Video Sting Shuts Down Cruel Slaughterhouse

The Humane Society released more video yesterday from its hidden camera sting of Bushway Packing, after the USDA shut down the organic veal slaughterhouse on Friday. The footage, shot this summer, isn’t for the queasy; calves too weak to walk are dragged, kicked and shocked repeatedly, among other abuses. “We found even two calves who appeared to be skinned alive while they were still conscious,” says the Humane Society’s COO.

The video also shows an unidentified USDA inspector coaching workers on how to avoid being shut down by other inspectors. Tom Vilsack yesterday called the inspector’s conduct “inexcusable,” but the USDA wouldn’t say more, or identify the culprit. The coaching wasn’t apparently very good either; the slaughterhouse was closed for a day in May, and again in June and July, when an inspector cited it for inhumane treatment. (More USDA stories.)