Probe of Slaughterhouse Sought After Cow Repeatedly Beaten in the Face

PETA Cites Federal Report Showing That Worker Struck Confined Animal in ‘Aggressive’ Manner

For Immediate Release:
April 5, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

Armed with a damning U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, PETA sent a letter today calling on the City of Modesto Police Department to investigate and, as appropriate, file criminal charges against Western Meat Processing, Inc., and the worker responsible for repeatedly hitting a cow in the face with a paddle, which he held “like an axe.”

According to the USDA report, on March 15, a USDA veterinarian heard a cow cry out and hurried over to witness a worker hitting the animal in the face repeatedly with a hard paddle mounted on the end of a pole. The strikes were so loud and intense that the employee didn’t initially hear the veterinarian’s orders to stop hitting the cow and continued to strike the animal in “an aggressive manner,” which the report calls “an egregious act of inhumane handling of animals.” PETA notes that this incident may violate California law, which prohibits tormenting or cruelly beating an animal.

“PETA is calling for a criminal investigation of this facility and the worker who repeatedly struck a cow in the face as the animal cried out and reeled back from the blows,” says PETA Director of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden. “There’s no difference between the fear and pain that this animal felt and the way that dogs, cats, or humans would feel if they were beaten in the face with a hard paddle.”

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

For more information, please visit PETA.org.