Since the mid-1990s, The HSUS has been working hard to stop as a matter of public policy the abuse of downer cattle -- animals too sick or injured to walk. And on Saturday, March 14, 2009, President Obama himself announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was officially putting a stop to non-ambulatory cattle being mishandled in order to get them into slaughter plants. He made the announcement along with two top selections for the Food and Drug Administration and a series of other statements about food safety.
In his weekly address, President Barack Obama said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will close the loophole allowing downers to be used for food. He called food safety "something I take seriously, not just as your President, but as a parent."
The president also formed a new Food Safety Working Group to look into food safety laws and recommend improvements, and ordered the Food and Drug Administration to employ more food inspectors.
The abuse of downed dairy cows commanded the national spotlight after an HSUS investigation documented the horrific practices at Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Co. The investigation findings were released January 30, 2008.
Before releasing the latest documentation of downer abuses, The HSUS briefed then-Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer about the latest abuses and renewed a request that the USDA act immediately to ban processing any downed cattle for food.
The HSUS also urged the USDA to extend the ban to the 1,200-plus livestock markets and auctions that operate around the nation, and require that operators of those facilities and slaughter plants immediately and humanely euthanize downer cattle upon identifying them in that non-ambulatory state.
America's largest chain of puppy-selling pet stores, Petland Inc., is also the nation's largest retail supporter of puppy mills. Despite assurances by staff at many Petland stores visited by The HSUS and on Petland's corporate website that the company knows its breeders and deals only with those who have "the highest standards of pet care," many of the puppies sold at Petland stores come from massive commercial breeders in Missouri and other Midwestern puppy mill states, where hundreds of breeding dogs are packed into cramped, barren cages.
These dogs receive little or no veterinary care and never see a bed, a treat or a toy. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are commonly killed, abandoned or sold to another mill. The annual result of all this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems.
