Blog for Iowa Joins PETA in Demanding Patty Judge Return Slaughterhouse DonationSecretary of Agriculture Judge Accepted Donation from Owner of Slaughterhouse Under Federal Investigation
Today, Blog for Iowa joins People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in calling on Iowa Secretary of Agriculture and gubernatorial candidate Patty Judge (D) to return the $10,000 that she recently received from the Rubashkin family, whose massive slaughterhouse, AgriProcessors, is currently being sued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violating the Clean Water Act.
Even worse, AgriProcessors is also under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for violations of the Humane Slaughter Act — documented at the Postville, Iowa, supposedly-kosher slaughterhouse in 2004 on videotape by a PETA undercover investigator. Former USDA kosher slaughterhouse inspector Dr. Lester Friedlander called the revelation “the most egregious violation of the USDA Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) I have ever witnessed.” PETA attorneys believe that AgriProcessors violated multiple Iowa laws against cruelty to animals and inhumane slaughter consistently over many years and on a daily basis.
This just makes me wretch. If you know anything at all about the Laws of Kashrut, you know that a kosher slaughterhouse is supposed to have the highest of possible standards for the humane treatment of animals, even beyond the law of the land. Why this inhumane slaughter has gone on for so long since coming to light is unfathomable. And why would Judge, as a gubernatorial candidate, accept a donation from such an operation when she herself has known about these violations (and has actually viewed the videotape, according to the Globe Gazette) since December, 2004?
For Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge to accept a donation from the Rubashkin family, who are appropriately in much legal and ethical hot water, is clearly a conflict of interest and a moral disgrace. Blog for Iowa calls on Sec. Judge to return the donation at once.
Add your voice - email Patty Judge here: contact@pattyjudge.com
For more information, visit PETA’s website: GoVeg.com/feat/AgriProcessors.