Investigation Sought After Cattle Repeatedly Shot in Head

PETA Cites Federal Reports Showing That Cimpl’s Workers Failed to Stun Animals Properly Four Times in Just One Month

For Immediate Release:
July 13, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Armed with damning U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) records, PETA sent a letter this morning calling on the Yankton County state’s attorney to investigate local slaughterhouse Cimpl’s and, as appropriate, file criminal charges against the worker or workers there who, within a one-month span, failed to stun four bulls on the first attempt, subjecting them to repeated shots in the head.

According to the USDA documents, on May 18, a bull continued to stand even after he was shot in the head with a captive-bolt gun. The gun misfired on four subsequent attempts and penetrated the bull’s skull only on the sixth shot, which stunned him. On May 30 and June 13, bulls remained standing while they were shot in the head with a captive-bolt gun three times. On June 16, a captive-bolt gun “bounced” off a bull’s head on the first attempt, and the second shot penetrated his skull and stunned him. PETA notes that these incidents appear to violate South Dakota’s mistreatment-of-animals statute, which prohibits a person from causing or permitting the continuation of unjustifiable physical pain or suffering of an animal.

“PETA is calling for a criminal investigation into Cimpl’s, which caused four bulls to endure prolonged deaths after multiple bolt blasts to the head,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “There’s no difference between the terror and pain that these bulls felt and how dogs or cats would feel if they were left to suffer from shots fired at their skulls.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that animals have the same central nervous system and sense of self-preservation as humans and that the only way to prevent cows, pigs, and other gentle animals from suffering in this and other slaughterhouses is to go vegan.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.