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1 Legal Protections for Nonambulatory (Or Downed) Farm Animals 1 (2018)

handle is hein.animal/lgpnadf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUT Lea Prtion for Nonambl TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 4' crndst- Standard! 3 Re mended Standards FEDERAL LAW For decades, animal advocates have urged federal agriculture officials and members of Congress to enact legal protections to provide for the humane treatment of nonambulatory animals during transport, and at market facilities and slaughterhouses. As part of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, Congress directed the secretary of agriculture to investigate and submit to Congress a report on the problem of nonambulatory animals. The report was to include the scope of nonambulatory animals, the causes that render animals nonambulatory, the humane treatment of nonambulatory animals, and the extent to which nonambulatory animals may present handling problems at market facilities. To our knowledge, Congress never received such a report, although the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) did complete an estimate of the number of nonambulatory cattle, sheep, and goats., The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act also granted the USDA the authority to enact regulations to provide for the humane treatment, handling, and disposition of nonambulatory livestock by stockyards, market agencies, and dealers., In early 2004, following the discovery in December 2003 of bovine spongiform encephaLopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) in a downed dairy cow in Washington state, the USDA issued an interim final regulation requiring that all nonambulatory disabled cattle presented for slaughter be condemned and deemed inappropriate for human consumption., However, the regulation included a loophole allowing USDA personnel to determine the disposition, on a case-by-case basis, of cattle who went down after passing a pre-slaughter veterinary inspection. This permitted some downed cows to continue to enter the food supply, despite public opinion polls showing strong public disapproval of the practice of slaughtering downed animals. In 2006, the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) criticized the loophole, saying that continuing to allow some nonambulatory cattle to be slaughtered was inconsistent with both published regulations and public policy announcements.' The OIG documented 29 downed cattle slaughtered for food at 2 of 12 slaughter plants audited during a io-month period.' The OIG could find no documentation of acute injuries or fitness for consumption for these animals.7 Nevertheless, in July 2007, the USDA codified the nonambulatory loophole in a final rule.' In May 2oo8, following an incident involving the inhumane handling of downed cows at a slaughter plant in California, the agency reversed its position and proposed to eliminate the exception in its ban on the slaughter of nonambulatory cattle, which was eventually finalized and became effective April 17, 20o9. A loophole still existed, however. Young calves unable to rise from a recumbent position and walk because they are tired

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