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Are Tumors, Abscesses, and Downed Cows in your Hamburger?
143 million pounds of recalled meat may be just the beginning. The story below calls into question the practices of a Fresno meat processing plant where workers say downer cows, tumors, and abscesses are being ground into hamburger. The general manager of the Fresno plant says the workers are wrong and that they would never do anything like that.
Are Tumors, Abscesses, and Downed Cows in your Hamburger?
By Mike Rhodes
Local and national media are reporting on the recall of 143 million pounds of meat from a southern California slaughterhouse. More than 70 school districts and social service agencies in the Central Valley ended up with some of that meat. But, the issue of contaminated meat might be a lot more problematic and local than we have been told. According to Steven Gomez*, who worked for six months at Cargill Regional Beef in Fresno, the practices that led to the current recall at the Hallmark Meat Company in southern California happens every day locally.
“They use downer cows all the time,” Gomez told me in an exclusive interview. Gomez said it was common practice for workers in the southwest Fresno slaughterhouse to hit downed cows with sticks and eventually pick them up with a fork lift to get them onto the kill floor. According to Karen Stump*, who also worked at Cargill, “they would shoot the cow because it couldn’t get up and then they would bring them into the kill room with a fork lift.” Both Gomez and Stump said those downer cows would be processed and put into the food stream with all of the other cows.
According to a statement from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the group that uncovered the southern California incident that led to the current recall, “downer cows must not be used for food-plain and simple. As The HSUS video shows (see: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/19/18480414.php ), this is necessary to protect animals from suffering. As science has made clear, this is necessary to protect food safety. The practice of slaughtering downed cows is especially troubling now that the link between downed cattle and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, has been firmly established. Of the 15 known cases of BSE-infected animals discovered in North America, at least 12 involved downed animals.”
Derek Kennedy, vice president and general manager at the Fresno Cargill plant, which is located at Fig and North, insisted that they do not use downed cows at their facility. “If we have a downed cow it is sent to the rendering plant,” Kennedy said. He explained that an animal that is too sick to get up is euthanized, moved with a forklift, and eventually taken to a rendering plant. Kennedy did say that cattle are sometimes shot in the yard and taken into the kill room for processing. According to Kennedy, this happens if the animal is too big or its horns are too large for it to go through the chute. He suggested that my source for this story (Gomez and Stump) may have been confused about what they saw.
Gomez told me that the problems at the local slaughterhouse does not end with their use of downer cows. He said that the assembly line he worked on was sped up so fast that pieces of meat containing tumors, abscesses, and other growths would pass the line and end up in hamburger. On the line where the cows stomach was removed, he said that sometimes the intestine was accidentally cut open, resulting in fecal matter contaminating the meat.
Kennedy said that every employee on the line has the opportunity to shut it down if a bad piece of meat goes by. He said “if they’re not doing that they shouldn’t work here.” According to Kennedy, it would be rare if a tumor or abscess got on the line and that he would expect the work crew to see it, shut down the line, and decontaminate the area. He absolutely denied that tumors, abscesses, and other growths where in the hamburger coming from this plant.
The high speed of the line also resulted in what Gomez described as “work related injuries”. He said that “within the first months of employment I began to experience pain in both hands. Cramping and stiff joints caused my hands to ‘pop and lock.’ I was told that the job was ‘not easy’ and took ‘conditioning.’ I was advised that a couple of months of such labor would ‘condition’ my hands and body to perform duties safely and painlessly.”
Gomez said the on site nurse treated his complaints with hot wraps and Ibuprofen. He said “I was advised not to be concerned with the ‘popping and locking’ of my hands as it would pass as I ‘got used to the job.’ When I expressed my concerns to the on site nurse I was asked - ‘Why are you so fixated on the popping noise?’” Gomez resigned in late January 2008 because of the numbness in his hands and because he believed he was being harassed due to his complaints about working conditions.
When he called to tell me his story, Gomez was primarily focused on the unfair working conditions, how dismissive the on site nurse was of work related injuries, and how supervisors speed up the line to unsafe levels. When I asked him if he ever saw USDA inspectors looking out for bad meat or OSHA workers checking on working conditions he said that when tours would come through, the supervisors would slow down the line. “I remember one time when we had a tour coming through that my supervisor sent me home to put on a different pair of shoes.” He said that supervisors only slowed the line down and made sure everyone was wearing all of the necessary safety equipment when they had a special tour.
Kennedy said that they do slow down the line when there are tours of the plant, but he claimed that it was to protect the workers who might be distracted by the tour members. Kennedy did not give me a tour of the cutting line. I was however given a tour of the stock yard, shown a couple of long horned steer, and saw hides coming off a conveyor belt into a truck. Cargill even brought out Mark Klein, director of media relations, from Minneapolis Mn to answer any questions I might have but he would not show me the chute that was too small for the long horned steers.
On the same day of my tour of Cargill (February 25), State Senator Dean Florez held a hearing on the issue of meat contamination in Sacramento. Prior to the hearing, Florez said “As thousands of pounds of frozen ground beef sit ‘on hold’ in school cafeterias across the nation while the USDA determines whether or not it is safe for our children to eat, I have scheduled a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Food-borne Illness into the events that got us into this situation, as well as other disturbing issues brought to light by the investigation.” The hearing attempted to answer the question: “Are we allowing E-Coli contaminated beef to enter California’s food supply?” Florez asked participants of several panels what, if anything, the state could do to respond to the recall and what could be done to prevent another incident.
The first testimony came from Dr. Michael Greger, the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture for the Humane Society of the United States. His testimony stated that “the horrific treatment of animals we documented is being downplayed as an unconscionable aberration—the work of just a handful of rogue employees. We do not believe this is an accurate characterization.” Greger concluded his testimony with the following: “we encourage your committee to recognize that this case demonstrates some deep and systemic flaws in USDA’s oversight of slaughter plants. USDA has an inherent conflict of interest, with its prime mission being to promote agriculture, a mission that seems too often to trump its other responsibilities.”
