Federal food inspectors asked a Tooele County butcher shop to stop slaughtering animals after one of its agents saw staff “inhumanely” amputate an injured and conscious steer’s foot ahead of slaughter.
The black steer in line to be killed at Tooele Valley Meat on Nov. 5 tried to escape the queue and got its front left hoof stuck in between a gate post and a gate as it tried to jump the fence, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors witnessed, according to a notice of suspension letter.
As the animal struggled to get free, it broke its legs at the ankle in a compound fracture and laid against the gate, the notice said, “slumped with its head under its stuck leg.”
The owner decided the only way to free the animal and get it to slaughter was to amputate its hoof, according to the notice. Inspectors warned employees twice that the animal needed to be stunned — and therefore unconscious — before that happened, but about 15 minutes after the animal became trapped, the owner sliced off its hoof and corralled it into the slaughterhouse.
The same day, the USDA sent Tooele Valley Meat the suspension notice for inhumanely handling or slaughtering livestock. It required the business stop slaughter processes until it sent the USDA its plans for “corrective action and preventative measures.”
The suspension was lifted two days later, after Tooele Valley Meat provided that information. Now, the business can operate — with increased scrutiny from Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors, a follow-up USDA letter read.
“We sincerely apologize for our actions and the distress this incident caused. While our intent was to act quickly to relieve an animal in distress,” Tooele Valley Meat said in a written statement, “we recognize that our response did not meet federal humane handling standards or our own expectations.”
“Tooele Valley Meat has proudly served the local community since 1966,” the statement read, “upholding a long-standing commitment to animal welfare, food safety, and ethical practices.”
Since that day, the butcher shop said it initiated “new emergency response protocols” and placed “proper tools and equipment” in more places to “safely address any similar unforeseen circumstances in the future.”
The USDA did not immediately respond to The Salt Lake Tribune’s request for comment.
While the suspension has lifted, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, more commonly known as PETA, have called for the Tooele County attorney’s office to prosecute the butcher shop’s owner for animal cruelty.
“This terrified animal made a desperate bid for freedom, only to have his foot gruesomely hacked off by the facility owner, who had repeatedly been told not to do so,” said PETA’s Vice President of legal advocacy, Daniel Paden, in a news release.
Tooele County Attorney Scott Broadhead said his office received notice of the violation from the USDA and asked for the federal agency’s investigative materials. His office also asked the local sheriff’s office to launch their own investigation.
“Upon receiving the investigative reports we will make a prosecution decision,” he said.
‘You can’t cut the hoof off a living animal’
In the suspension notice, inspectors wrote that because of how the animal was lying on the fencing, staff couldn’t free it and they couldn’t open the gate.
Staff tried to lift its leg up and over the gate, “but due to the weight of the Steer this could not happen.”
Less than 15 minutes later, the owner “asked one of his employees to get a knife.”
A federal inspector told the owner he needed to stun the animal before “cutting its hoof off,” but the plant owner said “he didn’t know how he would get the Steer into the building if he did that.”
If he left it conscious, once freed, the steer would “get up and run into the building,” he said.
“Again, I said the Steer needed to be stunned,” according to the suspension notice, “that you can’t cut the hoof off a living animal.”
The plant owner sliced off the hoof with a knife. Instead of immediately going into the building, like the owner predicted, the inspector wrote the steer “was now lying on its head.” Staff rolled it on its side, and the steer stood.
The inspector reported that “the steer then began trying everything to get on the other side of the fence, including head butting, kicking, and attempting to jump over the gate multiple times.”
But, the notice read, staff “were able to drive the steer into the stun box successfully” — walking on “the stub of its left front limb” — “and render the animal insensible with a single stun attempt.”
Tooele County prosecutors had previously investigated Tooele Valley Meat in May 2018 for for allegations that an employee killed a hog with a 9mm pistol over the course of 15 minutes. “It took the employee four attempts to kill the animal and at one point they ran out of ammunition,” The Associated Press reported at the time. The report at the time mentioned the USDA “documented a similar incident in March.”
Broadhead did not immediately respond to questions about that case.
In their statement, Tooele Valley Meat called the November violation “an isolated and highly unusual situation.”
“The welfare of the animals under our care will continue to be our top priority,” the statement continued, “and we are dedicated to ensuring that our facility reflects the humane and responsible standards that Tooele Valley Meat stands for.”
The statement did not directly respond to The Tribune’s request for comment on the 2018 violations.
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