Probe of Slaughterhouse Sought After Cattle Repeatedly Shot

PETA Cites Federal Report Showing That Workers at JBS Grand Island Shackled and Hoisted a Struggling Cow in the Air by the Leg

For Immediate Release:
September 5, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Armed with damning U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) records from August 16, 2017; January 21, 2017; October 14, 2016; and April 1, 2016, PETA sent a letter today calling on the Hall County attorney to investigate and, as appropriate, file criminal charges against the JBS Grand Island workers responsible for repeatedly shooting cattle in the head on at least four dates since April 2016 and for shackling and hoisting a fully conscious cow—causing the animal to struggle and cry out.

According to the USDA documents, JBS Grand Island’s operations have been suspended four times since April 2016 for shooting cows and steers multiple times during inept stunning attempts. In January, workers fired three captive-bolt blasts at a cow who bled from the nose as five minutes passed between the first and final shots. On August 16, workers shackled a “bright, alert and responsive” cow by the leg and hoisted the flailing animal upside down, with his or her head dangling about 3 feet above the floor, before shooting the cow twice with a captive-bolt gun. PETA notes that this conduct appears to violate Nebraska’s Livestock Animal Welfare Act, which makes it a crime to fail to provide a cow with care necessary for the animal’s health.

“PETA is calling for a criminal investigation of this slaughterhouse and the workers who caused animals to endure repeated blasts to the head during botched stunning attempts,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “There’s no difference between the terror and pain that these cows felt and how dogs or cats would feel if they were shot multiple times or shackled by the leg and hung upside down while still conscious.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that the meat industry kills more than 29 million gentle cows every year. Animals have the same central nervous system and sense of self-preservation as humans, and the only way to prevent cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals from suffering in slaughterhouses is to go vegan.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.