Criminal Probe Sought: Conscious Pig Repeatedly Shocked, Throat Slit

For Immediate Release:
November 13, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

PETA has obtained a U.S. Department of Agriculture report revealing a recent violation of law at Julius Falkavage LLC outside of Stevens Point. In response, PETA sent a letter today calling on Portage County District Attorney Louis J. Molepske Jr. to review the matter and, as appropriate, file criminal cruelty-to-animals charges against the facility and the workers responsible for an October 24 incident in which they electroshocked a bellowing pig three times in failed stunning attempts before lassoing the animal’s leg, hoisting the pig into the air, and cutting his or her throat while the animal was fully conscious.

“This disturbing report shows that this pig experienced a prolonged, agonizing death at Julius Falkavage,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling for a criminal investigation on behalf of the pig 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 pigs, sheep, bulls, cows, chickens, and other animals feel pain and fear and value their lives, just as humans do, and that the only way to help prevent them from suffering in slaughterhouses is not to eat them.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to Molepske follows.

November 13, 2019

The Honorable Louis Molepske Jr.

Portage County District Attorney

Dear Mr. Molepske,

I hope this letter finds you well. I would like to request that your office (and the proper local law enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file suitable criminal charges against Julius Falkavage LLC and the workers responsible for repeatedly electroshocking and then hoisting and cutting the throat of a conscious pig on October 24 at its slaughterhouse located at 6811 Burr Oak Rd. outside of Stevens Point. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incident in the attached report, which states the following:

“An establishment [employee] stunned the fourth market swine with an electrical stunning wand to the head only and observed [that] the animal remained conscious. The animal was on all four feet between the red hog sorting board and the side of the slaughter chute. The animal remained standing. It was kicking its hind legs in a controlled manner like riding a bike and trying to remain upright on the sloped floor. The animal vocalized with a low bellow sound. [The employee] tried a second time to stun the animal with the same electrical stunner with no effect. The animal remained conscious. [The employee] tried for the third time to stun the animal with the same electrical stunner with no effect. Another employee lassoed and hoisted the hog by the hind leg. While the conscious animal was in the hoisted position, it continued to blink, multiple times, track movement with its eyes, breath[e] in a rhythmic manner, multiple times and continued to vocalize. [The employee] did not have a back-up device to stun the animal so after the animal was hoisted, it was stuck and bled out. The animal lost consciousness through anemia.”^[1]

This conduct appears to violate Wis. Stat. § 951.02. Importantly, FSIS action does not preempt criminal liability under state law for slaughterhouse workers who perpetrate acts of cruelty to animals.^[2]

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

Assistant Manager of Investigations

2See 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 25 Manager Dr. Dawn Sprouls, D.V.M., Notice of Suspension, Julius Falkavage LLC. (Oct. 24, 2019) https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/6c3df932-edfc-40e7-91d0-fa03951d226e/48108-julius-falkavage-nos-102419.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.

[2]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.”).