Animal Partisan and Animal Equality ask judge to file criminal charge against Kansas slaughterhouse
CURRENT STATUS: (Closed) County Attorney declined to pursue prosecution for unspecified reasons.
June 20, 2024
Animal Partisan, alongside Animal Equality, has asked a judge in Seward County, Kansas, to file a criminal charge against National Beef Packing Company over the botched stunning of a cow at slaughter. The organizations are represented by Barnett Law Office LLC.
National Beef Packing Company is the country’s fourth largest beef producer and employs nearly 10,000 people with annual sales over $9 billion. The company is primarily owned by the Brazilian firm, Marfrig.
The complaint was filed using a novel Kansas legal procedure that allows private citizens to directly approach a judge or magistrate and request criminal charges. Animal Partisan and Animal Equality have used similar procedures in other states, including Colorado and Pennsylvania, to seek cruelty and neglect charges for abuse committed against animals used in agriculture. The Pennsylvania case resulted in a criminal trial against a major turkey producer, marking a rare instance in which a massive corporation stood trial for abuse against factory farmed animals.
The complaint against National Beef Packing Company alleges violation of Kansas’ Humane Slaughter Law. The law requires that animals being slaughtered are “rendered insensible to pain by mechanical, electrical, chemical, or other means that is rapid and effective, before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut.” Violations of the law are treated as criminal misdemeanors.
The allegations in the complaint stem from a May 16, 2023 incident in which a United States Department of Agriculture inspector assigned to monitor slaughter at the plant witnessed a botched attempt at pre-slaughter stunning that left the animal bleeding, injured, and frightened. The inspector witnessed a slaughterhouse employee fire a captive bolt gun into the skull of the animal on three separate occasions without effectively stunning the animal. Captive bolt guns fire a metal rod into the skull of the animal, causing concussion and trauma. A video demonstrating how captive bolt guns work can be found below.
After the failed attempts, the inspector observed that the animal had blood on their face and was strenuously shaking their head back and forth. Finally, on after a fourth attempt, the animal was rendered unconscious. The organizations are asking the judge to find National Beef Packing Company in violation of the Kansas Humane Slaughter Law. The complaint argues that the USDA’s documentation plainly reflects that the law was violated as the stunning attempts were not “rapid and effective” and failed to render the animal “insensible to pain.”
In slaughterhouses across the country, animals like the one at National Beef Packing are subject to horrific abuse in the final, traumatic moments of their lives. Here, just prior to having their throat cut, the animal was subjected to repeated concussive impacts from a steel road to their skull that left them bleeding and dazed. Animal Partisan and Animal Equality are asking a Kansas court to hold the company accountable.
View a copy of the complaint HERE.
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