WASHINGTON – The Senate Appropriations Committee agreed yesterday afternoon to provide a record amount -- $5 million -- for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to focus on improved enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act (HSA), a law first enacted in 1958 that requires slaughterhouses to render livestock unconscious before they are killed. The funds are contained in the pending Agriculture Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2003.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) led the effort to obtain these funds, following a first-time allocation of $1 million that he got approved last July and several eloquent speeches he delivered on the Senate floor that called attention to the issue. “Chairman Byrd’s leadership will make an enormous difference for millions of animals at slaughterhouses across the country,” said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS senior vice president. “USDA has had a terrible track record of failing to enforce this important – and very basic – law. Animals are being hung on hooks, skinned, dismembered, and disemboweled while they are still alive and conscious. USDA’s lax enforcement, coupled with industry pressure to speed up slaughterhouse assembly lines, has led to an abhorrent and unbelievably cruel situation.”

Although a USDA directive instructs slaughterhouse inspectors to stop the production line when an HSA violation is observed, this rarely occurs. Inspectors are not routinely tasked with checking for or reporting violations of this law, and some slaughter plants have even installed barriers that make it impossible for inspectors to see live animals. Inspection activity centers on the examination of body parts and carcasses, with inspectors stationed far down the production line, well past where the animals are killed.

As specified by the Senate Committee, the $5 million would be used to hire at least 50 inspectors to work solely on Humane Slaughter Act enforcement, with particular attention to unloading, handling, stunning, and killing practices. “It just hasn’t worked to have the same inspectors monitoring food safety and animal treatment,” explained Pacelle. “The department has made HSA too low a priority for them, and some inspectors have even been intimidated or chastised when they’ve tried to point out humane abuses.”

Congress recently directed the Secretary of Agriculture to step up enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act in a resolution that was offered by Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) and Representative Connie Morella (D-MD). That resolution was incorporated into the farm bill, P.L. 107-171. The funds will help ensure that this goal is carried out effectively.

A bipartisan group of 39 Senators and 132 Representatives – led by Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and John Kerry (D-MA) and Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) – signed letters to the Senate and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittees in support of this effort. Their letters called for $2.5 million for Humane Slaughter Act enforcement, along with an $800,000 increase to continue improving enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which sets humane standards for about 10,000 sites, including laboratories, puppy mills, zoos, circuses, and airlines. The Senate Committee also approved this $800,000 increase for AWA enforcement. Senator Byrd lent his powerful support to the AWA funding as well as the humane slaughter initiative.

“We look forward to working closely with Chairman Byrd and other congressional allies to secure the Senate funding levels for Humane Slaughter Act and Animal Welfare Act enforcement in the final appropriations bill,” said Pacelle.