For Speedy Launch:
January 24, 2023
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Dayton, Va. – Following a just-released U.S. Division of Agriculture report revealing that turkeys suffocated to dying after being shackled the wrong way up on the Cargill Meat Options slaughterhouse in Dayton, PETA fired off a letter this morning to Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Lawyer Marsha L. Garst calling on her to research and file relevant felony prices towards these accountable.
In response to the report, on September 14 a federal official found that as much as 40 male turkeys had been left hanging for as much as 90 minutes with their legs clamped within the shackles sometimes used to convey birds by means of the slaughter line. As much as 10 of the birds had suffocated to dying, and the survivors have been gasping for air and flapping their wings so frantically that their bones had damaged. Simply 5 days later, an inspector discovered a distressed, gasping turkey with visibly damaged bones trapped below a transport trailer’s tire. Within the time it took the inspector to search for a staffer to help, the chook died.
“If somebody left canines to die below a truck or hanging from shackles, they might rightly be going through felony prices, and these turkeys have been additionally residing, feeling beings protected by regulation,” says PETA Vice President of Proof Evaluation Daniel Paden. “PETA is looking on the commonwealth’s legal professional to research and produce acceptable prices and reminds everybody that the one type meal is a vegan one.”
PETA factors out that turkeys, chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, and different animals really feel ache and worry and worth their lives, simply as people do. The group is pursuing prices below state regulation as a result of federal officers haven’t prosecuted any inspected slaughterhouses for acts of abuse and neglect comparable to these at Cargill Meat Options—the third-largest turkey-killing firm within the U.S.—since at the least 2007.
PETA—whose motto reads, partly, that “animals usually are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For extra data on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please go to PETA.org or observe the group on Twitter, Fb, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Garst follows.
January 24, 2023
The Honorable Marsha L. Garst
Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Lawyer
Expensive Ms. Garst:
I’m writing to request that your workplace (and a neighborhood law-enforcement company, as you deem acceptable) examine and file relevant felony prices towards the people liable for leaving turkeys hanging the wrong way up to slowly suffocate to dying—and fatally working over one other turkey—on the Cargill Meat Options slaughterhouse positioned at 135 Huffman Dr. in Dayton. The Meals Security and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incidents within the connected report, which the company simply made out there to the general public.
In response to the report, on September 14, 2022, an FSIS inspector discovered as much as 40 male turkeys hanging the wrong way up by their legs from the shackles usually used to convey birds by means of the slaughter line. FSIS personnel found that these animals had been hung up in that method roughly 90 minutes earlier—after which left that method as a piece shift ended. As much as 10 of the birds had died “from secondary asphyxia on account of hanging and unable to proper themselves.” A number of survivors have been “gasping for air” and flapping their wings so quickly that their bones had damaged.
5 days later, FSIS workers discovered a turkey in “misery” and increasing his neck to gasp for air, trapped by his legs and torso below a tire on a trailer used to haul birds. Two damaged bones jutted from the chook’s proper wing. An FSIS inspector instantly tried to seek out Cargill workers to help the chook “to no avail” after which found that the chook had died.
This conduct doesn’t symbolize the otherwise-exempt “farming actions” and thus could violate Code of Virginia § 3.2-6570. Please word that FSIS’ easy report on the matter carries no felony or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt felony legal responsibility below state regulation for cruelty to animals. Thanks to your time and consideration and for the vital work that you just do.
Sincerely,
Daniel Paden
Vice President of Proof Evaluation
Cruelty Investigations Division
