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1 Legal Protections for Farm Animals at Slaughter 1 (2019)

handle is hein.animal/lgprfas0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE Lea Poecin fo ar Anml *at Slaughte TABLE OF CONTENTS I tr dc io I The Federal Hu e SLaughter Iav Humane Wh oSaghtrAt Of 1958 Human Meho S1 h9ct f 78 Re in kn g tSFed Lw p e y Fderal Lo 5 E nor int of the Federal Law deral Nutrit Ast e og 7 State Humane S t Sut i Ste IA cr ty Laws i veredby atLws o Enfore nt of Ste L ii Rtua Sughte 2 dsryStandards 13 1- - t dards INTRODUCTION The meat-packing industry in the United States grew dramatically during the first half of the 20t century. However, as packing houses expanded to take in more and more animals, they retained primitive methods of handling and stunning animals in preparation for slaughter. An editorial entitled Still the Jungle in the June 18, 1956, issue of the New Republic described the slaughtering procedure: Cattle, like horses, are slugged on the head with iron mallets. The first blow frequently fails to stun them as they stumble, electric shocks force them to their knees so that they may be struck again and again. Calves, hogs, and lambs are strung up (conscious) by chains tied to their hind legs. When the chains slip or legs are disjointed and broken, they crash from high conveyor lines to slaughter house floors. The throats of the calves are severed by sawing motions; lambs are knifed behind an ear and slowly bleed to death; hogs with slit throats frequently pass still squealing into scalding vats.' As cruel methods of slaughter continued to be regularly used in meat-packing houses in the United States, other parts of the world made progress enacting humane handling laws and incorporating humane stunning equipment. THE FEDERAL HUMANE SLAUGHTER LAW Humane A-thods - 4 S r - 't Of 1958 Eventually, humane slaughter legislation came to the United States. The first humane slaughter bill was introduced in the US Senate on April 11, 1955, by Sen. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and in the House of Representatives on May 9, 1955, by Rep. Martha Griffiths of Michigan. The specific aim of these bills was to outlaw the shackling and hoisting of conscious animals and the use of manually operated sledgehammers for stunning. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) denied these bills a favorable report, on the grounds that American industry could provide better humane slaughter than legislation could. The American Meat Institute (now the North American Meat Institute, NAMI) called the legislation premature despite being introduced 82 years after a humane slaughter law was enacted in Switzerland and at least 20 years after such laws were enacted in other countries. * PA

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