CRIMES WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES - gpvec

Crimes Without ConsequenCes
New Jersey, 2006
On January 9, a Trenton police officer responding to a noise complaint in the area of the
Trenton Halal Meat Packing Company witnessed animals being crushed to death against
a concrete wall. The officer ordered the slaughter plant owner to stop and later reported
her concerns to a meeting of the Trenton City Council. According to the plant, goats are
killed by Islamic practice, but bulls, due to their size, are stunned with a captive bolt
gun prior to shackling and hoisting. However, the patrol officer reported she observed
bulls being hoisted by use of a metal grate that pinned the animal against the concrete
wall with enough force to lift the animal off the ground. She described the animals as
“screaming in pain” during the procedure. The city council discussed the possibility of
relocating the slaughter plant outside the city and of “limiting the amount of time trucks
with live animals in them can sit outside the slaughterhouse.” However, the council was
informed that it has no jurisdiction over what goes on inside the slaughter plant. 231 A
spokesman for the USDA stated that the plant was operating within federal regulations
and had never been cited for any humane violations. 232 To date, no action has been taken
against the plant by state or federal officials. 233
North Carolina, 2007
Mercy for Animals, grassroots animal advocates located in the Columbus, Ohio area,
filed a complaint with the Hoke County District Attorney in May 2007 alleging violations
of the North Carolina animal cruelty statute at the House of Raeford Farms poultry
slaughterhouse in Raeford. An investigator for the animal group worked at the plant
in January and February 2007 in the “live-hang” area where chickens and turkeys are
shackled onto the slaughter line. The investigator filmed several acts of cruelty, including
a worker violently punching live turkeys, birds being thrown across the facility, workers
ripping the heads off live turkeys and live birds being crushed under the wheels of trucks.
The group has requested that the plant be charged under the state animal cruelty code. 234
A House of Raeford representative told www.Meatpoultry.com that four of the five
workers shown in the videotape had been terminated shortly after the filming and that the
slaughterhouse had scored 94.9 out of a possible 100 points on an animal welfare audit
conducted by a third party company in November 2006. 235
California, 2008
A 6-week undercover investigation conducted by HSUS during the fall of 2007 at the
Hallmark Meat Company in Chino resulted in the release of a videotape documenting
231 Dee J, Slaughter horrors recounted, The Times of Trenton, January 20, 2006; Dee J, Slaughterhouse denies
inhumane practices, The Times of Trenton, January 21, 2006.
232 Dee J, Slaughterhouse denies inhumane practices. In fact, the USDA issued NRs to Trenton Halal Packing
for humane violations on October 21, 2003 and February 16, 2004.
233 The New Jersey Cruelty to Animals Statute (Section 22-16.1) provides that standards for the humane
treatment of domestic livestock be developed by the state board of agriculture and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, and that there is a presumption that treatment consistent with those standards does not constitute
animal cruelty. However, this provision covers the “raising, care, treatment, marketing, and sale of domestic
livestock” and does not specifically cover slaughter or handling in preparation for slaughter.
234 See Undercover poultry slaughterhouse investigation, Mercy for Animals website.
(http://www.mercyforanimals.org)
235 House of Raeford responds to “malicious activity” by animal rights group, http://www.Meatpoultry.com,
May 23, 2007.
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