Florez expressed frustration with the job the USDA was doing to protect our food supply and asked several times if it would be a good idea to install video surveillance cameras at the state’s slaughterhouses. These cameras would monitor the facilities to guarantee the humane treatment of animals and to ensure that downer cows are not entering the food chain.
Two employees of the now shuttered southern California Hallmark Meat Company were charged on February 15 with animal cruelty in the aftermath the massive meat recall. "Americans know cruelty when they see it, and the HSUS investigation has outraged millions," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. "The suffering of animals shown in the HSUS video is beyond comprehension.”
After being provided videotaped evidence and a detailed report of the undercover investigation, San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos charged Daniel Ugarte Navarro with five felony counts under California's anti-cruelty statute and three misdemeanor counts alleging the use of a mechanical device to move "downer" cows, those unable to stand on their own. Convictions on the felony charges could bring a sentence up to 15 years in prison and $100,000 in fines, plus additional penalties on the misdemeanor charges. The second worker, Jose Luis Sanchez, was charged with three misdemeanors involving downers. He faces up to 18 months in jail and $3,000 in fines if convicted.
There is no way for the Community Alliance newspaper to verify the claims of former employees at Cargill or to know how well the company is able to keep all contaminants out of the food supply. That is the job of the USDA or the courts.
It is the job of the USDA to protect our food supplies. But with their failure to monitor the slaughterhouse in southern California, which resulted in the largest recall in US history, a lot of people are questioning how much we can trust the USDA. Why did it take a clandestine film crew to uncover this situation when the USDA was on site and supposedly monitoring the situation?
Repeated attempts by this newspaper to get a comment from a USDA inspector at the Cargill plant was unsuccessful. USDA representatives were invited but did not attend the legislative hearings in Sacramento.
Senator Dean Florez’s suggestion to put video surveillance cameras at all California slaughterhouses might not be a bad idea. Put the live video on the Internet so consumers can see for themselves that the cows being processed are being humanely treated and that no downer’s go into onto the kill floor. Until consumers can trust the USDA again, this might be the best we can hope for.
###
*Steven Gomez and Karen Stump are fictitious names. The author has changed the two whistle blowers names to protect their privacy.
By Mike Rhodes
Local and national media are reporting on the recall of 143 million pounds of meat from a southern California slaughterhouse. More than 70 school districts and social service agencies in the Central Valley ended up with some of that meat. But, the issue of contaminated meat might be a lot more problematic and local than we have been told. According to Steven Gomez*, who worked for six months at Cargill Regional Beef in Fresno, the practices that led to the current recall at the Hallmark Meat Company in southern California happens every day locally.
“They use downer cows all the time,” Gomez told me in an exclusive interview. Gomez said it was common practice for workers in the southwest Fresno slaughterhouse to hit downed cows with sticks and eventually pick them up with a fork lift to get them onto the kill floor. According to Karen Stump*, who also worked at Cargill, “they would shoot the cow because it couldn’t get up and then they would bring them into the kill room with a fork lift.” Both Gomez and Stump said those downer cows would be processed and put into the food stream with all of the other cows.
According to a statement from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the group that uncovered the southern California incident that led to the current recall, “downer cows must not be used for food-plain and simple. As The HSUS video shows (see: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/19/18480414.php ), this is necessary to protect animals from suffering. As science has made clear, this is necessary to protect food safety. The practice of slaughtering downed cows is especially troubling now that the link between downed cattle and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, has been firmly established. Of the 15 known cases of BSE-infected animals discovered in North America, at least 12 involved downed animals.”
Derek Kennedy, vice president and general manager at the Fresno Cargill plant, which is located at Fig and North, insisted that they do not use downed cows at their facility. “If we have a downed cow it is sent to the rendering plant,” Kennedy said. He explained that an animal that is too sick to get up is euthanized, moved with a forklift, and eventually taken to a rendering plant. Kennedy did say that cattle are sometimes shot in the yard and taken into the kill room for processing. According to Kennedy, this happens if the animal is too big or its horns are too large for it to go through the chute. He suggested that my source for this story (Gomez and Stump) may have been confused about what they saw.
Gomez told me that the problems at the local slaughterhouse does not end with their use of downer cows. He said that the assembly line he worked on was sped up so fast that pieces of meat containing tumors, abscesses, and other growths would pass the line and end up in hamburger. On the line where the cows stomach was removed, he said that sometimes the intestine was accidentally cut open, resulting in fecal matter contaminating the meat.
Kennedy said that every employee on the line has the opportunity to shut it down if a bad piece of meat goes by. He said “if they’re not doing that they shouldn’t work here.” According to Kennedy, it would be rare if a tumor or abscess got on the line and that he would expect the work crew to see it, shut down the line, and decontaminate the area. He absolutely denied that tumors, abscesses, and other growths where in the hamburger coming from this plant.
The high speed of the line also resulted in what Gomez described as “work related injuries”. He said that “within the first months of employment I began to experience pain in both hands. Cramping and stiff joints caused my hands to ‘pop and lock.’ I was told that the job was ‘not easy’ and took ‘conditioning.’ I was advised that a couple of months of such labor would ‘condition’ my hands and body to perform duties safely and painlessly.”
Gomez said the on site nurse treated his complaints with hot wraps and Ibuprofen. He said “I was advised not to be concerned with the ‘popping and locking’ of my hands as it would pass as I ‘got used to the job.’ When I expressed my concerns to the on site nurse I was asked - ‘Why are you so fixated on the popping noise?’” Gomez resigned in late January 2008 because of the numbness in his hands and because he believed he was being harassed due to his complaints about working conditions.
