Criminal Probe Sought: Cow and Steer Repeatedly Shot
For Immediate Release:
September 19, 2019
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
PETA has obtained U.S. Department of Agriculture reports revealing recent violations of law at Ward Willard & Son near Heuvelton, New York. In response, PETA sent a letter today calling on the St. Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office to review the matter and, as appropriate, file criminal cruelty-to-animals charges against the slaughter facility and the workers responsible for shooting animals in the head multiple times, over the course of up to 20 minutes, in botched stunning attempts. One steer was left bleeding from the head for at least 15 minutes after being shot twice, before a third shot finally rendered him unconscious. After being shot twice with a rifle, a cow was left bleeding and suffering while a worker retrieved more ammunition before she was finally stunned.
“These disturbing reports show that this steer and cow experienced prolonged, agonizing deaths at Ward Willard & Son,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling for a criminal investigation on behalf of the animals who suffered at this facility and urging all compassionate members of the public who are disturbed by this cruelty to go vegan and help prevent more animals from suffering in slaughterhouses.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. The group notes that cattle, sheep, bulls, pigs, chickens, and other animals have a central nervous system and sense of self-preservation, just as humans do, and that the only way to help prevent them from enduring cruelty in slaughterhouses is not to eat them.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA’s letter to St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary M. Pasqua follows.
September 19, 2019
The Honorable Gary M. Pasqua
District Attorney
St. Lawrence County
Dear Mr. Pasqua,
I hope this letter finds you well. I would like to request that your office (and the proper law enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file suitable criminal charges against Ward Willard & Son and the worker(s) responsible for shooting cows in the head multiple times, over the course of up to 20 minutes, in botched stunning attempts on August 9 and 30 at its slaughterhouse located at 4496 State Hwy. 812 outside of Heuvelton. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incidents in the attached reports, which state the following:
August 30, 2019: “At approximately 0749 … a cow was moved to the knock box where a plant employee was utilizing a 30/30 caliber rifle to make the first stun attempt … a second shot was heard to be fired at 0751. There was another pause, at which time the door to the kill floor opened and an employee left the slaughter floor to get more ammunition out of the desk. It was at this point that inspection personnel … observed that the cow was still standing with blood coming from [the] facial region. The employee then returned with the ammunition and a third shot was heard at 0753 at which point the cow was rendered unconscious.”[1]
August 9, 2019: “[A] steer was in the knock box and the plant employee used a .22 magnum rifle to make the first stun attempt. The steer was still standing and bleeding from the head. There was a significant pause before the plant made a second attempt with the .22 mag rifle. The animal remained standing after the second shot. There was another lengthy pause while the plant needed to retrieve the back-up … .30-30 rifle. The shot with the .30-30 rendered the animal unconscious. It was approximately 15-20 minutes from the time of the first shot until the animal was finally rendered unconscious.”[2]
This conduct appears to violate N.Y. Agriculture & Markets Law § 353. Importantly, FSIS action does not preempt criminal liability under state law for slaughterhouse workers who perpetrate acts of cruelty to animals.[3]
Please let us know what we might do to assist you. Thank you for your consideration and for the difficult work that you do.
Sincerely,
Colin Henstock
Investigations Specialist
1FSIS District 60 Manager Dr. Lynda Lilyestrom, Notice of Reinstatement of Suspension, Ward Willard & Son, Est. 19989 (Aug. 30, 2019) https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/466f6d9d-bd60-4726-a514-c9954cc24496/19989-noros-083019.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.
2FSIS District 60 Manager Dr. Lynda Lilyestrom, Notice of Suspension, Ward Willard & Son, Est. 19989 (Aug. 9, 2019) https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a6c08e26-0ee0-46a8-87cc-2564dc79693b/19989-nos-080919.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.
3See Nat’l. Meat Assoc. v. Harris, 132 S. Ct. 965, 974 n.10 (2012) (“. . . States may exact civil or criminal penalties for animal cruelty or other conduct that also violates the [Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA)]. See [21 U.S.C.] §678; cf. Bates v. Dow Agrosciences, LLC, 544 U.S. 431, 447 (2005) (holding that a preemption clause barring state laws ‘in addition to or different’ from a federal Act does not interfere with an ‘equivalent’ state provision). Although the FMIA preempts much state law involving slaughterhouses, it thus leaves some room for the States to regulate.”).
[1]FSIS District 60 Manager Dr. Lynda Lilyestrom, Notice of Reinstatement of Suspension, Ward Willard & Son, Est. 19989 (Aug. 30, 2019) https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/466f6d9d-bd60-4726-a514-c9954cc24496/19989-noros-083019.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.
[2]FSIS District 60 Manager Dr. Lynda Lilyestrom, Notice of Suspension, Ward Willard & Son, Est. 19989 (Aug. 9, 2019) https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a6c08e26-0ee0-46a8-87cc-2564dc79693b/19989-nos-080919.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.
[3]See Nat’l. Meat Assoc. v. Harris, 132 S. Ct. 965, 974 n.10 (2012) (“. . . States may exact civil or criminal penalties for animal cruelty or other conduct that also violates the [Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA)]. See [21 U.S.C.] §678; cf. Bates v. Dow Agrosciences, LLC, 544 U.S. 431, 447 (2005) (holding that a preemption clause barring state laws ‘in addition to or different’ from a federal Act does not interfere with an ‘equivalent’ state provision). Although the FMIA preempts much state law involving slaughterhouses, it thus leaves some room for the States to regulate.”).
