Pig Electrocuted, Repeatedly Shot in the Head at Local Slaughterhouse; PETA Seeks Kill-Floor Cameras

For Immediate Release:
August 10, 2023

Contact:
Brittney Williams 202-483-7382

Following a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report documenting that a pig remained conscious and crying out after being electrocuted and repeatedly shot in the head at USA Beef Packing near Roswell, PETA fired off a letter to the facility’s owner, Jose Alberto Madrid, calling on him to livestream video footage from the slaughterhouse to help prevent additional egregious violations of the law.

On July 22, a worker attempted to stun the pig with electricity, burning her nose but failing to render her unconscious. Two workers then shot the pig twice with a captive-bolt gun—missing her a third time—before finally stunning the screaming animal on the fourth shot.

“This pig endured agonizing electrocution and multiple shots to the head before these inept workers were finally able to end her suffering,” says PETA Vice President of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on this facility to livestream its slaughter operations publicly and reminds everyone that we can all stop this suffering by simply eating vegan.”

PETA has also asked Madrid to report the employees involved in the incident to local law-enforcement officials for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute and to reassign them to positions that don’t involve contact with live animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Madrid follows.

August 10, 2023

Jose Alberto Madrid

Owner

USA Beef Packing LLC

Dear Mr. Madrid:

Given the recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report detailing the botched killing of a pig at USA Beef Packing LLC, during which the animal was electroshocked and burned and then remained standing and crying out while a worker repeatedly shot her in the head, we ask that you immediately change operations there in the hope of reducing animal suffering in your slaughterhouse.

In light of the egregious pain and terror that your staff caused this pig to endure in violation of federal law, won’t you please stop slaughtering pigs? Rather than risking further, similar violations, you could focus on minimizing the stress and suffering of the other farmed animals you slaughter.

Will you please publicly livestream video from all areas of your facility where live animals are handled? Workers would take their duty to handle animals lawfully more seriously if they knew that caring people were watching. As the world’s foremost expert on livestock welfare, Dr. Temple Grandin, writes, “Plants [t]hat are doing a good job should show what they are doing.” Your industry often complains that today’s consumers don’t understand how animals are raised and killed for food. You could help by enabling us to observe your workers moving countless individual animals—who value their lives as we value ours—off crowded trucks in all weather, attempting to stun them, slashing or sticking their throats, and bleeding them to death.

At the very least, will you reassign your staff referenced in the federal report to jobs that don’t involve having contact with any live animals—such as evisceration, butchering, and packaging—and report the involved personnel to your local law-enforcement agency for investigation for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute?

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Colin Henstock

Investigations Project Manager