Huettl's Locker & Dressing Plant: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2022 (USDA)

313.15(a)(1)

HATS Category VIII: Stunning effectiveness. At approximately 0845 hours while observing HATS Category VIII – Stunning Effectiveness, I observed the following egregious humane handling noncompliance: While attempting to stun the second of four scheduled market hogs, Establishment Owner, Mr. REDACTED, did not render the hog unconscious with a single stunning attempt as required by regulation 9 CFR Part 313.15. The hog was present in the restrainer and being additionally restrained by a red plastic sorting panel by Supervisor, Mr. REDACTED. The additional restraint limited the hogs body movement, but the hog retained some head movement. Mr. REDACTED aimed and fired a hand-held captive bolt gun (HHCB) in an initial attempt to render the animal unconscious. The hog remained conscious, continuously vocalized, was standing, moving its head around in a controlled manner, and tracking people in the room with its eyes. Mr. REDACTED reloaded the same HHCB gun and fired again, missing the animal completely on the second attempt. Mr. REDACTED reloaded the same HHCB gun a third time and fired, contacting the animal. The hog remained conscious, vocalized once and remained partially standing, and was still breathing. Mr. REDACTED reloaded the same HHCB gun and fired a fourth time. After the fourth attempt, the hog went down completely and lost all muscle tone, did not vocalize and the I could observe no additional breathing. I verified the hog was unconscious. On post-mortem examination, I observed three holes on the skull. Two holes were on the midline between the eyes and one hole was on the midline closer to the snout. When the skull was split, I could see that two of the holes did not penetrate the skull into the brain and one hole penetrated the brain. I notified Mr. REDACTED that I was taking a regulatory control action due to the egregious ineffective stunning noncompliance, and would be contacting my supervisor, the DVMS, and the District Office management team for further guidance. I placed a U.S. Reject tag number B23521579 on the restrainer. This NR is being associated with NR number FPI3513093410N documented on 9/10/2021, in which a similar egregious humane handling incident resulted in a humane handling noncompliance.