AnimalRights.Net

109TH CONGRESS
                       H. R. 3931
   1ST SESSION

To amend the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act of 1958 to
    ensure the humane slaughter of nonambulatory livestock, and for other
    purposes.



        IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
                           SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
Mr. ACKERMAN (for himself, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. SIM-
    MONS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. WEXLER, Mrs. TAUSCHER,
    Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. NADLER, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms.
    ESHOO, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr.
    BROWN of Ohio, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Ms. LEE, Mr.
    SHERMAN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. DICKS, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island,
    Mr. HOLT, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. LARSON of
    Connecticut, Mr. KIRK, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. STARK, Mr. HONDA, Mr.
    MCGOVERN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michi-
    gan, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. RUSH, Ms. NOR-
    TON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. WOOL-
    SEY, Mr. SABO, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. UDALL

    of Colorado, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California, Mr.
    INSLEE, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. ZOE
    LOFGREN of California, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. FARR, Mrs.
    DAVIS of California, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. SCHIFF,
    Mr. WEINER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr.
    LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. BIGGERT, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE
    JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. FOLEY, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. UDALL
    of New Mexico, Ms. CARSON, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr.
    CUMMINGS, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. RANGEL,
    Mr. SHAYS, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. FERGUSON,
    Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. KING of
    New York, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. WOLF, Mr. GERLACH, Mr.
    ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mrs. KELLY,
    Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SAXTON, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill;
    which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
                               2


                       A BILL
To amend the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act
   of 1958 to ensure the humane slaughter of non-
   ambulatory livestock, and for other purposes.


 1       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
 3   SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.


 4       This Act may be cited as the ``Downed Animal Pro-
 5 tection Act''.
 6   SEC. 2. FINDING AND DECLARATION OF POLICY.


 7       (a) FINDING.--Congress finds that the humane
 8 euthanization of nonambulatory livestock in interstate and
 9 foreign commerce--
10            (1) prevents needless suffering;
11            (2) results in safer and better working condi-
12       tions for persons handling livestock;
13            (3) brings about improvement of products and
14       reduces the likelihood of the spread of diseases that
15       have a great and deleterious impact on interstate
16       and foreign commerce in livestock; and
17            (4) produces other benefits for producers, proc-
18       essors, and consumers that tend to expedite an or-
19       derly flow of livestock and livestock products in
20       interstate foreign commerce.



      HR 3931 IH
                                 3
 1       (b) DECLARATION OF POLICY.--It is the policy of the
 2 United States that all nonambulatory livestock in inter-
 3 state and foreign commerce shall be immediately and hu-
 4 manely euthanized when such livestock become non-
 5 ambulatory.
 6   SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL SLAUGHTER PRACTICES INVOLVING


 7                  NONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK.


 8       (a) IN GENERAL.--Public Law 85765 (commonly
 9 known as the ``Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of
10 1958'') (7 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.) is amended by inserting
11 after section 2 (7 U.S.C. 1902) the following:
12   ``SEC. 3. NONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK.


13       ``(a) DEFINITIONS.--In this section:
14            ``(1) COVERED                      term `covered en-
                                ENTITY.--The


15       tity' means--
16                   ``(A) a stockyard;
17                   ``(B) a market agency;
18                   ``(C) a dealer;
19                   ``(D) a packer;
20                   ``(E) a slaughter facility; or
21                   ``(F) an establishment.
22            ``(2) ESTABLISHMENT.--The term `establish-
23       ment' means an establishment that is covered by the
24       Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et
25       seq.).

      HR 3931 IH
                                4
 1            ``(3) HUMANELY                          term `hu-
                                    EUTHANIZE.--The


 2       manely euthanize' means to immediately render an
 3       animal unconscious by mechanical, chemical, or
 4       other means, with this state remaining until the
 5       death of the animal.
 6            ``(4) NONAMBULATORY                           term
                                         LIVESTOCK.--The


 7       `nonambulatory livestock' means any cattle, sheep,
 8       swine, goats, or horses, mules, or other equines, that
 9       will not stand and walk unassisted.
10            ``(5) SECRETARY.--The term `Secretary' means
11       the Secretary of Agriculture.
12       ``(b) HUMANE TREATMENT, HANDLING,                  DIS-
                                                      AND


