Investigation Sought After Pig Shot in Head Three Times at Slaughterhouse

PETA Cites Federal Reports Showing That H&P Meats Workers Took Four Minutes to Stun Screaming Animal

For Immediate Release:
July 12, 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 Marion County’s district attorney general to investigate H&P Meats and, as appropriate, file criminal charges against the slaughterhouse worker or workers who failed to stun a pig on the first attempt—subjecting the screaming animal to three gunshots and an agonizing four minutes between the first and final blasts.

According to the USDA documents, operations at H&P Meats were suspended on June 19 for a violation of slaughter regulations after a worker used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot a pig in the head twice, causing the still-standing animal to scream and shake his or her head before the plant owner came to the killing floor to administer the final shot. PETA notes that this incident appears to violate Tennessee’s cruelty-to-animals statute, which prohibits a person from intentionally or knowingly torturing or maiming an animal or unreasonably failing to provide an animal with necessary care.

“PETA is calling for a criminal investigation into H&P Meats, which allowed a pig to endure a prolonged death after multiple bullet blasts to the head,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “There’s no difference between the terror and pain that this pig felt and how dogs or cats would feel if they were left to suffer from gunshot wounds.”

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 creatures from suffering in this and other slaughterhouses is to go vegan.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.