HSUS and Oakland group's suit to include poultry under humane slaughter laws

The Monday, November 21, Washington Post includes an article headed, "Humane Society to Sue Over Poultry Slaughtering; Suit Demands That Birds Be Killed or Rendered Unconscious Before Butchering." (Pg B02)

The key importance of the article, and the suit being filed, may be that it informs a generally unknowledgeable but humanely inclined public of "the exclusion of poultry from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which requires that livestock be rendered unconscious or killed before being butchered." Many people, who feel more affinity for cows than birds, choose to give up red meat, never considering that the regular consumption of chicken involves the suffering of far more animals, and perhaps not knowing that those animals are entirely unprotected under humane slaughter laws.

HSUS's Paul Shapiro is quoted in the article:
"The USDA's arbitrary decision to exclude 95 percent of the animals being slaughtered every year is causing needless suffering by these animals and increasing the risk to consumers, as well. Because of the USDA's failure to recognize that poultry are livestock, more than 9 billion birds are being slaughtered inhumanely every single year."

And we read:
"In most plants, live birds are hung upside down on an overhead conveyor, and their heads run through electrified water to stun them before a machine slits their throats, the suit states. The Humane Society's suit, joined by an Oakland, Calif.-based advocacy group and several individuals, contends that birds are injured by the conveyor's metal shackles and that they often are not knocked out by the stun bath. Further, the suit contends, live poultry that enter the stun bath or a scalding tank later in the process defecate and inhale feces suspended in the water, potentially contaminating the meat. The Humane Society advocates gassing birds, either killing or stunning them, before they go on the processing line.

"The suit cites 2004 reports of a Pilgrim's Pride processing plant in Moorefield, W.Va., in which an animal rights advocate videotaped workers stomping on, kicking and throwing live chickens against a plant wall. Several workers were fired, but none were prosecuted, in part because the federal regulations do not apply to poultry, Shapiro said."

You can read the whole article on line at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112001240.html

It presents a good opportunity for letters in support of a change in the law, or perhaps in support of a poultry-free Thanksgiving and a plant based diet. The Washington Post takes letters at letters [at] washpost.com and advises, "Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post, and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone numbers."


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