Steve Mendell…retreated: Goad, Ben, “Beef Recall Costs Reach $67.2 Million and Rising,” Press Enterprise, April 9, 2008 (stating “Mendell lives in a house in the Corona del Mar area of Newport Beach that has been valued at more than $4 million”).
conference committee led by leaders: Cong. Rec., 30 September 2003: H8956.
Congressman Ackerman argued: U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Food Safety and Inspection Service: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program—Phase I, August 18, 2004, www.oig.usda.gov/webdocs/50601-9-final.pdf; National Renderers, Livestock Mortalities: Methods of Disposal and Their Potential Cost, http://nationalrenderers.org/
Economic_Impact/MortalitiesFinal.pdf; and Stull, C. L., M. A. Payne, S. L. Berry, and J. P. Reynolds, “A Review of the Causes, Prevention, and Welfare of Nonambulatory Cattle,” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 231, no. 2 (2007): 227–234.
“That sick animal [in Rep. Ackerman’s photo]…”:: Cong. Rec., 14 July 2003: H6653. Print.
more than one hundred deaths due to mad cow disease: United Kingdom National CJD Surveillance Unit, 2010, CJD Statistics, October 4, http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/figures.htm; and Collee, J. G., R. Bradley, and P. P. Liberski, “Variant CJD (vCJD) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE): 10 and 20 Years on: Part 2,” Folia Neuropathologica 44, no. 2 (2006): 102–110.
Nervous consumers started eating: R-CALF USA, 2006, “Cattle and Beef Trade, BSE, and the U.S. Cattle Industry,” July, http://www.r-calfusa.com/BSE/060701-CALFBackgroundPaperOnBSE.pdf.
nonambulatory cattle are forty-nine to fifty-eight times: Doherr, M. G., D. Heim, R. Fatzer, C. H. Cohen, M. Vandevelde, and A. Zurbriggen, “Targeted Screening of High-Risk Cattle Populations for BSE to Augment Mandatory Reporting of Clinical Suspects,” Preventive Veterinary Medicine 51, no. 1–2 (2001): 3–16.
It required all of this to compel: “Requirements for the Disposition of Cattle That Become Non-Ambulatory Disabled Following Ante-Mortem Inspection,” 74 Fed. Reg. 11,463, 11,464 (March 18, 2009) (to be codified at 9 C.F.R. pt. 309). (Industry opposition continued even after the events at Hallmark/Westland as documented in the Federal Register when USDA published the final rule closing the downer loophole in 2009: “Comment: Several industry commenters who opposed the proposed amendment stated that the current regulatory provision should remain unchanged, allowing cattle that become non-ambulatory disabled after passing ante-mortem inspection to be reevaluated by an FSIS PHV. Response: FSIS disagrees with the comment. The events at the Hallmark/Westland establishment demonstrate that FSIS inspection personnel are not always notified when cattle become non-ambulatory disabled after they pass ante-mortem inspection. Thus, under the former regulations, and specifically at Hallmark/Westland, non-ambulatory disabled cattle that had not consistently received proper and adequate ante-mortem inspection were slaughtered for human food. In addition, the events at Hallmark demonstrate that requiring re-inspection of cattle that become non-ambulatory disabled after ante-mortem inspection may have created an incentive for establishments to inhumanely attempt to force these animals to rise. Therefore, FSIS has determined that a change in the regulation is needed to ensure more effective and efficient implementation of inspection procedures and compliance with humane handling requirements at official establishments.”)
It was July 2007 when the agency published: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service Notice 05–06, “Re-examination of Bovine That Become Non-ambulatory After Passing Ante-mortem Inspection,” January 18, 2006.
A 2008 report revealed: Doering, Christopher, “Mad-Cow Ban Cost U.S. $11 Billion in Beef Exports,” Reuters, October 7, 2008.
more than a dozen BSE-positive: Campbell, D., “Killer Mad Cow Disease Strikes in Alberta,” Calgary Herald (Alberta, Canada), December 9, 1993, p. D1; Canadian Food Inspection Agency, “Summary of the Report of the Investigation of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Alberta, Canada,” July 2, 2003, http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/
heasan/disemala/bseesb/ab2003/evalsume.shtml; USDA press release, “USDA BSE Update,” December 27, 2003, http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB/.cmd/ad/.ar/sa.retrievecontent/.
