New, Undercover Video of Mistreated Cows Released

New, Undercover Video of Mistreated Cows Released

rawstory.com

According to the latest Humane Society video, some cows at the New Mexico auction facility were prodded, or dragged by a chain being pulled by a tractor. The investigator, who worked at the facility in May, claims to have observed three downed cows sold after being brought into the auction area by force.

“At every turn, we have found appalling abuses of spent dairy cows,” said Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society’s president and chief executive. “No longer can anyone in government, or in the livestock industry, claim that this is an isolated abuse.”

(visit the link for the full news article)

Oh boy, here we go again...Mass beef recall, part deux? They claim these wouldn't make it into a slaughterhouse, but somebody bought them...Makes me glad I don't eat much beef anymore. lol

Three cows too sick or weak to stand were sold at the Portales Livestock Auction in Portales, N.M., the Humane Society of the United States said. Such cows pose increased risk for mad cow disease, E. coli and other infections, partly because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems often are weak.

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is disgusting. And people put this stuff in their mouths, horrid! Thanks goodness I'm vegetarian.

*SNIP* evil. The kicking the cow int he head and trying to move the cow with the fork lift both really pissed me off. *SNIP* the meat industry. Soulless bastards. I have a hard time not holding this against the workers as well. We all have to feed our family, but come on....

Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 27/6/2008 by Mirthful Me]

The first animal had trapped itself between the gate and the fence and you have to get them to back up to free them.

Those being dragged were dead.

Part of the film looked to be shot at a dairy and not at a sale barn.

I don't take any word/film form PETA and like groups to be true.

Roper

Originally posted by Roper
The first animal had trapped itself between the gate and the fence and you have to get them to back up to free them.

By repeatedly kicking it in the head? Or by trying to pick it up with a fork lift only to fail then switching to trying to push it? Please...

Well animal tell me how YOU would get a trapped cow out? I'm not too set in my ways that I can't learn.

Roper

reply to post by Roper


This wasn't PETA that investigated and filmed this, it was the Humane Society. If you don't take their word for it, then whose do you? I would say the video speaks volumes by itself, even without the commentary.

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
reply to post by Roper

 

This wasn't PETA that investigated and filmed this, it was the Humane Society. If you don't take their word for it, then whose do you? I would say the video speaks volumes by itself, even without the commentary.

DD, I don't usually agree with you, but you are exactly right here from my perspective.

Unfortunately, some don't understand the inhumanity caused by the expression of indifference. I was raised on a dairy farm and around beef cattle for about 13 years, and I have *NEVER* seen anything like this.

This level of inhumanity blows my mind.

reply to post by Roper


Everything you just posted is 100% accurate. You get a star.

Every now and then you get a cow that busts it's neck coming off the truck. You have a series of options... you can hit it with a bang stick to kill it, or you can leave it to die suffering. After that decision has been made you have a couple of other decisions to make... do you leave the animal laying there in the muck, perfectly fine aside from a hole in the head and a busted spine, to rot... or do you attempt to drag or hoist the animal out of the pen and try to get the meat salvaged ASAP for either direct sale to a consumer from the auction barn or sale to a feed company for dog food (or to the fish & game dept or a game preserve for predator consumption)? At these auctions you generally get a handfull of guys looking to go in with somebody else to buy a broke neck relatively cheap and then take it to a meat plant to be processed out. You get a side of beef pretty damn cheap that way.

The vast majority of the cattle and sheep we've been shown stumbling around their pen, supposedly with BSE or some other debillitating disease fall into the busted back, busted neck, or busted shoulder category. Particularly the ones shown struggling to stand up that can only manage to get to their front knees. That's a spinal cord injury and nothing more. The meat is perfectly fine, btw.

As for the kick to head, well... you're dealing with 3/4 of a ton of the stump dumbest animal God ever put on Earth. SOmetimes you have to improvise. Truth is, that animal was stuck between the panel and the chute gate and could have seriously injured itself if they'd wasted time trying to "sweet talk" it out.

It's disgusting the way some people treat animals. IMO opinion you have to be heartless to treat an animal like that. Kicking them in the head and pushing them around with a forklift ! No animal deserves to be treated in such a disgusting inhumane manner. I wonder how those people would feel if someone walked up to them when they couldn't defend themselves and started kicking them in the head and pushing them around with a forklift, i'm pretty sure they wouldn't like it.

reply to post by chise61


No, we wouldn't... but then again we're something called "humans" and we have a far more complex system of emotions and sense of pain and mistreatment than a cow does. The kick to the head did nothing. Have you ever seen an agitated bull before? I have. I've seen two of them due to a mix-up that lead to one being lead into a pasture that already had a resident bull, in fact. Imagine two pickup trucks hitting head on at 30 MPH, backing up, shaking it off, and then repeating the process. Now put on a cowboy boot and kick the front bumper on one of the trucks as it's heading at you doing 30 (hell, kick it while it's stationary.) Note the shooting pains you'll experience in your foot and leg, also note that there's no damage to the truck.