13                    Secretary shall promulgate regulations to
     POSITION.--The


14 provide for the humane treatment, handling, and disposi-
15 tion of all nonambulatory livestock by covered entities, in-
16 cluding a requirement that nonambulatory livestock be hu-
17 manely euthanized.
18       ``(c) HUMANE EUTHANASIA.--
19            ``(1) IN                       to paragraph (2),
                         GENERAL.--Subject


20       when an animal becomes nonambulatory, a covered
21       entity shall immediately humanely euthanize the
22       nonambulatory livestock.
23            ``(2) DISEASE                           (1) shall
                                TESTING.--Paragraph


24       not limit the ability of the Secretary to test non-



      HR 3931 IH
                               5
1       ambulatory livestock for a disease, such as Bovine
2       Spongiform Encephalopathy.
 3      ``(d) MOVEMENT.--
 4           ``(1) IN                  covered entity shall not
                        GENERAL.--A


 5      move       nonambulatory   livestock   while   the   non-
 6      ambulatory livestock are conscious.
 7           ``(2) UNCONSCIOUSNESS.--In the case of any
 8      nonambulatory livestock that are moved, the covered
 9      entity shall ensure that the nonambulatory livestock
10      remain unconscious until death.
11      ``(e) INSPECTIONS.--
12           ``(1) IN                  shall be unlawful for an
                        GENERAL.--It


13      inspector at an establishment to pass through in-
14      spection any nonambulatory livestock or carcass (in-
15      cluding parts of a carcass) of nonambulatory live-
16      stock.
17           ``(2) LABELING.--An inspector or other em-
18      ployee of an establishment shall label, mark, stamp,
19      or tag as `inspected and condemned' any material
20      described in paragraph (1).''.
21      (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.--
22           (1) IN                        as provided in para-
                       GENERAL.--Except


23      graph (2), the amendment made by subsection (a)
24      takes effect on the date that is 1 year after the date
25      of enactment of this Act.

     HR 3931 IH
                            6
1           (2) REGULATIONS.--Not later than 1 year after
2      the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
3      Agriculture shall promulgate final regulations to im-
4      plement the amendment made by subsection (a).



    HR 3931 IH

A little over a year ago, Justus Ireland plead guilty to setting a fire at Stock Lumber Co. in Utah. Ireland painted “ELF” on a truck at the lumber company and used an unattended fax machine at a health clinic to fax a letter to local television stations claiming the fire in the name of the Earth Liberation Front.

Ireland, who was on probation for aggregated sexual abuse charges in Arizona, reached a plead deal that reduced his maximum sentence to just 5 to 20 years. Ireland was ultimately sentenced to only seven years and three months.

Now, Ireland his appealing that sentence, claiming that prosecutors promised he would get the minimum 5 year sentence if he plead guilty, and that his lawyer deceived him about the nature of the plead deal he agreed to.

Ireland now claims that he was under the influence of a number of drugs, including antidepressant klonopin along with valium, percocet, xanax, oxycontin, and morphine when he agreed to the plea deal. Ireland is asking that his sentence be reduced to the fiver years he claims he was promised.

There is an interesting side note in the Salt Lake Tribune’s story about whether or not Ireland’s act of violence was really an Earth Liberation Front crime. According to the Tribune,

. . . A former lumberyard employee who had been fired for missing work, he [Ireland] admitted throwing lighted flares into a truck and under a pallet behind the company building.

He also spray-painted “ELF,” an apparent reference to the anarchist Earth Liberation Front, on the side of the building and on a truck. Authorities initially called Ireland a “domestic terrorist,” but later said the purported ELF connection was merely to throw investigators off.

Although Earth Liberation Front-oriented sites reprinted stories about Ireland’s crime as if it was the sort of legitimate act it favored, the Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network refused to support Ireland given his history of sexual assault. At the time it issued a press release saying,

Justus Ireland is charged with involvement in the ALF arson which occurred
against an animal husbandry target in Utah. He is also individually charged
with an arson against the Stock Building Supply company. This latter action
was claimed by the ELF. Following his being charged Ireland has been
remanded into custody. However ELP is NOT supporting Ireland as he is a
known sex offender who has previously carried out a violent sexual assault
on a female child. A quick search on the web will bring up Ireland’s sexual
offending history. ELP does not support sex offenders and therefore will
not be supporting Ireland either now or at any time in the future. In
solidarity with his young victim we would encourage others to take a similar
line.

