Marin Independent Journal: Taking on the meat industry

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Taking on the meat industry

 

 

 

Jennifer Gollan

Marin Independent Journal

 

Steeped in feces and rotting carcasses, the pigs at HKY Inc. in Nebraksa faced a grim death until a San Rafael animal rights group showed up.

 

The Humane Farming Association turned over the results of its clandestine investigation of the pork plant to the Nebraska attorney general's office, raised the alarm of the media and forced the farm to shut down.

 

" It was literally a hellhole, " said Bradley Miller, the national director of the nonprofit Humane Farming Association, which claims 180,000 members. " So much of what we are talking about is taking place literally behind locked doors. Our job is to expose what is really going on. "

 

The episode encapsulates the mission of the Humane Farming Association, which made headlines just before Christmas when it went to court on behalf of reindeer and other animals destined for the slaughterhouse.

 

The group seeks to eradicate farm animal abuse, curb antibiotic use and protect the environment from harmful farming byproducts. It documents meat and poultry plant abuses, lobbies lawmakers for stringent animal protections, and cares for 1,000 farm animals seized in abuse cases at Suwanna Ranch, which, with 5,000 acres in Glenn County, is one of the largest refuges of its kind in the country.

 

" Farm animals needed a voice, " Miller said. " We believe that's an area of greatest need because farm animals represent the largest class of animals that are victimized by human cruelty. "

 

A spokeswoman for the meat-packing industry, however, criticized the association's strategy as misguided, and contended that animals raised for human consumption are well cared for.

 

" What a lot of people don't understand is the fact that animal welfare has distinct economic benefits for our industry, " said Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs for the Washington, D.C.-based American Meat Institute, which represents 300 meat packing companies in the country. " While we may be in the meat business, we believe it is ethically appropriate to handle animals as humanely as possible while they are in our care. "

 

Over the past two decades, the San Rafael-based Humane Farming Association has executed hundreds of covert investigations of meat and poultry plants to ensure that farm animals are treated humanely. Now, the animals are doing their own bidding, with reindeer and bison suing President Bush.

 

In a Dec. 23 complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, attorneys for the animals - and the Humane Farming Association - sought a court order requiring the humane treatment of reindeer, bison and other animals sent to slaughter.

 

The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958 bars the inhumane slaughter of cattle, calves, horses, mules, sheep, swine and " other livestock. "

 

The law defines humane slaughter methods as rendering the animals unconscious with electrical shock or a blow to the head, before they are killed.

 

The association's lawsuit charges that the federal government violated the law by failing to require meat and poultry plants to extend those practices to reindeer, bison, rabbits, ostrich, and other animals.

 

That alleged mistreatment, in turn, has caused the association's members great psychological distress, the complaint says. In addition, the association says its investigations of slaughter abuse point to an increased risk of meat contamination.

 

" When conscious animals are skinned and/or dismembered, their thrashing causes once sterile muscle tissue to become contaminated by feces and other adulterants, " the complaint says.

 

When Miller co-founded the association 1985 in his San Rafael home, it had nine members. One of its first advertising campaigns, the boycott of veal production, led to a 75 percent drop in the number of calves slaughtered annually from 1986 to 2004, Miller says. The campaign also helped generate interest from the public; the group's 180,000 members give $2 million a year for operating costs.

 

The association, based at 76 Belvedere St. in San Rafael, has 15 full-time employees, most of whom are in their late 30s and early 40s, and who have a background working for animal protection groups. The staff includes two investigators who roam the country documenting farm abuses. They work with whistle-blowers, collecting affidavits and videotapes. Gail Eisnitz, one of the association's chief investigators, is the author of the 1997 book " Slaughterhouse, " which describes conditions in slaughterhouses throughout the nation.

 

Some of the association's investigations have exposed abuses and helped shutter offending farms - often filling a void where local prosecutors are cowed by corporate interests, Miller says.

 

" Farm animals are not even on their radar screen, " he said. " It is very difficult to have the local DA concerned about this, even when there is a flagrant violation of law. "

 

The association counts among its achievements several farm inspections that drew national media attention, and led to initiatives to protect farm animals.

 

For example, in an investigation five years ago of the nation's largest beef plants in Washington, the association found that cows were being skinned and dismembered before they had been killed. The Washington Post published a story about the group's findings and Congress set aside $5 million for slaughter house inspections.

 

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