c/6_2_1UH/.ce/7_2_5JM/.p/5_2_4TQ/.d/7/_th/J_2_9D/
_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?PC_7_2_5JM_contentid=2003/12/0445.html&
PC_7_2_5JM_navtype=RT&PC_7_2_5JM_parentnav=TRANSCRIPTS_SPEEC; Canadian Press, “BSE Confirmed in Alberta Dairy Cow,” Ottawa Sun, January 3, 2005, p. 20; Johnsrude, L., and G. Richards, “Feed Bought After Ban Fed to Latest Mad Cow: 104 Other Calves Had Access to Same Feed in Spring of 1998, Innisfail-Area Farmer Says,” Edmonton Journal (Alberta), January 14, 2005, p. A1; FDA, “Commonly Asked Questions About BSE in Products Regulated by FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN),” September 14, 2005, http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/bsefaq.html; Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Report on the Investigation of the Fifth Case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada. June 16, 2006, http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/
heasan/disemala/bseesb/bccb2006/5investe.shtml; Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Report on the Investigation of the Sixth Case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada, August 8, 2006, http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/
heasan/disemala/bseesb/mb2006/6investe.shtml; Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Report on the Investigation of the Seventh Case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada, August 24, 2006, http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/
heasan/disemala/bseesb/ab2006/7investe.shtml; Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Report on the Investigation of the Eighth Case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada, December 18, 2006, http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/
disemala/bseesb/ab2006/8investe.shtml; and Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Report on the Investigation of the Tenth Case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada, July 25. 2007, http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/
disemala/bseesb/bccb2007/10investe.shtml.
The average hog excretes: Seigley, L. S., and D. J. Quade, “An Introduction to Hogs in Iowa,” The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/inforsch/iahogs/iahogs.htm (hog excretes about 10.5 lb/day); and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Regulation and Effluent Limitation Guidelines and Standards for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)—Final Rule,” Federal Register 68, no. 29 (February 12, 2003): 7176, 7180, http://www.epa.gov/npdes/regulations/cafo_fedrgstr.pdf (person excretes about 0.518 tons/yr = 2.8 lb/day—so hog excretes at least three times more than a person per day—or per year).
These curious, social animals: Jensen, P., The Ethology of Domestic Animals: An Introductory Text (Wallingford, UK: CABI Publishing, 2002), 159–172.
For nearly their entire four-month pregnancies: Marchant, J. N., and D. M. Broom, “Effects of Dry Sow Housing Conditions on Muscle Weight and Bone Strength,” Animal Science 62 (1996): 105–113; and Anil, L., S. S. Anil, and J. Deen, “Evaluation of the Relationship Between Injuries and Size of Gestation Stalls Relative to Size of Sows,” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 221, no. 6 (2002): 834–836.
the world’s largest factory farmer of pigs: Collins, Kristin, “Pork Producer Uncages Some Pigs,” Charlotte News & Observer, February 13, 2007.
American Veal Association, a trade group: Smith, Rod, “Veal Association Policy Urges Group Housing,” Feedstuffs, August 2, 2007.
Wild turkeys can run twenty-five miles an hour: Handwerk, B., “Wild Turkeys Invading Suburban U.S.,” National Geographic News, 2007, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071119-wild-turkeys.html; and Michigan Department of Natural Resources, “Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo),” www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7–153–10370_12145_12202–52511—,00.html.
toms have difficulty mating: Scanes, C. G., G. Brant, and M. E. Ensminger, Poultry Science
, 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004), 282–283.
They suffer joint and hip problems: Julian, R., and P. Gazdzinsky, “Lameness and Leg Problems: Turkeys,” World Poultry–Elsevier Special (2000): 24–31; Julian, R. J., “Tendon Avulsion as a Cause of Lameness in Turkeys,” Avian Diseases 28, no. 1 (1984): 244–249; Duff, S. R. I., “The Morphology of Degenerative Hip Disease in Male Breeding Turkeys,” Journal of Comparative Pathology 94, no. 1 (1984): 127–139.
Even if they were not confined in buildings: Voris, J. C. “California Turkey Production,” University of California Cooperative Extension, Poultry Fact Sheet No. 16c, accessed October 5, 2010, http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/pfs16C.htm; Scanes et al., Poultry Science, 270; and Healy, W. M., “Behavior,” in The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management, ed. J. G. Dickson (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992), 46–65.
