off a letter immediately to District Lawyer Jared Williams calling on him to analyze and file relevant felony costs in opposition to these accountable.
On August 24, a employee shot a cow twice within the head and lower her throat earlier than she was shackled and dragged about 15 ft with a forklift. She continued to maneuver, breathe, and blink. Staff did nothing to finish her struggling till a federal inspector identified that she was nonetheless aware.
“This cow endured extended, agonizing ache after she was shot twice, lower throughout the neck, and hauled round earlier than lastly being rendered unconscious,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is asking for an investigation on this animal’s behalf and urges everybody to assist stop animals from struggling in slaughterhouses by going vegan.”
Federal paperwork obtained by PETA reveal that FPL was flagged in prior years for the mistreatment of cows—together with one who remained aware and cried out after a employee shot her within the head and one other who obtained free, fell 6 ft onto a desk, and ran by means of the slaughterhouse to the parking zone, the place she was shot.
PETA—whose motto reads, partly, that “animals aren’t ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For extra info on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please go to PETA.org, hearken to The PETA Podcast, or comply with the group on Twitter, Fb, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Williams follows.
January 31, 2023
The Honorable Jared Williams
District Lawyer
Augusta Judicial Circuit
Expensive Mr. Williams:
I hope this letter finds you nicely. I’m writing to request that your workplace (and a law-enforcement company, as essential) examine and file relevant felony costs in opposition to the people accountable for repeatedly capturing a cow within the head, slashing her throat, and dragging her 15 ft behind a forklift—whereas she was aware—at FPL Meals, situated at 1301 New Savannah Rd. in Augusta. The U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Meals Security and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incident in a report that it lately made out there to the general public.
On August 24, 2022, an FSIS inspector noticed an FPL employee shoot a recumbent cow—who was trapped in a trailer—within the head twice with a captive-bolt gun after which stick a knife into her throat in an try and bleed her to dying. The FSIS inspector “was standing proper subsequent to the cow … and will see she maintained rhythmic respiration, and her respiration quickened once they used the knife on her.”
Regardless that the cow was aware, employees shackled and dragged her about 15 ft with a forklift. The FSIS inspector then noticed her sit up, blink her eyes, transfer her head, and go searching. “The plant staff did nothing to render the cow unconscious,” the inspector wrote, “till I mentioned to them the cow was aware.” Lastly, a 3rd shot to the pinnacle shocked the cow.
This conduct might violate O.C.G.A. § 16-12-4 and doesn’t signify the agricultural or butchering practices in any other case exempt from prosecution. Please observe that FSIS’ motion carries no felony or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt felony legal responsibility beneath state legislation for acts of cruelty to animals.
Thanks to your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Daniel Paden
Vice President of Proof Evaluation
Cruelty Investigations Division
