Posted on 12/17/2004 5:43:13 PM PST by xjcsa
DES MOINES (AP) --- An animal rights organization is getting help from actress Bea Arthur in calling attention to what it says is the abuse of cattle at a kosher slaughterhouse in Postville.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, alleges that Agriprocessors Inc. has violated state law that requires the use of humane methods of slaughter.
PETA recently filed complaints with federal officials and the state, calling for the prosecution of Agriprocessors and the Orthodox Union, an international kosher certification agency.
ADVERTISEMENT HOW TO ADVERTISE » MARKETPLACE » In a letter sent Thursday to Orthodox Union leaders, Arthur, a Jew and longtime PETA supporter, expressed concern with the agency's reaction to allegations against Agriprocessors.
"The OU has defended the abuse at AgriProcessors, and I am concerned that it has not moved more quickly to publicly affirm that Judaism does not tolerate the kind of cruelty that PETA has documented," Arthur said in the letter, which was provided to The Associated Press.
Arthur encouraged the Orthodox Union to adopt the minimum guidelines developed by the Food Marketing Institute. Those standards provide for equipment, employee training and post-slaughter procedures to reduce the discomfort of animals who are killed without prior stunning, she said.
PETA's complaints of abuse came after a seven-week undercover investigation at the Postville plant, which is the world's largest glatt slaughterhouse.
Agriprocessors, along with rabbinic leaders, scientists and kosher certification groups, have defended the plant's slaughtering techniques.
No one answered the phone late Thursday at a number listed for Agriprocessors.
PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said the letter from Arthur, who starred in the popular television sitcom "The Golden Girls," brings needed attention to the situation at Agriprocessors.
"When Bea Arthur speaks, people do listen," he said.
Thank you. She was in a film about Houdini I saw on TV, in a nighty even more skimpy than this one.
Unforgettable.
Exactly what were they doing that the rabbi's and kosher certification groups okayed, yet Bea Arthur found offensive? If rabbis and kosher certification groups gave the okay then can there even be a violation?
Bea probably wouldn't be too concerned about hogs getting their snout broke since the hog is considered unclean and Jews don't eat pork.
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