Factory-farmed turkeys now weigh: There isn’t one source that says this. This reference says that wild turkeys weigh 7.7 pounds in four months: Healy, “Behavior.” This one says domestic birds weigh twenty-five pounds when they reach four months: Hulet, R. M., P. J. Clauer, G. L. Greaser, J. K. Harper, and L. F. Kime, “Small-Flock Turkey Production,” Pennsylvania State University, Agricultural Research and Cooperative Extension, 2004, accessed August 4, 2008, http://agalternatives.aers.psu.edu/Publications/
SmallflockTurkeys.pdf.
The welfare of farmed turkeys: Voris, “California Turkey Production” and Austic, R. E., and M. C. Nesheim, Poultry Production, 13th ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Lea and Febiger, 1990), 231.
actually eighteen to twenty-six million turkeys: Ibid. See also Austic and Nesheim, Poultry Production, 231. And applying the 7–10 percent to the turkey slaughter numbers from: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Quick Stats, “U.S. & State—Poultry Slaughter,” http://www.nass.usda.gov/Data_and_Statistics/
Quick_Stats_1.0/index.asp.
Dr. Ian Duncan notes: Duncan, Ian, “Welfare Problems of Poultry.” In The Well-Being of Farm Animals, ed. J. B. Benson and B. E. Rollin (Ames, IA: Blackwell, 2004), 310.
As many as 20 to 30 percent of chickens: Weber, R.M., M. Nogossek, L. Sander, B. Wandt, U. Neumann, and G. Glunder, “Investigations of laying hen health in enriched cages as compared to conventional cages and a floor pen system.” Wiener Tierarzliche Monatsschrift 90, no. 10 (2003): 257–266.
Dead-on-arrival estimates: Nijdam, E., P. Arens, E. Lambooij, E. Decuypere, and J.A. Stegeman, “Factors Influencing Bruises and Mortality of Broilers During Catching, Transport, and Lairage.” Poultry Science 83 (2004): 1610–1615; Warriss, P.D., E.A. Bevis, S.N. Brown, and J.E. Edwards, “Longer Journeys to Processing Plants Are Associated with Higher Mortality in Broiler Chickens.” British Poultry Science 33 (1992): 201–206.
“in a way, win or lose”: Jones, Maggie, “The Barnyard Strategist,” New York Times Magazine, October 26, 2008.
Chapter Four—A Culture of Cruelty: Animal Fighting in America
eighteen-month sentence for dogfighting: Battista, Judy, “Vick Finishes His Sentence; Future Is Cloudy,” New York Times, July 20, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/sports/football/21vick.html.
Police had raided Vick’s home: Haaser, Brian R., “Bad Newz Kennels, Smithfield, Virginia—Animal Fighting,” USDA HY 3330–0018, August 28, 2008, p. 2.
selected first in the NFL: “Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick Signs Richest NFL Deal in History,” Jet, January 17, 2005, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_3_107/ai_n9771537/.
Police had been tipped off: John Goodwin, personal communication with Virginia State Police officer at the Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force meeting in Hanover, VA, 2006.
she told a friend, “We got him….”: Dohrmann, George, “The House on Moonlight Road,” May 29, 2007, sportsillustrated.com, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/
football/nfl/05/29/vick0604/index.html.
they ran a dogfighting enterprise: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Indictment: U.S. v. Purnell A. Peace, Quanis L. Phillips, Tony Taylor and Michael Vick, July 17, 2007, p. 5.
“sheds and kennels associated with…”: Ibid.
“It’s unfortunate I have to take the heat”: Associated Press, “Vick Blames Family for Neglected Dogs at Virginia Home,” April 27, 2007, http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2851640.
Poindexter’s investigation was lackluster: WAVY-TV, “Surry County Commonwealth Attorney Denies Evidence in Michael Vick Investigation,” May 12, 2007, http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=6498964; and Smith, Michael D., “Prosecutor Suggests Vick Dogfighting Case Is a ‘Witch Hunt,’” aolsportsblog.com, May 16, 2007.
we had fought hard in Congress: Humane Society of the U.S., “Taking Down Dog-fighting,” July 27, 2009, http://www.hsus.org/acf/fighting/dogfight/
taking_down_dogfighting.html.
And we were just completing: Ibid.
In testimony before a congressional committee: Humane Society of the U.S., “Congress Urged to Crack Down on Animal Fighting,” February 6, 2007, http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/
congress_urged_to_crack_down.html.
obstructionist tactics of Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn: Project Votesmart; “Humane Society of the U.S. Ratings,” 2005–2006, http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_detail.php?r_id=3489.
animal fighting is often tied in: Humane Society of the U.S., “Congress Urged.”