This was an odd line to take. After all, this group recognizes and offers support for Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal, and convicted murderer Fran Thompson. It is not like Earth Liberation Prisoner’s Support Network actually cares about the killing of human beings — Kaczynski tried to blow up a commercial airliner and only narrowly failed due to a faulty timing mechanism (for awhile, investigators assumed the Unabomber was a disgruntled airline employee). He did manage to kill the owner of a computer store (you know those evil computers — the sort ELPSN uses to e-mail its press releases).

Presumably the ELPSN’s refusal to take on Ireland is based on its view that its supporters will find nothing wrong with trying to blow up an airliner, but they might be aghast at supporting someone convicted of sexual assault. Ireland should have stuck to blowing up mass transit instead of sexually assaulting young girls and perhaps he’d still have the ear of the ELF wackos.

Source:

Press Release. Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network, October 10, 2004.

‘Amped up’ arsonist: Lawyers duped me. Pamela Manson, The Salt Lake Tribune, October 5, 2005.

In October, Mark Taylor, 38, became the first person charged in the United Kingdom under new laws there designed to crack down on animal rights extremism.

Taylor was charged under a provision of the Serious and Organized Crime and Police Act of 2005 that targets those who interfere with contractual relationships so as to harm an animal research organization — i.e. harassing employees and companies who do business with animal research firms.

Taylor was charged with three such counts of interference with contractual relationships so as to harm an animal research organization, two counts of aggravated trespass, and one count of assault.

He was arrested back on July 16, 2005 after a protest at a company that is a supplier to Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Source:

Charge under animal research law. The BBC, October 5, 2005.

Ohio University junior Holly Jensen, treasurer of the Athens Animal Rights Coalition, recently penned a letter to student newspaper The Post Online. Jensen wrote to complain that The Post Online had unfairly panned People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ habit of comparing animal agriculture with the Holocaust or slavery.

Jensen complained that numerous humanitarians supported animal rights, including Abraham Lincoln who said,

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.

Of course this quote might actually be a bit more persuasive if Lincoln had ever actually said it. It doesn’t appear in any of his articles, speeches, written correspondence or other utterances. Its very language speaks of a 20th century sensibility rather than mid-19th century.

Although it appears on literally hundreds of animal rights web sites, not one includes a link to a reference where Lincoln is supposed to have said this and none of them seem to think “hmmm, maybe we might want to know if this awfully contemporary sounding sentence couplet really came from the mouth of a 19th century president.”

The worst culprit is In Defense of Animals which for years has sold a t-shirt with the bogus quote on it.

But then this is the animal rights movement we are talking about — it is not like accuracy and truth telling have ever been major priorities.

Source:

Humanitarians back PETA’s message. Holly Jensen, The Post Online, October 3, 2005.

In early October, a grand jury indicted three animal rights activists in a series of break-ins at Wegmans Egg Farm in Wolcott, New York.

Adam Durand, 25; Melanie Ippolito, 21; and Megan Cosgrove,22, were indicted on several counts each including burglary, criminal mischief, petty larceny and criminal trespass.

The three activists allegedly broke into the egg farm several times in May and August 2004. They videotaped conditions at the facility and later released a short video through their group Compassionate Consumers. The activists also removed 11 hens from the facility.

Although not indicted, Compassionate Consumers activist Jodi Chemes was fired from her job at Deloitte & Touche after publicizing the tape’s release (Wegmans is a client of Deloitte & Touche).

According to the Times of Wayne County,

In the initial arraignment, it is alleged that the Durand and Ippolito used wire cutters to gain access to the manure rooms below the chicken houses. It was also stated that they took a total of 8 hens from the buildings on at least two occasions.

The grand jury indictment has Durand charged with three counts each of Felony Burglary in the 3rd Degree, Misdemeanor Petit Larceny and Criminal Trespass. Ippolito was charged with two counts each and Cosgrove with one count each.

The Times also reported that Compassionate Consumers offered to end its campaign against Wegmans if the egg producer agreed to reduce or drop the charges against the activists (the prosecutor in the case has said he will not reduce or drop the charges without Wegmans’ consent), but apparently the company refused such a deal.

