OMAHA, Neb.—A special prosecutor has been appointed to look into allegations of animal mistreatment at a Gordon meatpacking plant.
In a complaint filed July 9 with the Sheridan County Attorney, the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Local Pride LLC allows cows to remain conscious for up to two minutes after their throats are cut during the kosher slaughtering process, among other things.
PETA’s senior counsel Lori Kettler said County Attorney Jamian Simmons notified PETA last week that she was petitioning the court to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the claims.
According to Kettler, Simmons cited a conflict of interest within her office.
Simmons did not immediately return a message left Tuesday at her office.
Sheridan County District Court clerk Eloise Kampbell confirmed Simmons’ request and said Dawes County Attorney Vance Haug has been named special prosecutor.
A message left Tuesday at Haug’s office was not immediately returned.
Local Pride opened in June 2006 under an agreement between the Sholom Rubashkin family of New York and the Oglala of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The Rubashkins also own the world’s largest kosher plant, Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa, which was scrutinized last year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for cruelty to animals. The investigation came after Agriprocessors’ slaughtering methods were criticized by PETA as cruel and inhumane.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Cedar Rapids did not file charges in that case.
PETA said in its latest complaint that an undercover investigation of Local Pride was carried out in May as follow-up to its claims against Agriprocessors.
The alleged violations of state, federal and kosher laws cited in the complaint include: the animals are allowed to writhe in pain for up to two minutes after their throats are cut; and staff tear the animals’ necks with a meat hook and cut tags from their ears while they are still conscious.
“The intentional infliction of cruelty at Agriprocessors’ Gordon, Nebraska, facility is … part of a continued pattern of disregard for the welfare of animals—and the cruelty-to-animal statutes—in the locales where Agriprocessors operates,” PETA said in the complaint.
Rubashkin said Tuesday that the allegations were unfounded and were an attack on his religion.
He said the kosher slaughtering process used at Local Pride conforms with USDA guidelines.
“There is no problem that I’m aware of,” he said. “Everything has been done properly.”
According to PETA, a similar complaint filed June 29 with the USDA has prompted a federal probe of Local Pride.
A USDA spokeswoman said earlier this month that a specialist was sent to the plant to observe the slaughtering process, but no violations of the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act were found at that time.
On Tuesday, USDA spokesman Steven Cohen said: “We are continuing to monitor that facility and talk to our own inspectors there and make sure they understand fully what the responsibilities are.”
He explained that the kosher slaughtering process is exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act “as long as the certifying authority verifies that it is in keeping with those procedures of that religion. Then it is, by definition, humane.
“If (a claim of mistreatment) falls outside that, then that’s another situation.”
In the act, kosher slaughtering is described as the death of an animal resulting from loss of blood flow to the brain caused by the severing of its carotid arteries with a sharp instrument, as well as the handling of the animal during that process.
PETA has said that the Orthodox Union, the primary certifier of kosher slaughterhouses, has launched an investigation of Local Pride.
A message left Tuesday for the Orthodox Union’s kosher division was not returned. The office was closed for the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av.
Under Nebraska law, cruel mistreatment of animals is a Class I misdemeanor for the first offense and a Class IV felony for subsequent offenses.
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