When he called to tell me his story, Gomez was primarily focused on the unfair working conditions, how dismissive the on site nurse was of work related injuries, and how supervisors speed up the line to unsafe levels. When I asked him if he ever saw USDA inspectors looking out for bad meat or OSHA workers checking on working conditions he said that when tours would come through, the supervisors would slow down the line. “I remember one time when we had a tour coming through that my supervisor sent me home to put on a different pair of shoes.” He said that supervisors only slowed the line down and made sure everyone was wearing all of the necessary safety equipment when they had a special tour.
Kennedy said that they do slow down the line when there are tours of the plant, but he claimed that it was to protect the workers who might be distracted by the tour members. Kennedy did not give me a tour of the cutting line. I was however given a tour of the stock yard, shown a couple of long horned steer, and saw hides coming off a conveyor belt into a truck. Cargill even brought out Mark Klein, director of media relations, from Minneapolis Mn to answer any questions I might have but he would not show me the chute that was too small for the long horned steers.
On the same day of my tour of Cargill (February 25), State Senator Dean Florez held a hearing on the issue of meat contamination in Sacramento. Prior to the hearing, Florez said “As thousands of pounds of frozen ground beef sit ‘on hold’ in school cafeterias across the nation while the USDA determines whether or not it is safe for our children to eat, I have scheduled a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Food-borne Illness into the events that got us into this situation, as well as other disturbing issues brought to light by the investigation.” The hearing attempted to answer the question: “Are we allowing E-Coli contaminated beef to enter California’s food supply?” Florez asked participants of several panels what, if anything, the state could do to respond to the recall and what could be done to prevent another incident.
The first testimony came from Dr. Michael Greger, the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture for the Humane Society of the United States. His testimony stated that “the horrific treatment of animals we documented is being downplayed as an unconscionable aberration—the work of just a handful of rogue employees. We do not believe this is an accurate characterization.” Greger concluded his testimony with the following: “we encourage your committee to recognize that this case demonstrates some deep and systemic flaws in USDA’s oversight of slaughter plants. USDA has an inherent conflict of interest, with its prime mission being to promote agriculture, a mission that seems too often to trump its other responsibilities.”
Florez expressed frustration with the job the USDA was doing to protect our food supply and asked several times if it would be a good idea to install video surveillance cameras at the state’s slaughterhouses. These cameras would monitor the facilities to guarantee the humane treatment of animals and to ensure that downer cows are not entering the food chain.
Two employees of the now shuttered southern California Hallmark Meat Company were charged on February 15 with animal cruelty in the aftermath the massive meat recall. "Americans know cruelty when they see it, and the HSUS investigation has outraged millions," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. "The suffering of animals shown in the HSUS video is beyond comprehension.”
After being provided videotaped evidence and a detailed report of the undercover investigation, San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos charged Daniel Ugarte Navarro with five felony counts under California's anti-cruelty statute and three misdemeanor counts alleging the use of a mechanical device to move "downer" cows, those unable to stand on their own. Convictions on the felony charges could bring a sentence up to 15 years in prison and $100,000 in fines, plus additional penalties on the misdemeanor charges. The second worker, Jose Luis Sanchez, was charged with three misdemeanors involving downers. He faces up to 18 months in jail and $3,000 in fines if convicted.
There is no way for the Community Alliance newspaper to verify the claims of former employees at Cargill or to know how well the company is able to keep all contaminants out of the food supply. That is the job of the USDA or the courts.
It is the job of the USDA to protect our food supplies. But with their failure to monitor the slaughterhouse in southern California, which resulted in the largest recall in US history, a lot of people are questioning how much we can trust the USDA. Why did it take a clandestine film crew to uncover this situation when the USDA was on site and supposedly monitoring the situation?
Repeated attempts by this newspaper to get a comment from a USDA inspector at the Cargill plant was unsuccessful. USDA representatives were invited but did not attend the legislative hearings in Sacramento.
Senator Dean Florez’s suggestion to put video surveillance cameras at all California slaughterhouses might not be a bad idea. Put the live video on the Internet so consumers can see for themselves that the cows being processed are being humanely treated and that no downer’s go into onto the kill floor. Until consumers can trust the USDA again, this might be the best we can hope for.
###
*Steven Gomez and Karen Stump are fictitious names. The author has changed the two whistle blowers names to protect their privacy.
For more information:
http://www.fresnoalliance.com/home
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Mike wrote;
"
“They use downer cows all the time,” Gomez told me in an exclusive interview. Gomez said it was common practice for workers in the southwest Fresno slaughterhouse to hit downed cows with sticks and eventually pick them up with a fork lift to get them onto the kill floor. According to Karen Stump*, who also worked at Cargill, “they would shoot the cow because it couldn’t get up and then they would bring them into the kill room with a fork lift.” Both Gomez and Stump said those downer cows would be processed and put into the food stream with all of the other cows. "
Thanks again to all the slaughterhouse workers who have the courage, spirit and humanity to step forward and expose these and other horrendous cruelties found at factory farms and slaughterhouses throughout North America..
In addition to being cruel to the animals, the high rates of severe physical injury and illness is experienced by slaughterhouse workers, and they deserve some sort of functional labor union and physical protection if they choose to come forward and blow the whistle on the corruption and cruelty occuring daily at corporate factory farms..
As an aside, my personal desire is to witness the 100% phasing out of industrial factory farms in my lifetime and the restoration of rangeland for native ungulates (hooved mammals) of the central valley for migratory grazing and controlled hunting once their populations can be restored to pre-colonial times..
Tule elk and pronghorns would be able to reclaim their previous territory lost to industrial factory farming and the industrial agriculture required to support domesticated cattle. The ethics of hunting native ungulates on their habitat is up for debate with animal rights activists, though certainly most would agree that this free range hunting is a far lesser cruelty than the current regime of factory farming of domestic ungulates (cattle, etc..) and resulting exclusion of native ungulates from their home..
