PETA Footage Puts Kosher Slaughterhouse on Defensive

[Karmadillo]

You can watch the video if you go to the PETA link provided below.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4236845

All Things Considered, December 20, 2004 · A grisly videotape recorded inside a kosher slaughterhouse depicts what the animal rights group PETA calls shocking images of animal cruelty. But people in Iowa and kosher authorities are expressing support for the owners of the slaughterhouse. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

<Audio link can be found at the site>

http://www.goveg.com/feat/agriprocessors/

Is AgriProcessors' Cruelty Kosher?

Kosher slaughter, done correctly, is kinder and quicker than standard slaughter methods in the United States. But AgriProcessors, the world's largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse, has been ignoring the Jewish commitment to compassion and federal law by mutilating fully conscious animals, shocking them in the face, and slaughtering them in a way that has allowed many to stand and attempt to flee, even minutes after their throats had been slit. Click here to read an account of what our investigator saw.

PETA's Request for Reforms Goes Unheeded

In early 2003, PETA received complaints alleging violations of kosher and federal law at AgriProcessors, the world's largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse and the producer of Rubashkin's and Aaron's Best meats. In May 2003, PETA wrote to officials at the company and asked them to investigate and take steps to make certain that cruelty was not occurring there. We suggested that the plant hire Dr. Temple Grandin, the country's leading slaughter expert, who has helped advise on matters of kosher slaughter systems, to advise them on how to avoid some of the worst abuses. AgriProcessors had its attorneys write back to us asserting, "Kosher slaughter is being conducted in accordance with the letter and spirit of Jewish law, which prescribes the most humane treatment of animals that has been known throughout human history." The tone of the letter was not persuasive, so we took a look ourselves.

Since going public with our investigation, PETA has received countless letters of support from concerned people all over the world who are calling for quick action to stop the cruelty at AgriProcessors. Rabbis, scholars, animal welfare experts, and USDA inspectors have all spoken out about the extreme cruelty that our undercover investigator was able to capture on tape. Dr. Temple Grandin, assistant professor of animal science at Colorado State University, has provided expert advice to PETA and has said that incompetent kosher slaughterers and shoddy quality control at AgriProcessors are giving shechitah a bad name. "I thought it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe it. I've been in at least 30 other kosher slaughter plants, and I had never ever seen that kind of procedure done before," she said. Click here to read the statements of other experts from around the world who all agree that the conditions at AgriProcessors have to change.

Eating Meat Supports Cruelty

Every day, hundreds of animals endure unimaginable cruelty at this AgriProcessors 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. 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.

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[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KnowerOfLogic]

2. Been a vegetarian for years, but i think it's time to put my dogs on a

vegetarian diet as well. The abuse of animals to support the flesh industry is really inexcusable, and the only way it will stop is if people stop buying meat.

[one_true_leroy]

15. i can sympathize with you,

but a vegetarian diet is terrible for dogs (and LETHAL for cats). it is nearly impossible to meet a dog's nutritional requirements through vegetatrianism. plants require much more extensive digestive tracts than dogs have, so they cannot be efficient nutrient sources. at the very least, consider switching to whole meat products from humane farms, free range eggs, or fish (excellent for dogs). consider bulking the meat with rice, but don't go all the way veggie. your dog will begin to lose coat-luster (important defence against skin disease and parasites), but then (especially if the diet is fat-poor) your dog can lose eyesight rapidly and eventually have kidney and liver failure. Many of the problems in humans associated with diabetes will occur in veggie dogs. I advocate a vegetarian based diet in humans, but I have seen veggie dogs in poor health, and my vet-student gf has seen too many of them put down due to organ failure.

[Tinoire]

3. Thank you Peta!!!!

There is NO excuse for causing animals pain unneccessary excruciating before slaughtering. What this slaughterhouse is doing flies in the face of Jewish laws covering Kosher and I hope people who buy Kosher boycott such places until they follow the SPIRIT of God's law.

I stopped buying Kosher meat years ago because of this. This isn't the first time and is more common in the larger Kosher sluaghterhouses than people think.

Gail Eisnitz' book "Slaughterhouse" touched on this and the details break your heart.

[xultar]

9. I am boycotting Iams. I heard about that. How can they say they care

for animals and continue to do what they do.

[Tinoire]

10. THANK YOU XULTAR! THANK YOU!!!!! n/t

[Peak_Oil]

4. Holy fuck.

I don't know if I can continue to eat meat. That was horrible. It made me think of my dog. I feel like throwing up. I eat a lot of meat. It looked like a concentration camp. Can't they just completely behead them? WTF is up with this? How much fucking harder would it be to do this in a humane way? They're just flopping around with half their throats torn out in a pool of the blood of a hundred other cows for a couple of minutes. And it happens over and over and over. It's obvious they're suffering tremendously, bellowing and panicking.

[SOS]

5. That video has haunted me

since I watched it a couple of weeks ago.
F#cking sickening.
In a way I wish I hadn't seen it, it's so bad, but hiding from reality doesn't change reality.
Viewing that video really should be a prerequisite to posting comments about this vile slaughterhouse. But, in previous threads on this topic, I noticed that the "PETA sucks" crowd didn't have the courage to watch it.

