Lebanese Butcher Slaughter House Inc: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2024 (USDA)

313.2

At approximately 11:18 AM, I verbally notified Mr. REDACTED establishment manager, of my decision to take regulatory control action to prevent the slaughter of animals secondary to an egregious humane handling noncompliance. I also informed Mr. REDACTED that this egregious humane handling noncompliance has resulted in the District Office immediately suspending USDA slaughter and inspection. The decisions were based on the following observation: At approximately 10:45 AM while performing Category II Humane Handling Task, I observed an establishment employee drag a lamb about 3 to 5 feet by one ear to the entrance of pen 1 (pen closest to the kill floor door) as he was trying to drive the lambs onto the kill floor. I also witnessed the same employee pick up and throw two lambs about 3 to 5 feet to the entrance of the pen. The employee picked the first lamb quickly off the ground and threw the lamb (all 4 legs were in the air) to the pen entrance so that it landed on its hip. The lamb did immediately get back up. The second lamb that was picked up in the same manner and thrown resulted in it landing on its back and taking a few seconds to stand again. I verbally instructed the establishment employee to stop and stated that he could not throw the lambs. The employee did not pick up any more lambs and moved the rest of the lambs appropriately onto the kill floor. Mr. REDACTED was informed that the observation was a humane handling noncompliance in violation of 9 CFR 313.2(a) around 10:50 AM. After taking regulatory control of the knock box, I informed establishment employees on the kill floor that I was taking a regulatory control action, and they could not slaughter anymore animals. I informed them that they were allowed to finish processing the lambs that were already slaughtered. I tagged the knock box with US Rejected tag number B38203472 to prevent livestock from entering the knock box.