A man with a leather boot on isn't going to hurt a steer, cow, or any calf over a couple months old. It can't be done unless your aim sucks and you end up kicking the animal squarely in the eye. We're not talking cute cuddly kittens or fuzzy puppies here, dude. We're talking about something that can reach over a ton (if it's a good sized bull) of snot, muscle, and blind stupidity and who, if angry and unafraid, can harness an awe inspiring level of destructive power. If you don't believe me and you still think a kick to the head does jack squat to them, then do a web search for "Bodacious", "Tuff Hedeman", and "facial injuried" Also replace Hedeman with "West" to see the same result. Look up "Promise Land" while you're at it. You can't hurt a cow's head with a boot, dude.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


This is why I only eat fish now. I was a meat eater until several months ago, and I saw the video released back then, I also watched Fast Food Nation, those two events turned me away from ever taking part in this bloodshed anymore. I know I will not put anyone out of business by not eating the meat, but I cannot personally participate in the abuse of these helpless animals, nor will I risk feeding a sick animal to my family and loved ones, and I suprisingly do not miss it.

I said, "I don't take any word/film form PETA and like groups to be true."

Those doing the film are a "Like Group". How many in the Humane Society are card carrying members in PETA?

BTW I didn't like the way they were handling the cow with the forklift either.

I am also very sure that there was a lot of film editing in what we saw. If some of you were there and saw every thing in real time you should come away with a different opinion.

Those cows weight any where form 1,000# to 1,500# how does a 200# man handle them?

I'm still here to learn, Animal or anyone else? How would you do it????

In Oklahoma you can't unload downer animals,period!

Roper

[edit on 27-6-2008 by Roper]

reply to post by Roper


Funny you do not trust the people who are members of PETA or like groups. I do not trust anyone working in an industry that lobbied the government to prevent having "Ethical Standards of Treatment" made law in their animal trade.

It is rather disgusting that those raising cattle can not maintain similar standards as everyone else when it comes to the treatment of animals. Then again to those people these animals are just a paycheck. The reality that they are living beings in human care means little.


[edit on 27-6-2008 by Animal]

The biggest problem is that some of the posters here have no production animal agriculture background and can only make a decision by their feelings.

So Animal, I will ask you a third time. "How would you handle these 1200 pound cattle?"

I'm still willing to be taught by all you brain trust types.

BWT thank burdman30ott6 for your support.

Roper

reply to post by Roper


I do not work on a cattle farm that is a fact. Still I have been around animals, including cows so I know they are big and admittedly hard to handle.

Not doing the work I can not say how else to move a cow but I can say with a good amount of certainty that kicking it in the head is not the only option available.

reply to post by Roper


They could at least treat these cows with the same respect given to horses in similar situations.

I have personally worked quite a few "sale barns" and have seen it all.litterally.Its not an isolated thing.Roper,being the apparent cowboy you think you are,you should know that when you hang a cow in a gate,the first thing you should do is push backwards on the gate,if someone else is availible,yes get in her face,but try not to just kick away like a moron.Coming from personal experiance here...Granted the kicking probobly was forgotten by the cow as soon as she was introduced to all of the hotshots and such awaiting her before she gets to the ring.The dragging with chains isnt as disturbing (tho the running over/pushing was) as such "kosher beef plants" methods are.Simply because the cattle are usually only pulled out of the way,and how does it differ from being roped and drug somewhere(common on old style ranches when branding,or for capturing rouge cattle from the brush)... Some of it is out of context,and some of it isnt.If youre standing around cheering,laughing or yehawing simply from the pleasure of something being caused pain,you my freind are a sick #.If youre an honest to god "hand" as they say,then you can easily come up with the least stressful way of handling cattle,even the tempermental,oven vengefull brahman cows that i so frequently (and unfortunately) have to deal with in my part of south texas.As per my qualifications,i grew up around sales (dad was a buyer) and have kicked around texas,montana,and louisiana working cattle horseback all my life.I just felt the need to post after hearing roper (unintentionally or not you are the voice of the industry if youre the only one of us here) asking "well what else could you do?" come on,you know youre just trying to get a rise out of someone,tsk tsk.As per peta and such,yes they want to shock you into their beliefs,but raw video is raw video.If something is suffering it is.There is no big fix for such problems,because plain and simple,people are evil.All i can do,as a person in the beef cattle industry,is honestly try to remember that yes,these are stupid animals,so,in this peticular situation,should i beat,or shock this beast into submission? Or simply use the animals stupidity against it? 9 times out of 10,you can use the latter.And most of the abuse ive seen is from ignorant fools trying to be a cowboy,while failing miserably.Because if you are indeed a "good hand" you can do your job quietly,and with as little physical contact as possible.The more sales they investigate the more cases they will have,because quite simply who besides immigrants and wanna be's (both are usually untrained,and therefore often cruel) is going to go stand in a dusty alleyway for up to 16 hours,for usually $7 to $8 an hour?...

This is why I stopped eating (non-organic) meat. The life we take should be respected, but too often they're just treated like pieces of meat.