Probe of Slaughterhouse Sought After Cow, Pigs Repeatedly Shot in the Head

PETA Cites Federal Reports Showing That Workers at Puget Sound Processing Shot a Pig in the Eye, Among Other Violations

For Immediate Release:
November 30, 2017

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

Armed with damning U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports, PETA sent a letter today calling on the Thurston County sheriff to investigate and, as appropriate, file criminal charges against Puget Sound Processing, LLC, and the workers responsible for repeatedly shooting a cow and two pigs on three separate occasions this year.

According to the USDA records, Puget Sound Processing was cited on October 4 after an inspector saw a worker use a .22 magnum rifle to shoot a pig in the eye, rupturing the eyeball. Nearly a full minute passed before the worker fired a second blast, which rendered the screaming pig unconscious. The facility was also cited on October 30 and April 5, when workers shot a cow five times and a pig three times, respectively. PETA notes that these incidents may violate Washington’s cruelty-to-animals statute, which makes it a crime to “recklessly, or with criminal negligence inflict[] unnecessary suffering or pain upon an animal.”

“PETA is calling for a criminal investigation of this facility and the workers who caused animals to endure pain and terror by subjecting them to inept slaughter attempts,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “There’s no difference between the terror and pain that these animals felt and how dogs, cats, or humans would feel if they were shot over and over again.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that the meat industry slaughters more than 29 million cows and 115 million pigs every year, that other animals have the same central nervous system and sense of self-preservation as humans, and that the only way to prevent pigs, cows, chickens, and other animals from suffering in slaughterhouses is to go vegan.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.