WASHINGTON – The Senate
Appropriations Committee agreed yesterday afternoon to provide a
record amount -- $5 million -- for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to focus on improved enforcement of the Humane Slaughter
Act (HSA), a law first enacted in 1958 that requires slaughterhouses
to render livestock unconscious before they are killed. The funds
are contained in the pending Agriculture Appropriations bill for
Fiscal Year 2003.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)
led the effort to obtain these funds, following a first-time
allocation of $1 million that he got approved last July and several
eloquent speeches he delivered on the Senate floor that called
attention to the issue. “Chairman Byrd’s leadership will make an
enormous difference for millions of animals at slaughterhouses
across the country,” said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS senior vice president.
“USDA has had a terrible track record of failing to enforce this
important – and very basic – law. Animals are being hung on hooks,
skinned, dismembered, and disemboweled while they are still alive
and conscious. USDA’s lax enforcement, coupled with industry
pressure to speed up slaughterhouse assembly lines, has led to an
abhorrent and unbelievably cruel situation.”
Although a USDA directive instructs slaughterhouse inspectors to
stop the production line when an HSA violation is observed, this
rarely occurs. Inspectors are not routinely tasked with checking for
or reporting violations of this law, and some slaughter plants have
even installed barriers that make it impossible for inspectors to
see live animals. Inspection activity centers on the examination of
body parts and carcasses, with inspectors stationed far down the
production line, well past where the animals are killed.
As specified by the Senate Committee, the $5 million would be
used to hire at least 50 inspectors to work solely on Humane
Slaughter Act enforcement, with particular attention to unloading,
handling, stunning, and killing practices. “It just hasn’t worked to
have the same inspectors monitoring food safety and animal
treatment,” explained Pacelle. “The department has made HSA too low
a priority for them, and some inspectors have even been intimidated
or chastised when they’ve tried to point out humane abuses.”
Congress recently directed the Secretary of Agriculture to step
up enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act in a resolution that was
offered by Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) and Representative Connie
Morella (D-MD). That resolution was incorporated into the farm bill,
P.L. 107-171. The funds will help ensure that this goal is carried
out effectively.
A bipartisan group of 39 Senators and 132 Representatives – led
by Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and John Kerry (D-MA) and
Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) –
signed letters to the Senate and House Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittees in support of this effort. Their letters called for
$2.5 million for Humane Slaughter Act enforcement, along with an
$800,000 increase to continue improving enforcement of the Animal
Welfare Act (AWA), which sets humane standards for about 10,000
sites, including laboratories, puppy mills, zoos, circuses, and
airlines. The Senate Committee also approved this $800,000 increase
for AWA enforcement. Senator Byrd lent his powerful support to the
AWA funding as well as the humane slaughter initiative.
“We look forward to working closely with Chairman Byrd and other
congressional allies to secure the Senate funding levels for Humane
Slaughter Act and Animal Welfare Act enforcement in the final
appropriations bill,” said Pacelle.
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| Wayne Pacelle: (202) 778-6112
Kate Luse: (301)
258-3071 | | |
