When you work for the USDA. The Humane Slaughter Act passed nearly fifty years ago to require that animals be made unconscious before they are butchered. An inexpensive act of consideration for animals that give up their lives for our existence, you would think. But the USDA are a hard hearted bunch of folks since they lobbied against the bill and continue to seek ways to circumvent the law. Their latest circumvention is to define rabbits as poultry. The 9 billion chickens and turkeys killed each year are excluded from the Humane Slaughter Act.
According to the Department's own inspectors, rabbits are hung alive from metal hooks through their legs. The rabbits are then decapitated with knives dulled from repeated use. The rabbits scream and struggle in pain. Enough of the gory details--you get the idea. Some USDA inspectors were outraged by the cruelty and reported it to their supervisors. Predictably, they were told rabbits are poultry and therefore condemned to an inhumane death.
The Humane Farming Association, an animal welfare group from San Rafael, California is suing Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns for failing to apply the humane slaughter law to the commercial killing of rabbits, reindeer, bison, ducks, antelope, elk, and ostrich. Salute to these kind people for saving our livestock from needlessly cruel death.
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