Not so far from the factory farm where these atrocities against cattle took place is the last reserve for the tule elk, who once had free range of the entire San Joaquin Valley, and adapted nicely to the indigneous vegetation..
Of Marshes and Deserts -- Tule Elk
"Temperatures top 100 degrees, the few oak trees provide little shade, and water gets scarce, but that doesn't bother California's tule elk. While most elk must live with harsh winters, tule elk face the opposite challenge. Winter brings plenty of greens to eat in California's Central Valley, while summer's heat burns up most of the forage and bakes away the water. Tules have adapted to go longer without water than other elk can. Their extra-long rows of teeth help them chew up the desert's coarse grasses and shrubs, and in the fall they munch on acorns. Tule elk also hang out in marshes filled with "tules" -- the tall, cattail-like plants that give these elk their name."
found @;
http://www.rmef.org/AllAboutElk/SharingElk/
Currently there are not enough Tule Elk alive to allow any hunting, habitat restoration and several years of reproduction is required to make this possible. On the other hand, would preventing their habitat from being restored out of fear of future hunting be a fair choice either??
It is clear that indigenous peoples pre-colonialism were able to live with the tule elk and not drive them into extinction from over-hunting. However, the recent influx of settlers during the Gold Rush and introduction of for-profit commercial hunting resulted in the near extinction of these animals..
"In addition, a Tule Elk State Reserve, near Bakersfield, formerly the Tupman Reserve was established in 1932 to provide a permanent habitat for the elk. In the 1970s the total population numbered about 500 animals with 3 herds, today there are 22 herds with 2,700 head. As soon as tighter regulation came into existence protecting the Tule Elk from their biggest danger, human kind, they thrived (McCullough, 1996)."
article found @;
http://bss.sfsu.edu/holzman/courses/Fall00Projects/tule_elk.html
Habitat restoration and repopulation over several years followed by a reintroduction of limited and monitored hunting would make factory farming of domesticated cattle obsolete as vegans will remain vegans and meat-eating humans can take up hunting of restored tule elk. How the meat-eating humans will survive the interim period before the tule elk population can be fully restored is beyond me. Maybe supplement insects, molluscs and fish with any free range organically raised cattle, though to engage in the consumption of "Cargill Cannibal Cattle" herds of force-fed downer cows that potentially carry the deadly prions of mad-cow disease is certainly no better than the risks of Russian roulette..
"
“They use downer cows all the time,” Gomez told me in an exclusive interview. Gomez said it was common practice for workers in the southwest Fresno slaughterhouse to hit downed cows with sticks and eventually pick them up with a fork lift to get them onto the kill floor. According to Karen Stump*, who also worked at Cargill, “they would shoot the cow because it couldn’t get up and then they would bring them into the kill room with a fork lift.” Both Gomez and Stump said those downer cows would be processed and put into the food stream with all of the other cows. "
Thanks again to all the slaughterhouse workers who have the courage, spirit and humanity to step forward and expose these and other horrendous cruelties found at factory farms and slaughterhouses throughout North America..
In addition to being cruel to the animals, the high rates of severe physical injury and illness is experienced by slaughterhouse workers, and they deserve some sort of functional labor union and physical protection if they choose to come forward and blow the whistle on the corruption and cruelty occuring daily at corporate factory farms..
As an aside, my personal desire is to witness the 100% phasing out of industrial factory farms in my lifetime and the restoration of rangeland for native ungulates (hooved mammals) of the central valley for migratory grazing and controlled hunting once their populations can be restored to pre-colonial times..
Tule elk and pronghorns would be able to reclaim their previous territory lost to industrial factory farming and the industrial agriculture required to support domesticated cattle. The ethics of hunting native ungulates on their habitat is up for debate with animal rights activists, though certainly most would agree that this free range hunting is a far lesser cruelty than the current regime of factory farming of domestic ungulates (cattle, etc..) and resulting exclusion of native ungulates from their home..
Not so far from the factory farm where these atrocities against cattle took place is the last reserve for the tule elk, who once had free range of the entire San Joaquin Valley, and adapted nicely to the indigneous vegetation..
Of Marshes and Deserts -- Tule Elk
"Temperatures top 100 degrees, the few oak trees provide little shade, and water gets scarce, but that doesn't bother California's tule elk. While most elk must live with harsh winters, tule elk face the opposite challenge. Winter brings plenty of greens to eat in California's Central Valley, while summer's heat burns up most of the forage and bakes away the water. Tules have adapted to go longer without water than other elk can. Their extra-long rows of teeth help them chew up the desert's coarse grasses and shrubs, and in the fall they munch on acorns. Tule elk also hang out in marshes filled with "tules" -- the tall, cattail-like plants that give these elk their name."
found @;
http://www.rmef.org/AllAboutElk/SharingElk/
Currently there are not enough Tule Elk alive to allow any hunting, habitat restoration and several years of reproduction is required to make this possible. On the other hand, would preventing their habitat from being restored out of fear of future hunting be a fair choice either??
It is clear that indigenous peoples pre-colonialism were able to live with the tule elk and not drive them into extinction from over-hunting. However, the recent influx of settlers during the Gold Rush and introduction of for-profit commercial hunting resulted in the near extinction of these animals..
"In addition, a Tule Elk State Reserve, near Bakersfield, formerly the Tupman Reserve was established in 1932 to provide a permanent habitat for the elk. In the 1970s the total population numbered about 500 animals with 3 herds, today there are 22 herds with 2,700 head. As soon as tighter regulation came into existence protecting the Tule Elk from their biggest danger, human kind, they thrived (McCullough, 1996)."
article found @;
http://bss.sfsu.edu/holzman/courses/Fall00Projects/tule_elk.html
Habitat restoration and repopulation over several years followed by a reintroduction of limited and monitored hunting would make factory farming of domesticated cattle obsolete as vegans will remain vegans and meat-eating humans can take up hunting of restored tule elk. How the meat-eating humans will survive the interim period before the tule elk population can be fully restored is beyond me. Maybe supplement insects, molluscs and fish with any free range organically raised cattle, though to engage in the consumption of "Cargill Cannibal Cattle" herds of force-fed downer cows that potentially carry the deadly prions of mad-cow disease is certainly no better than the risks of Russian roulette..
