Torturing cows

According to a story by Rick Weiss in today's Washington Post, "Video footage being released today shows workers at a California slaughterhouse delivering repeated electric shocks to cows too sick or weak to stand on their own; drivers using forklifts to roll the 'downer' cows on the ground in efforts to get them to stand up for inspection; and even a veterinary version of waterboarding in which high-intensity water sprays are shot up animals' noses -- all violations of state and federal laws designed to prevent animal cruelty and to keep unhealthy animals, such as those with mad cow disease, out of the food supply. Moreover, the companies where these practices allegedly occurred are major suppliers of meat for the nation's school lunch programs."

Weiss points out that letting weak, sick cows into the food supply puts consumers at increased risk of mad cow disease and e coli infections. His article also points out the cruelty depicted in the video. Temple Grandin, author of the magnificent Animals in Translation, characterized it as "one of the worst animal-abuse videos I have ever viewed."

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