Bucks County DA investigates slaughterhouse
The Bucks County District Attorney’s office is investigating allegations of animal cruelty against a Pipersville slaughterhouse after a federal inspector observed “inhumane” treatment of a steer that an animal rights group said prolonged its death.
DA Matt Weintraub confirmed he has pre-assigned a prosecutor to the case after receiving a complaint Monday about Kingdom Provisions LLC from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA.
PETA cited a U.S. Department of Agriculture report documenting the Oct. 19 incident at the Durham Road meat processing plant and it is pushing for criminal charges against the employees involved.
“This steer spent his last moments in terror and agony as slaughterhouse workers repeatedly shot him, dangled him upside down, and slit his throat,” PETA Vice President of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden said.
Around 2 p.m. a federal consumer safety inspector was at the plant and observed a slaughter on the floor. The floor supervisor told the inspector he was going to use a firearm on the animal to kill it, according to the report.
It is unclear from the report if the employee used a bolt gun, a firearm typically used to drive a steel bolt through the brain of livestock to incapacitate them before their throat is slit and they are bled out.
The inspector heard two shots, then looked around the wall to observe, according to the report.
The inspector saw a steer released from the knock box, the pens where livestock are incapacitated, and as the steer was rolling out, he was conscious and “actively vocalizing,” the report said.
As an employee shackled the steer’s right leg, the animal attempted to right itself, and charged at the employee on the floor responsible for cutting the animal, the report said. The employee was shoved backward, but continued to hoist the live animal.
Another employee then slit the steer’s throat and the animal bled out.
“The steer was actively vocalizing throughout the incident prior to being cut,” the report said.
When the inspector checked the animal, he found two bullet holes in the head, one above the other. The Food Safety and Inspection Service inspector immediately tagged the knock box and contacted his supervisor.
Kingdom Provisions was issued a notice dated Oct. 19 that the FSIS was withholding the federal marks of inspection and suspending the assignment of inspection program personnel to the business.
The note stated that evidence demonstrates the company failed to comply with the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and regulatory requirements, according to the letter.
“Your establishment did not handle or slaughter animals humanely,” the letter said.
The agency directed the company to provide a written response of the corrective actions and preventive measures it planned to take in the future.
Kingdom Provisions, which describes itself as a USDA custom meat processing slaughterhouse, did not immediately respond Friday to an email seeking comment on the cruelty allegations and federal report.
Livestock, including steer and cows, are considered farm animals and covered under the state’s animal cruelty laws, according to Nikki Thompson, chief humane officer for the Bucks County SPCA.
The law has an exception for “normal” agricultural practices, which the law defines as “practices and procedures that farmers adopt, use or engage in year after year in the production and preparation for market of poultry, livestock and their products.” Federal officials could file charges, but no prosecutions have been filed against any U.S. slaughterhouses for acts of abuse since at least 2007, according to PETA
The employees’ conduct appears to violate Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 18 § 5533, according to PETA. The provision states that a person commits cruelty to animals when (s) he “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly ill treats … or abuses an animal.”
“Since the acts in question clearly caused “bodily injury” to the steer, the proposed charges would be second-degree misdemeanors,” PETA said.
“Importantly, FSIS’ action carries no criminal or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt criminal liability under state law for slaughterhouse workers who perpetrate acts of cruelty to animals,” Colin Henstock, investigations project manager for PETA wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to Weintraub requesting an investigation.