The above comment by "slaughterhouse solidarity union" sounds a bit reformist. In the same section the author claims that they wish to "shut down factory farms 100%" in their lifetime, though this appears contradictory if they also want to farm an effective labor union to help the slaughterhouse workers appealing the dangerous, unhealthy and cruel conditions found in north american factory farms. By no means is this system of factory farming confined to north america, we witness the model of industrial factory farming used by both capitalist and "communist" nations alike..
However, even if industrial factory farms get shut down 100%, will that not send family farms down the same path of veganism becoems the only option? Is there any sustainable levels of wild game harvesting (ie., controlled hunting) once habitat and game populations are restored to their original habitat (tule elk, pronghorn, bison, etc..) currently occupied by industrial agriculture and factory farming??
So what then is the strategy, to either reform and reduce cruelty and dangerous unsanitary conditions within the industrial factory farms through gradual reforms, worker's labor union building activity and environmental lawsuits from animal cruelty to improper waste disposal (fecal runoff, eutrophication of rios, etc..) while allowing the general practice of industial factory farming to continue;
AND/OR
proceed with planned 100% phase-out of industrial factory farms by encouraging complete boycott of ANY and ALL beef (& dairy) products (for those who choose to continue consuming dairy/meat products encourage sustainable locally raised grass fed, free range and hormone free "lesser evil" animal husbandry to starve the largest industrial factory farming corporations of their cash flow), promote return to indigenous lifestyle of wild food harvesting, including acorns, tule elk, deer and other local sustainable protein sources..
At this moment neither the oaks that produce the acorns nor the tule elk are unable to return to their previous population size due to unavailable land occupied by industrial agriculture and factory farms. Large corporations once again dominate the landscape and monopolize good earth landspace for profit. We demand a release of this landspace from corporate occupation and restoration of tule elk migratory range. After enough generations and provided habitat becomes available in a timely manner, meat eating humans could obtain hunting permits for sustainable take. Here we need to remind ourselves that many indigenous peoples of north america were indeed able to maintain considerable human populations in this region for several hunderds of centuries while also hunting wild tule elk sustainably. The Euro-american settlers who practiced "capitalist hunting for profit" and theft of land from indigenous tribal nations were responsible for the near extinction of the tule elk accompanied by loss of habitat for succesful breeding and recovery. In the end and modern times, it is mostly loss of habitat that remains the primary factor in preventing tule elk repopulation..
Finally i do not fall prey to the ideology that the "need for jobs" justifies the need for industrial factory farms to continue indefinitely. While i take into consideration the poverty experienced by many slaughterhouse and industrial ag/animal farmworkers, i really wish they would rather find employment at either organic smaller scale farms and with grassfed free range animal outfits who can be allowed to slaughter their own animals in a humane and spiritual way (kosher, halal, etc..) OR some other type of work, OR subsidized housing, welfare, disability, etc..
Nor does the "all those hungry people need factory farms or they'll ALL DIE!!" myth used by industrial agriculture hold much sway with me either. When given the land and time uninterrupted, organic farmers have shown repeatedly their ability to raise significant nutritionally diverse food crops capable of feeding large numbers of people. The south central la campesino farm also showed this capability, having hundreds of species of medicinal and edible plants growing their PRIOR to the invasion by LA Sheriffs and their CAT bulldozers at the request of developer Ralph Horowitz. The destruction of scfarm by dozers does NOT DISPROVE the prior assertion that small scale organic campesino farms are indeed our collective future..
Combined with restoration of los rios and wetlands and grazing habitat for native ungulates (hooved mammals), an addition of wild food sources will be available for human consumption. Read Ward Churchill's account of underestimations of indigenous nation populations by Euro-american historians in order to gloss over genocide of Native American tribal nations and land theft. Most of the stolen land is now held by multinational corporations and inaccessible to native populations who would favor wild food harvest is this land was available and/or unpolluted. One example is the lower four Klamath River dams resulting in decreased salmon populations, as dams are "owned" by Pacificorp/Berkshire Hathaway by some billionaire (Warren Buffet) in Omaha, NE..
On the other hand, IF (AND WHEN!!) the lower four Klamath Dams are removed (they provide neither flood protection nor drinking waters, as the lower Klamath is a "canyonized" river with narrow channel, steep embankments.), THEN the salmon population on that river will increase over time in population size because; water quality and temp will improve, additional spawning habitat available, toxic algae flushed out, etc.., and human populations will not be facing a potential extinction from depending on the salmon for their culture, sustanance, employment, etc..
Same goes for the bison (Yellowstone herd being genocided by/for Montana beef ranchers for migrating onto their "property"), the tule elk (significant habitat loss reduction, genetic bottleneck, etc..), sageland pronghorn (sage is edible by pronghorn and inedible by cattle, drought tolerant sage is adapted to basin and range desert ecosystem, yet ranchers remove sagebrush and attempt to plant water dependent alfalfa for cattle which requires water input from inland draining rivers, the sole habitat of Lahontan trout, cui-cuis, etc..) and mountain sheep/goats (killed by ranchers?)..
