BUTCHERED, ALIVE
IBP: One slaughterhouse that gets gov't protection

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Publisher: Pamela Rice
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The VivaVine (Fall 2001, Vol. 10, No. 4)

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The following tract comes about one year after workers at a cattle-slaughtering plant in Wallula, Washington, were broadcast on television dismembering sentient animals who had not been properly stunned. The gathering of footage from this IBP slaughterhouse was spearheaded by the Humane Farming Association, which, along with a host of animal-rights and public-interest groups, petitioned the attorney general of Washington to prosecute IBP--the nation's largest meatpacker--for violations of the Humane Slaughter Act as well as the state's own animal protection laws. Twenty employees at the slaughterhouse, at the risk of losing their jobs, signed affidavits vouching that at least 30 percent of the animals are dismembered while still fully sentient, after inadequate stunning, as a result of breakneck line speeds.

"I have seen thousands and thousands of cows go through the slaughter process alive since I have been at the plant," one IBP worker asserted. Another complained: "The chain goes too fast, more than 300 cows an hour....If I can't get the animal knocked right, it keeps going....The chain doesn't stop. It keeps running. It never stops. The cows are getting hung alive or not alive. They keep coming, coming, coming."

"The chain doesn't stop. It keeps running. The cows are getting hung alive or not alive. They keep coming, coming, coming."

From the Humane Farming Association,
San Francisco, California | 9/26/01

In what can only be described as a scandal, Washington state officials are currently refusing to prosecute IBP for the illegal and torturous mishandling, skinning, and dismembering of live cows, even though it was handed the strongest cruelty case ever assembled against a major U.S. slaughterhouse.

Following the Humane Farming Association (HFA) exposé of animal abuse at the IBP slaughterhouse in Washington state, Governor Gary Locke promised that if violations were found, criminal charges would be filed. Gross violations of state law were, in fact, verified. Even the local prosecutor conceded this point. But there has yet to be a single charge of animal cruelty filed.

It's important to remember that when HFA first exposed the atrocities at IBP, the reflexive response of the state's attorney general was to claim that the state had "no jurisdiction." It was only after the television broadcast of HFA's undercover videotape that public outcry forced state officials to admit finally that, yes, they do have jurisdiction over violations of state law occurring at IBP.

Governor Locke finally instructed state officials to investigate the crimes at IBP. The so-called investigation, however, was simply a taxpayer-funded exercise in public relations. No longer able to claim that they had "no jurisdiction," state officials set out to find another excuse for not prosecuting IBP.

The biggest challenge state officials have faced is explaining away all the undercover videotape and worker affidavits obtained by HFA that documented the torture taking place at IBP.

Acting like IBP's own attorneys, state officials finally came up with a plan. They decided to claim that HFA provided KING 5 television in Seattle with an "edited" version of the undercover footage from IBP. State officials knew this was not true. KING 5 television had even informed them that HFA had provided the station with hours of unedited videotape. Ignoring this and the other information in their possession, state officials went ahead and issued their false public statements anyway.

What did it accomplish for state officials to have lied in this way? Well, not only could state officials claim that the videotape broadcast by KING 5 had been "edited" by HFA (which officials knew to be untrue) but IBP could then argue that all of the evidence given to the state had been manufactured. Using this bogus pretext, state officials then proceeded to disregard all of the sworn statements from IBP's own workers who had verified the company's illegal torture of animals.

In short, the situation at IBP is not only a case study of the institutionalized abuse of animals, it is also a study of just how far some state officials are willing to go in order to avoid prosecuting the world's largest meat company.

What's important to understand is that, regardless of the prosecutor's capricious decision regarding the Humane Slaughter Act violations at IBP, felony animal cruelty charges can still be filed. The statute of limitations for felony animal cruelty at IBP has not expired. And the evidence HFA has gathered remains as solid as ever.

Action Requested:

Washington's laws prohibit the skinning and dismembering of conscious animals. Shoving an electric prod into a cow's mouth, as captured on videotape at IBP, is also clearly illegal. Abuses such as these are punishable as either misdemeanors or felonies.

Please contact Governor Gary Locke by writing the Office of the Governor, State of Washington, P.O. Box 40002, Olympia, WA 98504-0002. Call 360-902-4111, or fax 360-753-4110. E-mail: governor.locke@governor.wa.gov. Point out that the videotape and sworn affidavits from slaughterhouse workers obtained by HFA provide irrefutable evidence of animal abuse and torture at the IBP plant in Wallula, Washington. Demand that he use his authority to make sure that state officials act upon the evidence they have been provided and that criminal charges are filed against IBP.

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