PETA requests investigation of meat lab incidents

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) delivered a letter to the Mississippi State University Police Department requesting it investigate two incidents in the MSU Meat Science Laboratory.

Both incidents involve steer's throats being slashed before the animals were properly stunned. PETA alleges the first incident occurred on March 2, and the second occurred on Aug. 17. Inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture recorded both incidents.

“Newly obtained USDA reports showed that MSU officials slit the throats of conscious cattle on two separate dates since March,” said PETA Cruelty Investigations Attorney Melissa Wilson. “This has already resulted in a federal citation, and now PETA is asking the campus police to file criminal charges against the MSU meat lab and the workers involved.”

PETA claims the conduct violates section 97-41-1 of the Mississippi Animal Cruelty Code, which says anyone needlessly torturing, tormenting, unjustifiably injuring, cruelly beating or needlessly mutilating an animal shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

“We're calling for appropriate charges to be brought against the workers in these inhumane killings,” Wilson said.

According to the letter PETA sent to MSU Police Chief

| Page 3A