2012 Update:
Supreme Court Voids Portion of Downed Animal Law
On January 23, 2012, the Supreme Court rendered a decision in favor of meat industry groups challenging HFA's Downed Animal Law in California.
While we are disappointed that the Court has exempted slaughterhouses, we are pleased that the rest of our law remains intact – and is still the strongest in the nation. It is still illegal in California for any entity other than a slaughterhouse, to buy, sell, receive, or transport non-ambulatory animals, including cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep for commercial sale for human consumption. It is your support that has made this possible. And we are now directing our attention to passing similar laws on the state and federal level.
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HFA's 2011 Background Report:
Hard-Fought Victory For Farm Animals
Two large agribusiness groups, the American Meat Institute and the National Meat Association, have filed a far-reaching lawsuit in federal court aimed at overturning the Humane Farming Association’s (HFA) anti-cruelty legislation in California. The livestock industry is desperately trying to convince the courts that HFA’s new law banning the marketing of diseased and disabled animals (AB 2098) is “preempted” by federal law and should be rendered null and void.
We are pleased to report that the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has now ruled in our favor and reaffirmed HFA’s legislation banning the marketing of downed animals.
This good news, however, is tempered by the knowledge that this battle is not over. Indeed, meat industry attorneys, still smarting from this latest legal defeat, have just announced that they will seek to have this case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. We need your help to fight back!
Background: The term “downed animal” describes animals who are too sick or injured to stand up. Rather than putting these suffering animals out of their misery, the industry keeps them alive in order to get them to slaughterhouses. Following a long and painful journey, they are brutally dragged off trucks, butchered, and sold for human consumption.
In order to prevent the passage of legitimate laws that would prohibit these cruel practices, the meat industry began pushing its own legislation several years ago. The goal of these industry measures was to continue the slaughter of downed animals while giving the public a false impression that the animal cruelty and food safety issues had been resolved. The most notorious of these industry measures was SB 692 in California.
Backed by the Farm Bureau and other meat industry groups, SB 692 perpetuated the marketing of downed animals. Making matters worse, one organization began falsely claiming that it had “outlawed” the marketing of downed animals. But nothing could have been further from the truth.
Upon passage of SB 692, the downed animal trade flourished throughout the state for the next 14 years. And with many legislators and others being misled into thinking that the problem had been solved, passing a real ban on the downed animal trade became much more difficult.
A turning point occurred when undercover video documenting the horrific abuse of downed cows at a California meat packing company was broadcast by the national news media. Humane Society video captured slaughterhouse workers repeatedly kicking, shocking, ramming with forklifts, and even spraying water up the noses of these animals, causing outrage throughout the nation. As a result, nearly 45 million pounds of potentially contaminated beef ended up in the nation’s school lunch programs. This scandal graphically demonstrated that California’s old, corrupt downed animal law did not prohibit the marketing and slaughter of non-ambulatory animals as some had been falsely claiming.
The state legislature soon rallied behind what HFA had been advocating from the very start: The sale of downed animals must be banned – rather than perpetuated by worthless regulations. This ban took the form of HFA’s California Downed Animal Protection Act (AB 2098).
Thanks to your support and the skilled authorship of Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, HFA succeeded in getting this historic measure enacted last year. In addition to banning the marketing of downed cattle, we also – for the first time ever in the United States – prohibited the marketing of sick and injured pigs, sheep, and goats. HFA’s new law, quite simply, is the most comprehensive downed animal law in the nation. It is this law that the industry is seeking to overturn, arguing that citizens and state legislatures have no right to pass laws regarding federally inspected slaughterhouses.
The meat industry contends that the USDA – notorious for its non-enforcement of federal regulations – should be left alone to decide what takes place in slaughterhouses. A district court judge in agribusiness-dominated Fresno county issued a preliminary ruling in favor of the industry as it pertains to the slaughter of disabled pigs. HFA, along with attorneys representing the State of California, appealed that decision to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. And it is there that we handed the industry its first major legal defeat on this issue.
Nevertheless, the industry is still hell-bent on blocking the implementation of HFA’s law. And it is now seeking intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court. HFA will continue to effectively fight back and expose the Meat Institute’s insidious plan to continue abusing animals and selling tainted meat. We will update you as this historic case proceeds.
IN THE NEWS
“States May Prohibit Downed Animals In Food Supply”
- by Coutrney Edelart, The Bakersfield Californian | Download PDF
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