Sources:

Jury indicts 3 in Wegmans Egg Farm case. Misty Edgecomb, Democrat and Chronicle, October 4, 2005.

Trio plucked by County Grand Jury for WegmanÂ’s Chicken Farm break-in. Times of Wayne County, 2005.

In October, the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for Sept. 7 attack on the UK home of GlaxoSmithKline executive Paul Blackburn.

In an e-mail posted on animal rights extremists sites, the ALF claimed,

On the night of Weds 7th Sept we Brigade G of the Animal Liberation Front detonated a bomb on the doorstep of GlaxoSmithKline director Paul Blakburn, Beaconsfield, Bucks.

This contained 2 litres of fuel and 4 pounds of explosives. We did this because GSK is a customer of Huntingdon Life Sciences and GSK we realise that this may not be enough to make you stop using HLS, but GSK this is just the beginning.

We have identified and tracked down many of your senior executives and also junior staff, as well as those from other HLS customers.

Drop HLS or you will face the consequences. For all the animals inside HLS, we will be back.

Members of Blackburn’s family were in the home when the extremists ignited the incendiary device — so much for all that nonsense about ALF taking extreme care not to risk human lives.

The ALF also claimed responsibility for a September 23 attempted arson at a sports facility in Oxford.

Source:

Firebomb in Beaconsfield. Bucks Free Press, October 4, 2005.

In an op-ed for Knight Ridder, Alka Chandna argues that simply because People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals compares animal agriculture to slavery does not mean that the group is racist. Then why do so many activists and groups, including PETA, support the tactics used by racists?

Chandna writes,

In the United States, the NAACP and others are now painting animal rights activists as white racists in order to marginalize and dismiss us. I can’t help but think that this sort of “analysis” that insists on painting a movement in a monochrome is the same pairing down of the world that people engage in when the truth makes them uncomfortable. Racists dismissed Martin Luther King as a womanizer. Colonists dismissed Gandhi as a short, brown main in a loin cloth. Sexists dismiss feminists as ugly, angry women.

Chandna’s invocation of King’s legacy is a bit odd. After all, King was famously arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1960 when he joined other activists across the country in a sit-in at a restaurant that was whites. The example set by King and student activists who started the lunch counter sit-ins quickly led to the end of this racist, demeaning practice.

But I’m surprised Chandna would champion this, because if PETA is correct all King accomplished here was to allow blacks to oppress animals alongside whites. If we are to believe PETA, if King had actually been served at that restaurant in 1960, he would have been guilty of treating animals as slave holders treated his ancestors. King, who pushed racial equality in this country further than anyone since the Civil War, was himself apparently possessed of the same sort of mindset that led slaveholders to treat blacks as simply objects. (Many animal rights web sites note that King’s widow and one of his sons are currently vegans, but conveniently omit that King himself was not a vegetarian).

But Chandna’s main hypocrisy is decrying tactics that PETA and other activists regularly endorse. She writes of racist persecution of minorities,

My family immigrated to Canada from India when I was three. My teen years coincided with the height of “Paki-bashing” in Canada and I spent most Saturday and Sunday mornings cleaning egg from our doors and windows or examining, with my very hurt parents, racist “jokes” that had been spray painted onto our driveway.

. . .

I ask other people of color who have had their windows egged or experienced other forms of racism to stop condemning for a moment and to consider that what they are now saying about animals — that animals are lesser beings whose suffering can be dismissed — was once said about them and was used as an excuse to keep them in bondage.

The racist incidents that occurred in Chandna’s youth obviously pained her greatly, and she is right to condemn this sort of mindless violence. But, why does she work for an organization that endorses just such tactics.

How can she work along side Dan Mathews, who praised serial killer Andrew Cunanan for murdering Versace? How can she work for an organization that employs people like Gary Yourofsky who says he “unequivocally support” murder if it advanced the animal rights cause? Knowing how much the eggs thrown at her house traumatized her, how can she support PETA activists who encourage others to douse targets in fake blood or throw pies in the faces of their opponents?

Chandna asks minorities to consider how arguments that non-whites were lesser beings were used to oppress them, and then consider whether or not such arguments are at work in depicting animals as lesser beings. But how does she expect anyone to take her seriously when she complains about the horrors of violent acts carried out against her family while simultaneously representing an organization that advocates and encourages exactly those sorts of acts and much worse?

