Guest guest Posted March 15, 2008 Report Share Posted March 15, 2008 Thursday, March 13, 2008, 12:12 PMby Bob Meyer Animal welfare was the topic of a panel discussion at the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin annual meeting this week. One of the panel members was Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. A vegan, Baur told the group the activities caught on video at the Westland/Hallmark plant in California were not an isolated occurrence. Baur says he visited the plant in the 1990’s, “And I video-taped conditions there and I talked to local authorities and I talked to the USDA about it and I was told the problem would be remedied.†Baur charges this is happening more than we would like to admit, “I’ve been to many other slaughter houses and seen similar conditions.†Baur says the national attention is pushing USDA to finally do something about this but he is cautious. “They’ve known about this for a long time and they’ve said in the past it is a concern for them and the problem continues.†He says the only way to change this is, “To not allow any downed animals to go to slaughterhouses to be processed for food.†Specifically, he would like to see those animals, “Either humanely euthanized or be given proper veterinary care to be made healthy again.†As for charges that the Humane Society did not take their video tape to USDA in a timely manner, Baur says HSUS had someone in the plant and needed time to build the case. “If they got images one day and took those images to authorities on that day, they likely would have been told that was an isolated incident.†Baur says he realizes we are worlds-apart on the issue but hopes both sides will continue to talk to each other and seek common ground on the care of animals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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