U.S. Attorney’s Office Urged to Probe Butchery’s Botched Stunning Attempts

PETA Calls for Federal Criminal Investigation After Yreka Slaughterhouse Worker Shoots a Bison in the Head Eight Times

For Immediate Release:
May 3, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

PETA has obtained a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report revealing at least the seventh violation of federal law since January at Belcampo Butchery, LLC, in Yreka. In response, PETA sent a letter today calling on the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California 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.

Belcampo—which sells its products through its restaurants and butcher shops in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area—touts itself as “Animal Welfare Approved.” But according to USDA reports, on April 12, a Belcampo employee shot a bison in the head eight times and slit the still-conscious animal’s throat over the course of 12 minutes. Twice on March 28 and once on January 5, cows were repeatedly shot in the head before they were rendered unconscious. On March 27, a lamb remained breathing and standing for nearly a minute after being shot in the head. On February 22, a worker shot a pig in the head twice as she continued to cry out and try to escape. A third shot, three minutes after the first blow, finally rendered her unconscious. On February 21, an inspector heard a pig crying out and discovered that a fully conscious pig whose throat had been slit was shackled and hanging upside down.

“These disturbing revelations show that workers at Belcampo Butchery either can’t or won’t stun animals quickly, competently, and without causing them terrible fear, pain, and suffering,” says PETA Director of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling for federal prosecution in this case on behalf of the cows, pigs, bison, and lamb who suffered at this facility and the 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.