Source:

Are animal rights activists racist? Alka Chandna, Knight Ridder, October 2, 2005.

Joe Miele, of New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, was unhappy when Republican Sen. James Inhofe announced hearings to investigate eco- and animal rights terrorism. Miele posted to AR-NEWS urging activists to send letters to Inhofe characterizing the hearings as a waste of money and a diversion from the evils of global warming and birth defects. The sample letter Miele posted is fascinating,

The Fur Commission USA has begun a letter-writing campaign to support the
hearings being conducted by the Senate Committee on The Environment in
Washington into what the government calls “eco-terrorism.”

To counter their message, please write to the anti-animal extremist
committee chairman Senator James Inhofe and inform him that there are far
more important things to do than to waste taxpayer money appeasing special
interest groups by targeting those who defend the earth and her animals.

SAMPLE LETTER:

The Honorable James Inhofe, Chairman
Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
410 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Inhofe:

I am writing to respectfully urge you to stop wasting taxpayer money to
satisfy special interest groups who oppose wildlife and environmental
protection.

The multi-billion-dollar industries you serve to protect are those that
perpetuate environmental destruction on a global scale and are creating
problems such as global warming, birth defects and dwindling populations of
wildlife and endangered species.

By focusing your attention on the activities of environmental and animal
rights groups, you are allowing global polluters and those who rape the
environment in the name of profits to continue their business as usual.
This is not only myopic, but incredibly irresponsible. As a public servant
you are obligated to carry out the will of the people. Unfortunately, you
choose to carry out the will of anti-environmental corporate interests. By
doing this you are betraying the public trust and destroying your
reputation.

Please Senator Inhofe, please cease your foolish and wasteful inquiries into
the state of the environmental movement and focus your attention on the
industries that are the world’s major polluters and exploiters. They are
the ones who deserve your scorn, not those who are trying to reverse the
march toward the environmental devastation you so willingly support.

Sincerely,

Looks like some activists are starting to feel the heat from all the negative attention that animal rights and environmental extremists are starting to attract.

Source:

Letters needed: Counter message of Fur Commission. Joe Miele, October 2, 2005.

The Helena, Montana Independent Record reported on an appearance there by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals anti-circus protesters.

Julie Kelton, 19, stripped seminude in order to protest the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. She was accompanied by PETA’s Matt Rice who told the Independent Record,

We sometimes have to do interesting and shocking things to get animals the attention they deserve.

But what Matt Rice seems to do is spend his time lying to reporters about PETA’s activities.

In 2004, for example, Rice told reporters that PETA would never use shock tactics with children despite PETA’s repeated promises to do just that.

Rice’s claim that PETA doesn’t target children with shock tactics was as accurate as his claim that Kelton would appear naked.

Interestingly, an opponent of PETA got in a plug about PETA’s habit of killing animals into the story,

At least one passer-by took exception to the protest. Ingrid Rosenquist, a deputy county attorney, said her father is a biomedical researcher, and she has been active in training horses and dogs for competition. Saying she was speaking only for herself, not her employer, Rosenquist said PETA kills animals at its own shelters and supports animal rights terrorists.

As with its other campaign, she said, PETA exaggerates the frequency and severity of mistreatment of circus animals. She referred people to the Web site www.petakillsanimals.com.

Good for Rosenquist.

Source:

Semi-naked protester strikes a pose for mistreated circus critters. Ed Kemmick, The Independent Record (Helena, Montana), September 30, 2005.

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) recently introduced a bill in the House of Representatives which would permanently ban downed animals — animals which fall and cannot get up under their own power — from entering the food supply.

After a cow in the United States tested positive for Mad Cow Disease in 2003, a temporary ban on the slaughter of downed animals for food was put into place by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

The bill would require that any downed animals be immediately and humanely euthanized and adds that,

It shall be unlawful for an inspector at an establishment to pass through inspection any nonambulatory livestock or carcass (including parts of a carcass) of nonambulatory livestock.

The USDA would be given one year from passage of the bill into law to promulgate regulations for the humane slaughter of downed animals and their exclusion from the food supply.

The full text of the bill can be read here.