University of Arizona Food Products & Safety Lab: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2023 (USDA)

313.15(a)(1)

On 10/26/22 at approximately 1130 hours while performing a humane handling verification task (HATs category VIII Stunning Effectiveness), I SPHV Dr. REDACTED observed the following: A lamb entered the small animal knock box (identified as L9 by the establishment). I observed an establishment employee with a hand held captive bolt hold the captive bolt to the top of the skull of the lamb. Each time the employee would touch the captive bolt to the lamb’s head, the lamb would buck its head. I observed this occur approximately 4 times. At each occurrence, the employee would pull back the captive bolt and allow the lamb to settle. At the next time the employee touched the captive bolt to the lamb’s head, it did not buck so the employee discharged the captive bolt at 11:30:15 am. At discharge, I observed the lamb buck its head at the last moment, causing the captive bolt to penetrate the right eye case – popping the right eye. I observed vitreous humor and blood exit the right eye. The lamb was not rendered unconscious as evidenced by eye tracking, and head and body were upright. The employee reloaded the captive bolt and effectively rendered the animal unconscious on the 2nd shot at 11:30:30am (15 seconds later). Upon examination of the head, there are two holes on the forehead of the skull. The first hole is located medial to the right eye along the frontal bone. The right eye is not intact and bloodied. A second hole is located between the horns at the poll of the skull. I informed Mr. REDACTED, supervisor, that the restrainer would be tagged for failure to effectively stun the animal on the first attempt, and I placed a U.S. Reject tag #B45644767 on the small restrainer box. This represents a non-compliance with 9 CFR 313.15(a)(1) for not stunning the animal in such a manner than they will be rendered unconscious with a minimum of excitement and discomfort. Regulatory Control Action was removed at 1328 hours per the Alameda District Office, and the establishment was notified of the forthcoming non-compliance report.