Kulapavana Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Source: Virginia Pilot/AP Published: December 1, 2004 Author: AMY LORENTZEN DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- An animal rights group has captured videotape that it says shows cattle at a kosher slaughterhouse enduring an "absolutely outrageous" level of cruelty. PETA claims the video, posted on its Web site Tuesday afternoon, shows repeated acts of animal cruelty at AgriProcessors Inc. in northeastern Iowa. The organization filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday that alleged improper slaughtering practices. "They're ripping the tracheas and esophagi out of fully conscious animals, dumping them out of pens into pools of their own blood. The animals stand and bellow and attempt to escape for up to three and even four minutes in some cases," Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in Norfolk, Va., said late Tuesday. But Rabbi Chaim Kohn, the plant's supervising rabbi, told The New York Times in Wednesday's editions that the tapes were "testimony that this is being done right." In kosher slaughter, the animals' throats are sliced with a razor-sharp blade, intended to cause instant and painless death. Jewish law forbids stunning them first. Federal law considers properly conducted religious slaughter as humane, and allows Jewish and Muslim slaughterhouses to forgo stunning. But the rules outlaw leaving animals killed that way conscious for an extended period of time. The PETA Web site describes the videos as showing AgriProcessors workers ignoring "the suffering of cows who are still sensible to pain after having their throats slit by the ritual slaughterer." In it's complaint, PETA said its investigator filmed the slaughter of 278 animals, 25 percent which remained conscious "for a significant period of time." "I think we should attempt to ponder how we would feel in similar situations. The level of cruelty is absolutely outrageous," Friedrich said. PETA told the Times that a volunteer was hired at the plant last summer and used a hidden camera to obtain the footage. A man who answered a phone call from The Associated Press at AgriProcessors late Tuesday night said media questions would be answered the following morning and hung up. The plant is the world's largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse and the producer of Rubashkin's and Aaron's Best meats. Glatt, under kosher law, means that the animals are free of certain physical defects. A telephone message left after business hours for the Orthodox Union, a major supervisor of kosher food in the United States, was not immediately returned. In May 2003, PETA wrote to officials at AgriProcessors and asked them to investigate and take steps to make certain that cruelty was not occurring there. According to the PETA Web site, AgriProcessors attorneys wrote back saying "Kosher slaughter is being conducted in accordance with the letter and spirit of Jewish law, which prescribes the most humane treatment of animals that has been known throughout human history." Friedrich said kosher slaughter is more than twice as well regulated as conventional slaughter, being overseen by both the USDA and the Orthodox Union, and is widely believed to be more humane. "What this case indicates is that anybody who is eating meat is supporting horrific cruelty to animals," Friedrich said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Unbelievable. Did you see the full length video Kulapavana? I couldn't watch it all. But everyone should see what this is about. Farming and cow protection is made very difficult in this age. But we can take some action against their cruel treatment. This is a good motivator. http://www.goveg.com/feat/agriprocessors/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kulapavana Posted December 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 No, I did not watch this video, but I know this process quite well. Kosher slaugterhouses are banned in most industrialized countries precisely because of the horrific cruelty to animals. US may be the only developed country besides Israel that still allows this barbarism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 The general impression is that kosher somehow means more "humane" slaughter practices. It's actually worse. People that eat kosher think they are following some religious mandate. I've linked that video onto a Judaism debate board and plan to do more throughout the day. There *may* be some vestige of goodness left on Earth but basically it has slipped into into the hellish regions as far as I can see. Getting a glimpse on what goes on in these places is literally peering into hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kulapavana Posted December 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 "There *may* be some vestige of goodness left on Earth but basically it has slipped into into the hellish regions as far as I can see. Getting a glimpse on what goes on in these places is literally peering into hell." in a way it depends on the perspective. a lot of otherwise "good" people engage in or just support some really disturbing stuff. this kosher cruelty is just one example. if yo want to eat meat at least kill the animal quickly... I can tolerate and accept a lot of stuff that happens nowadays (like drug use, same sex marriages, etc) when no one gets hurt. but I have big problem with people causing needless suffering to other living entities - human or otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 Back to your aryan, jew-bashing ways, kulapavana? lol. Why dont you talk about how halal is made? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 in a way it depends on the perspective. a lot of otherwise "good" people engage in or just support some really disturbing stuff. this kosher cruelty is just one example. if yo want to eat meat at least kill the animal quickly... Perspective ...yes. For a Krishna conscious person there is no hell, only Krishna in one aspect or another. I posted a link to the video on a Jewish debate people and they were shocked. It is good to at least bring some awareness and get the conversation started. Sensitive people will respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kulapavana Posted December 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 "Back to your aryan, jew-bashing ways, kulapavana?" ?... it is not about bashing people. it is about bashing a particular problem. in this case: organized (and some could say "sanctioned by religious belief") animal cruelty. go ahead if you want to defend it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.