Animal Protection, Conservation Groups Sue the USDA for Gutting Pig Slaughterhouse Oversight
DELCIANNA WINDERS: 'These sensitive, intelligent animals are already largely overlooked by the law, and now the USDA has effectively written out the little protections Congress extended to them.'
BUSINESS WIRE: ‘Seven organizations dedicated to protecting the animals, people, and environments that suffer due to industrial animal agriculture filed a lawsuit today against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) challenging its decision to reduce oversight at pig slaughterhouses and eliminate limits on the slaughter speeds, exposing pigs to greater suffering and flouting federal humane slaughter, meat inspection, and environmental protection laws.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York on behalf of Farm Sanctuary, Animal Equality, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity, Compassion Over Killing, Mercy For Animals, and North Carolina Farmed Animal Save.
Plaintiffs are represented by Lewis & Clark Law School’s Animal Law Litigation Clinic (ALLC) the only law school clinic dedicated to farmed animal advocacy. The Center for Biological Diversity and Earthrise Law Center at Lewis & Clark Law School are serving as co-counsel in the case.
“These sensitive, intelligent animals are already largely overlooked by the law, and now the USDA has effectively written out the little protections Congress extended to them,” said Delcianna Winders, Assistant Clinical Professor and Clinic Director of the ALLC.
“The Department of Agriculture is supposed to regulate the meat industry, but instead this regulation reads like a joint venture between big business and the federal government,” says Cristina Kladis, an ALLC student representing the plaintiff organizations…
The lawsuit challenges the USDA’s complete revocation of limits on the number of pigs that can be slaughtered per hour, leading to approximately 11.5 million more pigs being slaughtered annually at these massive industrial plants, according to USDA profit estimates for the rule.
The lawsuit also challenges the USDA’s decision to remove and relocate federal inspectors in slaughterhouses. Federal law requires agency inspectors to ensure that animals at slaughterhouses are not subjected to cruel handling, including dragging and beating, and to ensure that sick animals don’t enter the food supply.’ SOURCE…
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