If habitat is restored for the ungulates mentioned above, it is predicted that they will regain their population sizes over a few generations. This is not "naive optimism", it is recalling the large sizes of native wildlife found in north america during times of European contact. Instead of screaming about "we won't go backwards!" and "forwards ever, backwards never!" let's try thinking less linear and embrace the circle of connections that truly describes humanity on Earth. Empires come and go (Rome, Britain, U.S.), the bigger they are, the harder they fall. We can try living closer to the Earth by understanding and learning from eco-interdependence lifestyles indigenous North American "Indians" (HA, HA, Senor Columbus sure got that wrong!!), restoration of pre-contact flora and fauna that is adapted to this ecosystem is the safest and surest way to ensure human survival as industrial agriculture and factory farming begin their inevitable collapse. This goes along with the U.S. government (and people) recognizing and honoring ALL the violated treaties (Ruby Valley, Lakota, etc..) with the indigenous Native American tribal nations AND making a formal apology for genocide. Most of the land in question for reclamation by indigenous nations is currently owned and occupied by corporations (Cargill, ADM, ConAgra, etc..) and/or the U.S. military (Nevada Test Site, Yucca MT., etc..), NOT by individual landholders. In many cases the land currently occupied by industrial factory farming would be made available to indigenous tribal nations, campesino farms and/or local community gardens. The sooner and farther we distance yourself from the cruel and inhumane methods of land theft and industrial factory farming, the less likely the collapsing slaughterhouse buildings will fall upon (y)our heads..
Nobody likes to hear threats, though at times the tension rises and an outburst of outrage is needed. Animal rights activists certainly don't like to threaten the workers, though it is difficult to target an installation as large as a slaughterhouse and/or industrial factory farm as many are 24/7 around the clock operations with some relatively innocent human being wandering around during some time of the day/night, thus risking the eco-sabatuer violation of the ALF/ELF "harm none" track record. This presents an ethical catch-22 as slaughterhouses are central locations that represent a "bottleneck" in the factory farming economic path and yet to target one with incendiary devices would risk harming a worker..
UNLESS..
Someone (able to not get caught, work alone, etc..) is able to engage in smaller (yet frequent and presistant), less explosive acts of sabbing, such as monkeywrenching and dismantling slaughterhouse equipment, thus resulting in significant delays (time for workers to rest, catch their breath, slow the pace, etc..) and equipment repair. In this case, the equipment may indeed have been dangerous and outdated, and acts of friendly sabotage would point out these problems in the system to workers and management alike, thus saving the lives of workers and slowing down the system while the needed safety net of organic farming, permacultura and wild food habitat population restoration begins and becomes sustainable..
When Hamas comes home to GAZA;
Sideline to the conflict in Israeli occupied Palestine, people in the U.S. can count their lucky stars that indigenous peoples here in the americas usually implode internally, and often commit suicide as either auto "accidents" or other "accidental" methods that appear unoticed to avoid shaming their family with the stigma of suicide. This may be opposite from the approach by Palestinians fighting the Israeli occupation of their lands in Gaza, and the honor of a successful suicide bombing attempt by Hamas is said to be rewarded by Allah, and the family of the suicide bomber is honored by the community. Both Palestinians and indigenous Native Americans share the common ground that the oppression of colonialist occupation (by U.S./Israel), genocide and land theft result in persistant depression and suicide as a "way out" even if this will never solve the problem, though it will solve the problem of the individual's persistant emotional pain..
So at some point someone who is either Palestinian, Native American or neither of the above will get the idea to strap themselves with a keg o' dyn-o-mite and start heading for one of the lower four Klamath Dams, or hell, why not go for the "big daddy-O" dams on Rio Colorado? That would solve industrial ag, factory farming, golf courses and suburban sprawl in one fell swoop! NO MAS AQUA!
Now we can relearn floodplain farming of maize as practiced by the Tohono O'odham and harvest prickly peas for jelly, saguaros for wine, nopales for greens, etc..
Let's put the Homeland Security to the test (Nice border wall, BTW! Ya'll think it's really gonna work?) and see if they're smart enough to stop the west coast branch of (Hamas? Mahdi Army? Iranian Revolutionary Gurad?) or whatever new terrorist nickname we're worthy of. Maybe some folks from Blackwater can try their skills out on the would-be "bridge brigade" of the MAD ARMY!!
Having a low scale domestic civil conflict in North America and threats to ALL the north american dams, irrigation canals and other infrastructure coming from people who either care too much about the ecosystem, not enough about human consumers stuck in desert cities, or both is a surefire way of bringing home the U.S. military from Iraq. Throw in some interstate bridges as additional targets and we may witness a pullout of U.S. military forces from ALL OTHER NATIONS around the world (Phillipines, Cuba, Germany, etc..) as we'll need every trained soldier here in north america to protect their precious interstate bridges from attack. Try "restoring democracy" in Iraq with petroleum privatization plans while your freeway bridges are crashing down here stateside. Best wishes to all reformists trying to make things a little better, just remember, if on one dark night the I-5 bridge is blocked with a sign that states "bridge out", please don't try your luck on it!!
FINAL DISCLAIMER: Any advice or suggestion of tactics should be read for entertainment purposes only, this remains a non-violent movement and all life; human, animal and plant will be taken into consideration before each and every action is attempted. Nor would we encourage actions that can be claimed for insurance payouts, or mimicing any potential insurance fraud that an owner of a factory farm may wish to attempt in the near future as their product declines in popularity.
To avoid green scare tactics by Homeland Security, avoid snitching and/or snitch-jacketing, a lone lobo approach is best for would be eco-sabotuers and silence the preffered method of communication. Politically relevant communiques can wait a few days until the activist reaches a safer location some distance away from the event. Avoiding any pride or bragging about the action is essential, ego talking menaces activists with prison times daily, though humilty, obscurity and silence will provide activist with freedom for future. Large scale sab attacks need not be the only method, smaller sab events that are less noticeable immediately, yet frequent and persistant should be included in the future, resulting in less jail time and less insurance payouts to corporations. Keeping in under the insurance deductable would be a good rule of thumb. Think "petty is still a pain in the ass" when performing smaller sabbing events...
