News for Florida animal advocates

Last week, the Humane Society of the United States released video from an undercover investigation at a California slaughterhouse. The video is difficult to watch, but it is proof that abuses are common at our nation’s slaughterhouses. The fact that the cows in the video being rammed with a forklift, dragged by their legs, and shocked with electric prods, were former dairy cows should make anyone who still drinks milk reconsider. (Visit www.hsus.org to watch the video.)

The abused cows were “downers,” cows who are too sick or injured to walk. The flesh of animals who are obviously sick is not supposed to enter the food supply, but slaughterhouse workers ignored the rules. The company was the second-biggest supplier of beef to the National School Lunch Program.

In a rare move, the USDA shut down the slaughterhouse. Here in Florida, school districts across the state- including Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties- removed beef dishes from their menus as a precaution. The Bradenton Herald explained the health concerns, “Federal law calls for keeping downed cows out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella contamination or mad cow disease as they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.”

In today’s Sun-Sentinel newspaper, students from Fort Lauderdale High School were interviewed about the week without meatballs. (In Broward County, the school district had received 2,000 cases of beef from the California company.) Many of the student’s responses give us hope that this incident has opened a few eyes to the disgusting reality of the meat industry. 18-year-old Neville Smith said. “I wish they let us know what exactly we’re eating… Maybe we could try to eat healthier.” Our favorite response was from student Jonathan Smith, who said, “I chose to be vegetarian because . . . I think its disgusting how they treat the animals.” (Click here to watch the student interviews.)

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