Probe of Slaughterhouse Sought After Cow Repeatedly Shot in the Head

PETA Cites Federal Report Showing That Worker at Masami Foods Left a Cow Bleeding From the Nostrils and Mouth for at Least Seven Minutes

For Immediate Release:
December 8, 2017

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

Armed with a damning U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, PETA sent a letter today calling on the Klamath County sheriff to investigate and, as appropriate, file criminal charges against Masami Foods, Inc., and the worker responsible for shooting a cow three times in the head.

According to the USDA record, Masami Foods was cited on November 1 after an inspector saw a worker use a .22-caliber rifle to shoot a cow in the forehead from 30 feet away. After the first shot, the cow remained standing, with blood seeping from the mouth and nostrils. A second shot caused the cow’s head to jerk back, but the animal remained standing. By the time a third shot—fired from 5 to 10 feet away—finally rendered the animal unconscious, seven to 15 minutes had passed since the first shot. The USDA called this handling incident “egregious[ly] inhumane,” and PETA notes that it may violate Oregon’s animal abuse statute, which makes it a crime to “recklessly” and “cruelly” cause an animal’s death.

“PETA is calling for a criminal investigation of this facility and the worker who left a conscious cow bleeding after two gunshot wounds to the head for as long as 15 minutes,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “There’s no difference between the terror and pain that this animal felt and how dogs, cats, or humans would feel if they were shot over and over again.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that the meat industry slaughters more than 29 million cows every year, that other animals have a central nervous system and sense of self-preservation just like humans, and that the only way to prevent cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals from suffering in slaughterhouses is to go vegan.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.