The Downed Cow: A True Story of One Animal’s Last Hours

Many people never stop to think about it, but there is no retirement home for cows exploited by the meat and dairy industries. By the time they’re trucked off to be killed for hamburger meat or dog food, many are so lame from a lifetime of intensive confinement and standing on concrete floors that they can only hobble. Some can’t walk at all. The industry calls these animals “downers.” This is the story of one of them.

The truck carrying this cow was unloaded at Walton Stockyards in Kentucky one September morning. After workers removed the other animals from the truck, she was left behind, unable to move. They used the customary electric prods in her ear to try to get her out – then beat and kicked her in the face, ribs, and back – but she still didn’t move. Finally, they tied one end of a rope around her neck and the other end to a post, and they drove the truck away. She was dragged along the truck bed and then slammed to the ground, landing with both hind legs and her pelvis broken. She remained like that until 7:30 that evening.

For the first three hours, she lay in the hot sun, crying out. Periodically, when she urinated or defecated, she used her front legs to drag herself along the gravel roadway to a clean spot. She also tried to crawl to a shaded area, managing to drag herself 13 to 14 yards (about 12.5 meters), but never reached it. The stockyard employees wouldn’t give her any drinking water – the only water she received was given to her by Jessie Pierce, a local animal rights activist, who was contacted by a woman who had witnessed the incident.

She was dragged along the truck bed and then slammed to the ground, landing with both hind legs and her pelvis broken.

Jessie arrived at noon. After receiving no cooperation from stockyard workers, she called the county police. An officer arrived, but his superiors instructed him to do nothing. He left at 1 p.m. The stockyard operator informed Jessie that he had permission from the insurance company to kill the cow but wouldn’t do so until Jessie left. Although doubtful that he would keep his word, she left at 3 p.m. She returned at 4:30 p.m. and found the stockyard deserted. Three dogs were attacking the cow, who was still alive and had suffered a number of bite wounds. Her drinking water had also been removed.

Jessie contacted the state police. Four officers arrived at 5:30 p.m. State Trooper Jan Wuchner wanted to shoot the cow but was told that a veterinarian should kill her. The two veterinarians at the facility would not euthanize her, claiming that in order to preserve the value of the meat, she could not be “destroyed.” The butcher eventually arrived at 7:30 p.m. and shot the cow, ending her long, miserable ordeal. Her body was purchased for $307.50.

She lay in the hot sun, crying out. She tried to crawl to a shaded area, managing to drag herself 13 to 14 yards, but never reached it. The stockyard employees wouldn’t give her any drinking water.

When questioned by a reporter from The Kentucky Post, the stockyard operator stated, “We didn’t do a damned thing to it,” referring to the cow, and said the concern on the part of humane workers and police was “bullcrap.” He laughed throughout the interview, saying that he found nothing wrong with the way the cow had been treated. After PETA got involved, the Kenton County Police Department adopted a policy requiring that all downed animals be immediately euthanized. But the dead, dying, and disabled populations at slaughterhouses have never gone down.