PETA Calls For Criminal Charges Against Rubashkin

Waukon, Iowa — After a statement by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge indicated that Postville-based slaughterhouse AgriProcessors, Inc., is subject to the local cruelty-to-animals statute, PETA will formally call for charges against the company at a news conference tomorrow.

You can read PETA's entire press release after the jump.

Undercover Video Reveals Atrocities at Postville Slaughterhouse Maker of ‘Iowa’s Best Beef,’ ‘Rubashkin’s,’ and ‘Aaron’s Best’

For Immediate Release:

December 27, 2004

Waukon, Iowa — After a statement by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge indicated that Postville-based slaughterhouse AgriProcessors, Inc., is subject to the local cruelty-to-animals statute, PETA will formally call for charges against the company at a news conference tomorrow.

In a formal complaint that will be delivered immediately before the news conference, PETA will explain the legal case against Postville-based AgriProcessors and will call on county attorney William Shafer to institute legal proceedings against the company—which packages meats under the Iowa’s Best Beef, Rubashkin’s, and Aaron’s Best labels. After delivering the complaint, PETA will present and discuss video footage that supports the group’s call for local prosecution:

Date: Tuesday, December 28

Time: 12:30 p.m.

Place: Outside the Allamakee County Courthouse, 110 Allamakee St., Waukon

A PETA undercover investigator videotaped workers at the plant ripping the tracheas and esophagi out of the throats of fully conscious cows and slaughtering them in such an inadequate manner that many were still attempting to stand as long as three minutes after their throats had been cut open.

PETA’s request is in response to comments made by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge, who told the Globe Gazette that she found the footage "disturbing." She stated that if she had the jurisdiction, she would shut the plant down and launch an investigation but that charges of cruelty to animals would have to be brought by local law enforcement. While PETA disputes that the secretary is unable to enforce state law on state grounds when violations are brought to her attention, the organization is heeding her suggestion by simultaneously working to reverse her decision and calling for local prosecution under the state’s cruelty-to-animals statute.

"The Iowa secretary of agriculture has understandably expressed her revulsion at what AgriProcessors was doing to animals," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "What AgriProcessors was doing behind closed doors is the ultimate violation of ‘Iowa nice,’ and we are calling on Mr. Shafer to take swift and decisive action against the company, its owner, and the kosher certification agencies that allowed state law to be so flagrantly violated."

Broadcast-quality footage of animal slaughter at AgriProcessors is available. For more information and to view the video footage, please visit GoVeg.com.

Comments

[Josh]

peta clearly has no idea who they are going up against.

[Steve Brizel]

Once again, PETA shows its ignorance of the law. Iowa has zero jurisdiction over the issue.