The owner of a Tooele County butcher shop was charged with animal cruelty after a federal food inspector witnessed him sever a conscious steer’s hoof.
The steer had tried to escape slaughter and became ensnared on a gate as it fled, breaking its leg. The owner of Tooele Valley Meat is accused of cutting off its hoof while it was still alert in order to free the animal and lead it back to slaughter.
That happened as the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector warned him the animal “must first be stunned” and insisted that amputating the hoof while the steer was conscious was “unacceptable,” according to charges filed Tuesday in 3rd District Court.
“The cutting off of the extremity was undertaken intentionally,” the charges state, “and without using any procedure which would have minimized the pain and agony felt by the animal.”
The owner is facing a single count of aggravated animal cruelty, a class A misdemeanor. The Salt Lake Tribune is not identifying the owner because The Tribune does not typically cover low-level criminal cases.
Federal food inspectors had already reprimanded the business for inhumane handling or slaughter — the same day the amputation occurred, Nov. 5. The suspension notice required the business to stop slaughter processes until it sent the USDA its plans for “corrective action and preventative measures.”
Tooele Valley Meat provided that information, and the USDA lifted the suspension two days later.
The butcher shop did not immediately respond to The Salt Lake Tribune’s request for comment.
The business had previously apologized and said in a written statement shared with The Tribune that it had initiated “new emergency response protocols” and placed “proper tools and equipment” in more places to “safely address any similar unforeseen circumstances in the future.”
“While our intent was to act quickly to relieve an animal in distress,” the statement read, “we recognize that our response did not meet federal humane handling standards or our own expectations.”
Tooele County prosecutors, who filed charges in this case, had investigated Tooele Valley Meat before, in May 2018, for allegations that an employee used a 9mm pistol to kill a hog 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.”
The owner’s initial court appearance is scheduled for March 4.