Walt's Wholesale Meats, Inc.: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2022 (USDA)

313.2

HATS Category VI: Electric Prod/Alternative Object Use On March 25th, 2022 at approximately 1300 hours while verifying HATS category VI, Electric Prod/Alternate Object use, in the antemortem barn I, the SCSI, observed the following noncompliance. While an establishment employee was moving cattle from one pen to another, one cow collapsed to the ground on its side and became non-ambulatory. I spoke to the nearby establishment employee about not prodding non-ambulatory cattle, which he acknowledged by nodding his head up and down. I observed a different establishment employee in the pens, in quick succession, use the hand-held battery-operated electric prod 3 times on the non-ambulatory cow. I heard the electrical crack three times. I observed the non-ambulatory cow flinch each time and start to crawl away from the establishment employee using its elbows as it was unable to right itself. I spoke to the establishment employee near me to stop this activity and overheard this employee shout to the other employee to just shoot the cow. I observed the establishment employee in the pens leave the non-ambulatory cow in the pen to go move other cattle. I observed the establishment employee in the pens then return to the non-ambulatory cow and overheard the establishment employee near me shout “don’t do it”. I observed the establishment employee in the pens then prod the non-ambulatory cow again with the hand-held battery-operated electric prod. I observed the cow still unable to ambulate. I immediately entered the center lane of the holding pens and applied US Reject tag number B39669989 to the pen containing the non-ambulatory cow. After I observed the establishment render the non-ambulatory cow insensible with a rifle and correlate the excessive prodding event with the SPHV; I removed my tag from the pen and the establishment was verbally notified a noncompliance report would be documented. A review of the establishment’s noncompliance history for the past 90 days did not yield a similar noncompliance.