U.S. Attorney Urged to Probe JBS’ Pattern of Botched Cattle-Stunning Attempts

PETA Calls for Federal Criminal Investigation After New Report Reveals Workers at JBS Grand Island Hung a Conscious Cow Upside Down

For Immediate Release:
April 23, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

PETA has obtained a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report revealing at least the fifth violation of federal law in two years at JBS Grand Island slaughterhouse. In response, PETA sent a letter today calling on the U.S. attorney for the District of Nebraska to investigate the slaughterhouse for its persistent violations of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and, as appropriate, file federal criminal charges against the facility and the workers responsible for the animals’ suffering.

According to the reports, operations were suspended at JBS on April 1, 2016; October 14, 2016; January 21, 2017; and August 16, 2017, after staff repeatedly shot conscious cows in the head with a captive-bolt gun, causing the animals to bleed from the nose, struggle, and cry out. And on March 29, workers apparently failed to attempt to stun a cow at all before shackling her and hoisting her onto the bleed rail while she was fully conscious.

Last year, PETA was contacted by a concerned whistleblower who claimed that the placement of bolt guns on cows’ heads at JBS was “almost always abnormal.” The eyewitness provided photographs and video footage that depicted improper bolt-gun positioning and a conscious cow whose throat had been slit hanging on the rail.

“These disturbing revelations show that workers at JBS Grand Island either can’t or won’t stun animals quickly, competently, and without causing them terrible fear, pain, and suffering,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling for federal prosecution in this case on behalf of the cattle and members of the public who care about them.”

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, pigs, chickens, and others from suffering in slaughterhouses is to go vegan.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.