What people don't know they can't say to police under interrogation is another good rule of thumb, and even if they (informants) do say that which is not true, that fact that they are lying while on the stand can come out in favor of defendant as actual factual details will be missed by the yarn telling informant..
However, even if industrial factory farms get shut down 100%, will that not send family farms down the same path of veganism becoems the only option? Is there any sustainable levels of wild game harvesting (ie., controlled hunting) once habitat and game populations are restored to their original habitat (tule elk, pronghorn, bison, etc..) currently occupied by industrial agriculture and factory farming??
So what then is the strategy, to either reform and reduce cruelty and dangerous unsanitary conditions within the industrial factory farms through gradual reforms, worker's labor union building activity and environmental lawsuits from animal cruelty to improper waste disposal (fecal runoff, eutrophication of rios, etc..) while allowing the general practice of industial factory farming to continue;
AND/OR
proceed with planned 100% phase-out of industrial factory farms by encouraging complete boycott of ANY and ALL beef (& dairy) products (for those who choose to continue consuming dairy/meat products encourage sustainable locally raised grass fed, free range and hormone free "lesser evil" animal husbandry to starve the largest industrial factory farming corporations of their cash flow), promote return to indigenous lifestyle of wild food harvesting, including acorns, tule elk, deer and other local sustainable protein sources..
At this moment neither the oaks that produce the acorns nor the tule elk are unable to return to their previous population size due to unavailable land occupied by industrial agriculture and factory farms. Large corporations once again dominate the landscape and monopolize good earth landspace for profit. We demand a release of this landspace from corporate occupation and restoration of tule elk migratory range. After enough generations and provided habitat becomes available in a timely manner, meat eating humans could obtain hunting permits for sustainable take. Here we need to remind ourselves that many indigenous peoples of north america were indeed able to maintain considerable human populations in this region for several hunderds of centuries while also hunting wild tule elk sustainably. The Euro-american settlers who practiced "capitalist hunting for profit" and theft of land from indigenous tribal nations were responsible for the near extinction of the tule elk accompanied by loss of habitat for succesful breeding and recovery. In the end and modern times, it is mostly loss of habitat that remains the primary factor in preventing tule elk repopulation..
Finally i do not fall prey to the ideology that the "need for jobs" justifies the need for industrial factory farms to continue indefinitely. While i take into consideration the poverty experienced by many slaughterhouse and industrial ag/animal farmworkers, i really wish they would rather find employment at either organic smaller scale farms and with grassfed free range animal outfits who can be allowed to slaughter their own animals in a humane and spiritual way (kosher, halal, etc..) OR some other type of work, OR subsidized housing, welfare, disability, etc..
Nor does the "all those hungry people need factory farms or they'll ALL DIE!!" myth used by industrial agriculture hold much sway with me either. When given the land and time uninterrupted, organic farmers have shown repeatedly their ability to raise significant nutritionally diverse food crops capable of feeding large numbers of people. The south central la campesino farm also showed this capability, having hundreds of species of medicinal and edible plants growing their PRIOR to the invasion by LA Sheriffs and their CAT bulldozers at the request of developer Ralph Horowitz. The destruction of scfarm by dozers does NOT DISPROVE the prior assertion that small scale organic campesino farms are indeed our collective future..
Combined with restoration of los rios and wetlands and grazing habitat for native ungulates (hooved mammals), an addition of wild food sources will be available for human consumption. Read Ward Churchill's account of underestimations of indigenous nation populations by Euro-american historians in order to gloss over genocide of Native American tribal nations and land theft. Most of the stolen land is now held by multinational corporations and inaccessible to native populations who would favor wild food harvest is this land was available and/or unpolluted. One example is the lower four Klamath River dams resulting in decreased salmon populations, as dams are "owned" by Pacificorp/Berkshire Hathaway by some billionaire (Warren Buffet) in Omaha, NE..
On the other hand, IF (AND WHEN!!) the lower four Klamath Dams are removed (they provide neither flood protection nor drinking waters, as the lower Klamath is a "canyonized" river with narrow channel, steep embankments.), THEN the salmon population on that river will increase over time in population size because; water quality and temp will improve, additional spawning habitat available, toxic algae flushed out, etc.., and human populations will not be facing a potential extinction from depending on the salmon for their culture, sustanance, employment, etc..
Same goes for the bison (Yellowstone herd being genocided by/for Montana beef ranchers for migrating onto their "property"), the tule elk (significant habitat loss reduction, genetic bottleneck, etc..), sageland pronghorn (sage is edible by pronghorn and inedible by cattle, drought tolerant sage is adapted to basin and range desert ecosystem, yet ranchers remove sagebrush and attempt to plant water dependent alfalfa for cattle which requires water input from inland draining rivers, the sole habitat of Lahontan trout, cui-cuis, etc..) and mountain sheep/goats (killed by ranchers?)..
If habitat is restored for the ungulates mentioned above, it is predicted that they will regain their population sizes over a few generations. This is not "naive optimism", it is recalling the large sizes of native wildlife found in north america during times of European contact. Instead of screaming about "we won't go backwards!" and "forwards ever, backwards never!" let's try thinking less linear and embrace the circle of connections that truly describes humanity on Earth. Empires come and go (Rome, Britain, U.S.), the bigger they are, the harder they fall. We can try living closer to the Earth by understanding and learning from eco-interdependence lifestyles indigenous North American "Indians" (HA, HA, Senor Columbus sure got that wrong!!), restoration of pre-contact flora and fauna that is adapted to this ecosystem is the safest and surest way to ensure human survival as industrial agriculture and factory farming begin their inevitable collapse. This goes along with the U.S. government (and people) recognizing and honoring ALL the violated treaties (Ruby Valley, Lakota, etc..) with the indigenous Native American tribal nations AND making a formal apology for genocide. Most of the land in question for reclamation by indigenous nations is currently owned and occupied by corporations (Cargill, ADM, ConAgra, etc..) and/or the U.S. military (Nevada Test Site, Yucca MT., etc..), NOT by individual landholders. In many cases the land currently occupied by industrial factory farming would be made available to indigenous tribal nations, campesino farms and/or local community gardens. The sooner and farther we distance yourself from the cruel and inhumane methods of land theft and industrial factory farming, the less likely the collapsing slaughterhouse buildings will fall upon (y)our heads..
