Look who sent me an email..
Subject: UPDATE: USDA Launches Investigation, OU stops defending AgriProcessors
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 18:04:15 -0500
From: brucef@peta.orgExpert statements attached.Watch the video here:
http://www.goveg.com/feat/agriprocessors/For Immediate Release:
December 3, 2004USDA LAUNCHES CRUELTY INVESTIGATION AS ORTHODOX UNION & CHIEF RABBINATE OF ISRAEL ADMIT “INHUMANE” & “NOT KOSHER” PRACTICES AT OU & ISRAELI-APPROVED PLANTPETA Vows to Push for OU Policy Commitment, Prosecution of Iowa SlaughterhouseThings turned south for AgriProcessors yesterday as the United States Department of Agriculture sent inspectors to the plant to investigate charges of illegal cruelty to animals and top kosher authorities condemned the practices. The world’s largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse and the only one in the U.S. certified to ship to Israel has been, for days, hiding behind the USDA and its kosher certifiers, both of which moved to distance themselves from the plant yesterday.The USDA, which inspects and approves the plant, announced that it had launched what it said would be a comprehensive investigation, which will include investigation into the actions of its own plant supervisors.PETA’s investigation found that standard practice at Agriprocessors includes shocking animals in the face with electric prods, ripping their tracheas and esophagi out of the throats within 5 seconds, and dumping them from the restraint, at which point some struggle to stand, bellow in agony, and attempt to flee, with the tracheas and esophagi hanging from their throats, some for as long as three minutes. PETA has arrayed veterinary, academic, rabbinic, and slaughterhouse inspector experts who say that these animals are fully conscious the entire time.The chief rabbinate of Israel told the Jerusalem Post that meat from the animals in PETA’s video is “not kosher” and said, about animals stumbling and still conscious for minutes after their throats are slit open, that “it normally takes 30 seconds to a minute for the cow to lose consciousness if shechita [the cut] is done properly. . . he did not cut one of the jugular veins, so blood is still flowing… It looks as though the animal wasn’t slaughtered properly.”The Orthodox Union, the world’s largest kosher certifier, which had been defending the practices, reversed course yesterday, telling the New York Times (Friday edition), that “the video ‘raises all sorts of questions.’” Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the OU’s executive vice president, “said he found the procedure ‘especially inhumane’ and ‘generally unacceptable’ but wanted to investigate how regularly it happened.”Also yesterday, Iowa Department of Agriculture veterinary supervisor Mike Miller told the Waterloo Courier that kosher slaughter, done properly, is, in direct contrast to what PETA found to be standard at AgriProcessors, “‘fairly quick’… He estimated animals feel pain for 10 to 15 seconds and no more than half a minute.”“Recognizing that there is a problem is better than denying it, of course,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “But these animals were treated in ways that would warrant felony cruelty to animals charges if these were dogs or cats, and this was in gross violation of both Federal and kosher laws, as well as basic human decency, and all this happened on the OU’s watch. The horrific cruelty that the OU permitted for so long requires serious corrective action and a policy from the OU to make sure these horrors never happen again.”
I am assuming that they want to correct me for this post.
I admit that AgriProcessors seem to have been unnecessarily cruel to the animals, on the basis of what I have seen on the video. However, the following should also be borne in mind:
1. PETA used deception to further their agenda. Besides going undercover to investigate the “abuses”, they also duped a Rabbi into making statements on their behalf, and hid the important fact that two Rabbis supporting their claims were vegetarian.
2. Do not think for one second that PETA will stop with AgriProcessors. I have a hunch that they will attempt to have all kosher slaughtering banned. For instance, here is a statement from PETA about their investigation:
Every day, hundreds of animals endure unimaginable cruelty at an Iowa slaughterhouse. Maybe after seeing the fear and pain on the faces of the animals we captured on videotape, you will go vegetarian and persuade family and friends to join you. If you are already vegetarian or vegan, there’s still a lot you can do to help.And please don’t think that if you don’t eat kosher meat, this doesn’t apply to you: Kosher slaughter is more than twice as well regulated as conventional slaughter and is supposed to be more humane. Also, most meat from kosher slaughterhouses is sold as conventional, not kosher meat.
Sounds to me like they are trying to dissuade people from eating kosher meat, in particular. And then there’s this:
Kosher slaughter is supposed to be kinder and quicker than standard slaughter methods, but our latest investigation shows that, at least at one kosher slaughterhouse, that is definitely not the case.
Now don’t get me wrong. I deplore cruelty to animals. However, what I deplore even more is cruelty to people, which is something that does not seem to concern PETA. In fact, perhaps I should start a new organization – People for the Ethical Treatment of People, or PETP (pronounced Pet Pee).
Update: PETA seem to have sent this email to others. And here I was feeling special.
