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Ok, just to clarify before I start, I do not condone what these people were doing but I am going to say that things can be exagerated and taken out of context. I grew up on a farm and currently work at one and there are circumstances where cattle can't get up and they need to be stood up or they could die and it's not like people are strong enough to stand the cow up by theirselves and sometimes you need to use machinery, such as a fork lift or skidsteer, for help. I doesn't hurt the cow as much as it looks, once they're stood up their much happier. Just thought I'd note that before anyone that hasn't even stepped on a farm or touched a cow commented.

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I watched the undercover video of a downed cow being sprayed in the face and up the nose with pressurized water from a hose. You could see the cow remain motionless except for struggling to turn its head to escape the water. It was disturbingly cruel.

The recall goes back to the beginning of 2006 which is a joke, as much of the beef has already been consumed by school children and fast food customers.

With all the recalls of late, it doesn't engender much faith in our regulatory systems in general. Something needs to change.

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Sam,

I have some experience with slaughterhouses and farms, but it is limited. So I understand where you're coming from, and that cows are far larger than people. Machinery would be needed to get them standing again if that were necessary.

But consider watching the video. The cow I'm referring to is actually rolled repeatedly by the fork lift. It looks horrifying.

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Ahhh, yeah. Obviously there is a problem here. The video was very disturbing. I realize not all slaugherhouses are in the business of practicing satanic rituals with cows, however; I don't have the patience to be my own private investigator. Everytime I look at beef now I am going to have this blatantly cruel image in my mind. I have turned my cheek for waaayyyyy toooo long and I want to be able to say that I have no fricken part of this nastiness. I will pray to God to make it stop. I will not judge others for eating meat, but I suppose I will find myself helplessly informing those I love that there are other alternatives. And yes, we can make a change one cow at a time. But there are so many cows so why not just butcher them all? How about solving that problem by inducing a decrease in the mass production. My blood has boiled over this and my eyes are wide open now to all that I was ignorant about before. This sucks more than I realized. I think I may go insane over not having any control over this issue. It is good to vent anonomously. I would like to close by acknowledging those peaceful folks who do farm in good faith and who treat their animals with dignity. It is so hard to say that though because whether farmers or hired-hands treat the animals good or bad they still die a horrific death.

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THESE PEOPLE ARE SICK AND THIS IS ALL THEY WILL GET!
Chino police arrest two in cruelty case
February 23, 2008
By Josh Thompson

Two former slaughter house workers charged with multiple counts of animal abuse have been arrested by the Chino Police Department.
Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, of Pomona and Jose Luis Sanchez, 32, of Chino were ordered to appear in Chino Superior Court for an arraignment hearing Feb. 15, but never showed up.
The men were charged with abusing sick cattle at Chino-based Westland/HallmarkMeat Co., which is a supplier to the National School Lunch Program.
Mr. Navarro was arrested last Saturday at his home at 11268 Dorset Ave. in Pomona. He is facing five felony counts of cruelty to animals and three misdemeanor counts of moving a non-ambulatory animal. He was released from the West Valley Detention Center after posting $75,000 bail, jail records show. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in state prison.
Mr. Sanchez, 32, of Chino, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after he turned himself over to authorities. He is facing three misdemeanor counts of moving a non-ambulatory animal. Lt. Cheatham said the dis-trict attorney’s office is consid-ering filing a fourth misde-meanor charge against Mr.Sanchez for providing a falsename to police. “Based upon fingerprints, the jail has notified us that his name is actually Rafael Herrera,” Chino Police Lt. Al Cheatham said. He is being held without bail because of an immigration hold placed on him, according to jail records.
On Thursday morning, he pleaded not guilty to the three misdemeanor charges.“We had been in contact with (Mr. Sanchez’s) family for the last several days and he knew he was wanted,” Lt. Cheathamsaid. “The family had been cooperating with police. He walked in to the police department and we immediately took him into custody based on the warrant that had been issued on him. He did not invoke his rights and spoke with investigators.”An arraignment hearing for Mr. Navarro has not yet been set, court records show.
On a video released by the U.S. Humane Society, two men are seen jabbing sick cattle with forklift blades, spraying a high-pressure water hose into another’s mouth and nose and poking another animal in the eye.The day after the video surfaced, both men were fired. Westland President Steve Mendell said he was “shocked, saddened and sickened” by what he saw on the video.
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Beef recall covers Westland output to Feb.2006
February 23, 2008
A record 143 million pounds of frozen beef from the Westland/Hallmark Meatpacking Co. in Chino has been recalled byte U.S. Department of Agriculture after evidence was discovered the company violated health regulations.
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schaefer said the slaughterhouse did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cows couldn’t move after passing inspection. “Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, the Food Safety and Inspection Service has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall,” Mr. Schaefer said.
The recall affects beef dating back to Feb.1, 2006. No evidence has indicated that the company slaughtered sick cows for human food, the USDA said. The previous record of recalled beef in the United States was 35 million pounds that was possibly contaminated with listeria, the USDA said.
About 37 million of the 143 million pounds of beef was marked for the National School Lunch Program, but USDA officials said much of that beef has been eaten. Steps are being taken to learn where any of the beef remains, the USDA said. California State Superintendent of Public Education Jack O’Connell said information was sent to all school districts that received Westland beef on the proper method to destroy recalled beef and instruction on how to receive reimbursement.
Chino Valley Unified School District was not on the list of 421 school districts, residential child care institutions and other educational facilities that were to receive instructions.
Chino Valley Unified director of communications Julie Gobin said the district will continue its ban on serving beef items but has nothing to dispose of at this time. The district has 538 cases of beef products in storage, she said.
Dairy operators, meanwhile, have been affected, but not greatly, by the closing of the Westland plant, said Rob Vanden Heuvel, general manager of the Milk Producers Council. The operators can still sell livestock to other slaughterhouses, Mr. Vanden Heuvel said. “They just have to go farther away.”

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