The county sheriff’s office had asked: Haaser, “Bad Newz Kennels,” 1.
obtained their warrant: Ibid., 2–3.
District Attorney Poindexter objected: Ibid.; WBZ-TV, “Police Suspect Dogs Buried on Vick’s Former Property,” May 29, 2007, http://www.wsbtv.com/news/13407157/detail.html; and Associated Press, “Feds May Take Over Vick Dogfighting Probe,” June 7, 2007.
obtained a fresh warrant: Haaser, “Bad Newz Kennels,” 8.
extending from New York: Indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Criminal No. 3:07 CR 274, July 17, 2007.
announced indictments: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Indictment: U.S. v. Purnell A. Peace, Quanis L. Phillips, Tony Taylor and Michael Vick, July 17, 2007.
five smaller structures—all painted jet black: Haaser, “Bad Newz Kennels,” 13.
One cooperating witness: Ibid., 4.
Tony Taylor had designed the complex: Strouse, Kathy, Bad Newz: The Untold Story of the Michael Vick Dog Fighting Case (Charleston, SC: BookSurge Publishing, 2009), 89, 90.
The Bad Newz gang: USDA, Office of the Inspector General, Report of Investigation, Bad Newz Kennels, Smithfield, VA, August 28, 2008.
watched them “roll” or “test”: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Indictment: U.S. v. Purnell A. Peace, Quanis L. Phillips, Tony Taylor and Michael Vick, July 17, 2007, item 12, p. 6.
Peace shot one of the weak dogs: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Indictment: U.S. v. Purnell A. Peace, Quanis L. Phillips, Tony Taylor and Michael Vick, July 17, 2007, p. 6.
“…hanging, drowning, and slamming…”: Ibid., 17.
When federal authorities put all the evidence together: Ibid., 3.
First, Taylor pleaded: Haaser, “Bad Newz Kennels,” 8.
Then Peace and Phillips confessed: Ibid., 1.
In August 2007, Vick pleaded guilty: Ibid., 8.
Blank had no choice: ESPN, “Vick Suspended Indefinitely from the NFL,” October 24, 2007, http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2990157.
U.S. attorney indicted a fifth member: Haaser, “Bad Newz Kennels,” 9.
Hudson sentenced Vick: Ibid., 15.
We shared dogfighting footage: HSUS, “Taking Action to Stop Dogfighting,” November 2, 2009, http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/dogfighting/
tips/dogfighting_action.html.
as many as forty thousand people: Meyers, Jessica, “Dallas Animal Cruelty Task Force in Works,” December 26,
2008, http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/
news/localnews/stories/1227dnmetdogfighting.38299fc.html.
Vick had started off as a street fighter: U.S. Dept of Agriculture, “Memorandum of Interview,” USDA HY 3330–0018, June 28, 2007, p. 1.
had called and written protest letters: Garofoli, Joe, “NFL Star’s Woes Go to League Nike/Activists Press Them to Decry Dogfighting” San Francisco Chronicle, July 21, 2007.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service runs: Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Duck Stamp Office, http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/stampdesign.htm.
“…We’ve started programs…”: HSUS, “End Dogfighting Program,” November 2, 2009, http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/dogfighting/
end_dogfighting.html.
watched a segment of the Oprah Winfrey Show: The Oprah Winfrey Show, “Investigating Puppy Mills,” January 4, 2006, http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Investigating-Puppy-Mills.
which also included cockfighting: HSUS, “Campaigns,” http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/campaigns/.
to upgrade the federal animal-fighting law: HSUS, “Animal Cruelty and Fighting Victories,” May 2009, http://www.hsus.org/acf/campaign/victories.html.
the third one since 2002: Ibid.
upgrade more than twenty-five state laws: ASPCA, “Dog Fighting FAQ,” http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/dog-fighting/dog-fighting-faq.html.
had launched community-based programs: HSUS, “Michael Vick and End Dogfighting,” August 24, 2009, http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/dog-fighting/dog-fighting-faq.html.
anticruelty crusader named Henry Bergh: Lane, Marion S., and Stephen L. Zawistowski, Heritage of Care: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2008).
By 1880, the ASPCA: Ibid.
semiwild jungle fowl were pitted against: Sherman, David M., Tending Animals in the Global Village: A Guide to International Veterinary Medicine (Baltimore: Williams and Williams, 2002), 46.
have migrated eastward: Encyclopedia Britannica Online, “Cockfighting,” 2009, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/123691/cockfighting.
The Bond Page 40