Nobody likes to hear threats, though at times the tension rises and an outburst of outrage is needed. Animal rights activists certainly don't like to threaten the workers, though it is difficult to target an installation as large as a slaughterhouse and/or industrial factory farm as many are 24/7 around the clock operations with some relatively innocent human being wandering around during some time of the day/night, thus risking the eco-sabatuer violation of the ALF/ELF "harm none" track record. This presents an ethical catch-22 as slaughterhouses are central locations that represent a "bottleneck" in the factory farming economic path and yet to target one with incendiary devices would risk harming a worker..
UNLESS..
Someone (able to not get caught, work alone, etc..) is able to engage in smaller (yet frequent and presistant), less explosive acts of sabbing, such as monkeywrenching and dismantling slaughterhouse equipment, thus resulting in significant delays (time for workers to rest, catch their breath, slow the pace, etc..) and equipment repair. In this case, the equipment may indeed have been dangerous and outdated, and acts of friendly sabotage would point out these problems in the system to workers and management alike, thus saving the lives of workers and slowing down the system while the needed safety net of organic farming, permacultura and wild food habitat population restoration begins and becomes sustainable..
When Hamas comes home to GAZA;
Sideline to the conflict in Israeli occupied Palestine, people in the U.S. can count their lucky stars that indigenous peoples here in the americas usually implode internally, and often commit suicide as either auto "accidents" or other "accidental" methods that appear unoticed to avoid shaming their family with the stigma of suicide. This may be opposite from the approach by Palestinians fighting the Israeli occupation of their lands in Gaza, and the honor of a successful suicide bombing attempt by Hamas is said to be rewarded by Allah, and the family of the suicide bomber is honored by the community. Both Palestinians and indigenous Native Americans share the common ground that the oppression of colonialist occupation (by U.S./Israel), genocide and land theft result in persistant depression and suicide as a "way out" even if this will never solve the problem, though it will solve the problem of the individual's persistant emotional pain..
So at some point someone who is either Palestinian, Native American or neither of the above will get the idea to strap themselves with a keg o' dyn-o-mite and start heading for one of the lower four Klamath Dams, or hell, why not go for the "big daddy-O" dams on Rio Colorado? That would solve industrial ag, factory farming, golf courses and suburban sprawl in one fell swoop! NO MAS AQUA!
Now we can relearn floodplain farming of maize as practiced by the Tohono O'odham and harvest prickly peas for jelly, saguaros for wine, nopales for greens, etc..
Let's put the Homeland Security to the test (Nice border wall, BTW! Ya'll think it's really gonna work?) and see if they're smart enough to stop the west coast branch of (Hamas? Mahdi Army? Iranian Revolutionary Gurad?) or whatever new terrorist nickname we're worthy of. Maybe some folks from Blackwater can try their skills out on the would-be "bridge brigade" of the MAD ARMY!!
Having a low scale domestic civil conflict in North America and threats to ALL the north american dams, irrigation canals and other infrastructure coming from people who either care too much about the ecosystem, not enough about human consumers stuck in desert cities, or both is a surefire way of bringing home the U.S. military from Iraq. Throw in some interstate bridges as additional targets and we may witness a pullout of U.S. military forces from ALL OTHER NATIONS around the world (Phillipines, Cuba, Germany, etc..) as we'll need every trained soldier here in north america to protect their precious interstate bridges from attack. Try "restoring democracy" in Iraq with petroleum privatization plans while your freeway bridges are crashing down here stateside. Best wishes to all reformists trying to make things a little better, just remember, if on one dark night the I-5 bridge is blocked with a sign that states "bridge out", please don't try your luck on it!!
FINAL DISCLAIMER: Any advice or suggestion of tactics should be read for entertainment purposes only, this remains a non-violent movement and all life; human, animal and plant will be taken into consideration before each and every action is attempted. Nor would we encourage actions that can be claimed for insurance payouts, or mimicing any potential insurance fraud that an owner of a factory farm may wish to attempt in the near future as their product declines in popularity.
To avoid green scare tactics by Homeland Security, avoid snitching and/or snitch-jacketing, a lone lobo approach is best for would be eco-sabotuers and silence the preffered method of communication. Politically relevant communiques can wait a few days until the activist reaches a safer location some distance away from the event. Avoiding any pride or bragging about the action is essential, ego talking menaces activists with prison times daily, though humilty, obscurity and silence will provide activist with freedom for future. Large scale sab attacks need not be the only method, smaller sab events that are less noticeable immediately, yet frequent and persistant should be included in the future, resulting in less jail time and less insurance payouts to corporations. Keeping in under the insurance deductable would be a good rule of thumb. Think "petty is still a pain in the ass" when performing smaller sabbing events...
What people don't know they can't say to police under interrogation is another good rule of thumb, and even if they (informants) do say that which is not true, that fact that they are lying while on the stand can come out in favor of defendant as actual factual details will be missed by the yarn telling informant..
wow, im really impressed with the previous post by "shut down factory farms". i would like to see that sort of analysis of strategy and tactics applied to every locality.
Fight to protect your landbase. You can't have sex without it.
"We have been to kind to those who are destroying the planet. We have been inexcusably, unforgivably, insanely kind." - Derrick Jensen
Fight to protect your landbase. You can't have sex without it.
"We have been to kind to those who are destroying the planet. We have been inexcusably, unforgivably, insanely kind." - Derrick Jensen
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