[Peak_Oil]

8. I'm in the PETA sucks crowd, have been for years.

But when faced with evidence, how can you deny reality? This is evidence. Seriously, it made me think of my dog. If somebody did that to my dog I would get violent. Nobody gives a shit about the cattle, though.

This is one of those times when I am one hundred percent disgusted with myself and my ignorant life. After watching that video, I just had a little mental flash of how I live.

I eat meat, so I contribute to that suffering. I use paper, which contributes to deforestation in some way maybe. I eat imported food picked by some poor peasant that sleeps on a wet mattress in a shack. I bet I don't buy or use anything that was made in a sustainable manner by someone who makes a living wage. It's so ridiculous.

Every once in a while I have an epiphany, and this was one today. I wonder how much cruelty to animals I have personally caused today with my consumption habits, and how much human oppression I will cause today by puchasing gift wrap and cards for my family? Probably none. But I'm going to drive all over the place today, and burn gasoline that was pulled out of the ground of some third-world hellhole etc etc etc.

What happened? Two years ago I was a stockbroker. I guess it's time to break out the Birkenstocks and socks and tell my girl to stop shaving her pits.

[Tinoire]

13. I was glad to read your post! But sadly, that video wasn't 1/2 as offensiv

as many I've seen. Maybe I've seen too many?

Thank you for caring. Every step we take towards realizing and minimizing unneccessary suffering, the better off we all are. Thanks PeakOil.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. If slaughterhouses had windows, everyone would be a vegetarian.

Ever since I went to a Farm Sanctuary fundraiser my entire outlook has changed. There is no way you can look at any animal the same. To assume that they are merely here to serve us, and they have no sensitivity is such hubris! The increrdible cruelty with which they are treated is beyond description. I have to give credit for courage to those that expose it...I could not stand to go into those places to film it....I had to close my eyes at times during the film that was shown at the fundraiser. I could not watch it.

[Tinoire]

11. Ok. Damn it. I'm going to watch it though I have seen so many of these

I am going to watch it to remember. To be aware of what we eat when it's slid off the grill :mad:
To remember to have reverence for all life and appreciate the food we have.

If anyone cares... Here's a fantastic

http://www.hfa.org/

Founded in 1985 and now over 175,000 strong, HFA has gained national recognition and respect through its hard work and its highly-visible, highly-successful campaigns. HFA's goals are to protect farm animals from cruelty, to protect the public from the dangerous misuse of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals used on factory farms, and to protect the environment from the impacts of industrialized animal factories.

(snip)

In 1991, HFA established its political and legislative arm - the Humane Farming Action Fund (HFAF). HFAF is the nation's only political lobbying organization founded to protect farm animals. HFAF enacts strong and enforceable legislation to outlaw animal abuse and works to ensure that existing anti-cruelty laws are not undermined or weakened by inhumane and unethical meat industry-backed legislation.

http://www.hfa.org/

HFA Needs Your Support Today!

"...no other group working on farm animal issues has delivered as many big hits or been as efficient, dollar for dollar spent, during the past decade."

-The AnimalPeople Watchdog Report
on the Humane Farming Association


Your tax-deductible contribution is vital to our campaign against factory farming and slaughterhouse abuse. Your gift will also provide much needed rescue resources for HFA's Farm Animal Refuge.

Whether you are a longtime HFA supporter or you are joining for the first time - thank you - for everything you do to help animals!

Donate if you can :)

[InvisibleBallots]

6. I would think many people who keep Kosher will be PISSED

Putting aside the gross cruelty, it looks like this slaughterhouse has been engaging in FRAUD - telling Kosher keeping people that they are selling Kosher meat, when in fact, they are not. Someone should sue.

[Tinoire]

12. Well some good news

AgriProcessors and the OU originally denied the allegations, arguing that although the killings on the video may have appeared gruesome, the Postville plant procedures were strictly according to Jewish law. But after rabbinical authorities on the subject, both in the US and Israel, supported PETA's claims upon viewing the tape, the OU backtracked and announced this week that it would institute changes to bring the slaughterhouse in line with kosher practices that forbid the suffering of animals during slaughter.

Although that may end the current controversy, this affair raises larger questions about shehita worth addressing.

When PETA first made its charges in this case, some Orthodox organizations reacted with a knee-jerk defense of the Postville plant.

(snip)

But what was striking about PETA's criticism of the Postville plant was that it was not part of an overall attack on shehita. Their Web site made a point of noting that "kosher slaughter is more than twice as well-regulated as conventional slaughter and is supposed to be more humane."

(snip)

www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/ JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1102563043179

(couldn't get to page 2 but you get the good gist)

[Skip Intro]

14. Tip of the iceburg, make some noise, and thank God for PETA

PETA bashers go for it, but we would not know of this if not for PETA. If not for PETA, this factory of torture and brutality would not be being discussed here tonight. Thank you PETA.

Cruel mass-slaughter of conscious, feeling beings occurs on a non-stop schedule - numbers that must be beyond belief ; the scale of the pain and misery inflicted on these creatures is beyond comprehension.

I do not understand how this is not outrageous to everyone. I ponder on the reality of this, for just a few seconds, and I'm almost overcome with greif for the lives of these creatures.

It should be stopped this second.