Source: Washington Post
PASCO, WASHINGTON, April 10, 2001: In this heart-wrenching article researched by the Washington Post, slaughterhouse abuse against animals across the U.S.A. has been brought into the limelight. It should give pause for thought to meateaters who believe the animals “went painlessly.” Twenty-three years ago a federal law called the Humane Slaughter Act was put into place. Basically this law states that, “Slaughtered cattle and hogs first must be stunned, rendered insensible to pain with a blow to the head or an electric shock.” The implementation of this law was given to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to oversee. However, very little was done by this agency to enforce the law and major violations by the slaughterhouses were simply overlooked. Even today, many animals are butchered while still conscious. Since 1998, government agencies were no longer required to even track the number of humane slaughter violations at a slaughterhouse, and by appearances the government seemed to remove itself even further from the atrocities. The only thing which has prompted change is a boycott of McDonalds by animal rights groups, which resulted in the company’s requiring suppliers to use proper animal stunning techniques before slaughter.