PETITION FOR ENFORCEMENT OF NEBRASKA ANIMAL CRUELTY STATUTES AT HKY, INC. HOG OPERATION – WAUSA, KNOX COUNTY, NEBRASKA

To:  OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF NEBRASKA
By:  HUMANE FARMING ASSOCIATION

April 2004,  1550 California Street, Suite 6, San Francisco, CA 94109  (415) 485-1495   www.hfa.org

“Press Release:   Unspeakable Cruelty:  “When She Died, It Was A Pretty Rotten Mess”

“There was one downed sow that laid there for close to a month…. The feed got thrown in there…. Feed was piled up on top of her head about two inches thick. The tears from her eye got covered up with feed. Her eye was encrusted with feed….

When she died it was a pretty rotten mess.”
“Some of them lay in those crates so long, their legs rot off…. It’s just a real atrocity how many sows that die in that place.”

Lincoln, Nebraska—The Humane Farming Association (HFA) today announced that it has petitioned Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and Knox County Attorney John Thomas to initiate an investigation of HKY, Inc., a pig production facility located in Wausa, Nebraska, for its demonstrated disregard for animal welfare, and prosecute the company and all relevant parties for their ongoing violations of state law.

The Humane Farming Association initiated a formal investigation of conditions at HKY this past December. This investigation has documented systematic violations of Nebraska animal Cruelty laws at HKY,” said HFA Chief Investigator Gail Eisnitz. “On its face, this evidence documents a pervasive pattern of unconscionable abuse affecting thousands of animals. In addition to unspeakable Cruelty, there exists a serious threat to public health because pigs from this filthy, disease-ridden operation are being sold to one of the largest suppliers of pork in the country.”

Nebraska law provides penalties, including jail time and financial penalties, for violations of animal Cruelty laws. Among the violations documented in HFA’s investigation are:

• Failure to provide basic veterinary care;
• Failure to provide food;
• Failure to provide water;
• Failure to provide adequate shelter;
• Lack of adequate sanitation;
• Failure to provide adequate ventilation;
• Failure to have adequate numbers of employees; and
• Non-existent supervision of employees; and
• No disease prevention program

“HFA has obtained hours of videotape, hundreds of video stills, as well as affidavits from HKY workers and an ‘expert opinion’ from a large animal veterinarian, all documenting the appalling conditions at HKY,” said Humane Farming’s Eisnitz. “But this is a case in which a picture is worth a thousand words. Surely the public would not knowingly support this type of operation, neither from a Cruelty nor a public health perspective.”

Individuals wishing to view the petition/graphic pictorial exposé can visit www.hfa.org. The images of brutality and neglect, as well as diseased and dying animals are very, very graphic.

“Let there be no mistake, animals raised under such abusive conditions are even more prone to carry disease. No animal should be forced to live in such abominable conditions. We call on Attorney General Bruning and Knox County Attorney Thomas to immediately investigate the conditions at HKY and to take action to protect the animals and American consumers,” Eisnitz stated.

Below are excerpts from expert testimony of an independent veterinarian who viewed conditions at HKY.

VETERINARIAN: …Watching this video was akin to watching a torture film. Both the sound and the extreme immobilization of the sows in the crates were overwhelming to one’s senses…. There were many injuries including open sores on shoulders, legs and face…. The gestation crates are only 19 inches wide which leads to constant contact with the sows’ body. Most of the sows have inflamed skin on the sides of their bodies from the contact….

VETERINARIAN: Many of the sows were thin and had poor hair coats…. In this footage, there was a dying sow with extensive damage and what appeared to be infection in her right rear leg…. One sow was so crippled that she could not stand on her rear legs…. Some of the pigs were obviously ill and some were very thin. The ill pigs were “humped up”, shivering, immobile and some were down in the wet filth. One appeared to have a broken leg with a large swelling over the lower part of the leg. It could not bear weight on that leg…. [The pigs] had skin infections and some had substantial abscesses. These conditions were not treated because there was no evidence of topical medication and none of the abscesses were lanced. One feeder pig had a scrotal abscess the size of a football. Many had abscesses on their legs.

 Among the conditions documented in the HFA investigation are:

From:  http://www.hfa.org/campaigns/hky_pet.pdf