A COK Investigation: Farmed Animal Transport

While the abuses endured by animals on factory farms and inside slaughterhouses are slowly getting the attention they deserve, the treatment of billions of farmed animals during transport between factory farms, auctions, stockyards, and slaughterhouses remained relatively concealed—until our latest investigation.

In July and August 2005, COK investigators traveled throughout the United States and documented farmed animals overcrowded onto vehicles and moved long distances—often exceeding 28 hours—without food, water, rest, or adequate protection from the scorching summer heat. Tragically, but not surprisingly, an untold number of animals suffered in-transit injuries, illnesses, stress, and even death as a result of such hardships.

Although no federal laws protect animals while on the farm, in 1873, the U.S. government passed what is known as the Twenty-Eight Hour Law to address the interstate transport of animals. One of the few federal statues that applies to farmed animals, the Twenty-Eight Hour Law states that, with limited exceptions, animals cannot be transported via "rail carrier, express carrier, or common carrier" for more than 28 consecutive hours without being unloaded for 5 hours for "feeding, water, and rest." At the time this law was written, the primary vehicle for movement of livestock was the rail car, as trucks did not yet even exist. In the early 1950s, however, trucks surpassed the use of rail cars and remain the dominant carrier in the industry today, comprising more than 95 percent of current farmed animal transport.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency charged with enforcing this statute, does not currently regulate interstate truck transport despite the fact that nearly all farmed animals are move via trucks. According to a USDA website that offers trucking guidance for animal exporters:

"Federal law requires that livestock in interstate commerce be in transit for no more than 28 hours without food, water, and rest. However, this law applies only to rail shipments."

In other words, animals transported across state lines on trucks are denied federal protection and can be legally deprived of food, water, and a chance to rest throughout their journey—even if it exceeds 28 hours.

Watch video footage from this investigation.

COK Co-Sponsors Legal Petition to Protect Farmed Animals on Trucks

COK, along with The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary, and Animals' Angels, filed a rulemaking petition on October 4, 2005, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture requesting that new federal regulations be issued to provide guidelines for interstate truck transport that are in accord with the limits set by the Twenty-Eight Hour Law.

Write to the USDA. Please send a polite letter to the USDA in support of this legal petition. Let the agency know that the 95 percent of farmed animals transported by truck should receive the same legal protection as those 5 percent transported by train.

Tell your friends and family. Let others know about the miseries endured by farmed animals during transport and how they can help. Pass on this magazine, contact us to request more copies, or encourage people to visit COK.net for more information.

Order a free Vegetarian Starter Guide—for yourself or a friend. The best thing each of us can do to help animals is to choose meat-, egg-, and dairy-free foods. Visit TryVeg.com for more information and check out VegRecipes.org for fantastic, mouth-watering recipes.

Friday, July 15, 2005
Feedlot in Junction City, Kansas: I saw a truck carrying cows on I-70 heading west and followed it for nearly six hours until it pulled into a feedlot about 30 miles northeast of the Colorado/Kansas border. I spoke with the truck driver….He says the trip from the farm in Virginia to this Kansas feedlot takes anywhere from 24 to 30 hours and that the cattle receive no food, water, or rest off the truck throughout the entire journey. The driver told me the cattle are almost always hungry and thirsty when they arrive and that, in some cases, cattle have died on his truck during transport.

Monday, July 18, 2005
Slaughterhouse in Los Angeles, California: I decided to drive across the L.A. River to catch a view of the back of the plant from a distance. I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw dead pig after dead pig hauled by a "bobcat" tractor and dumped into dumpsters. This went on for a few hours until the bins were full and the pigs' legs and bodies were jutting out from the top of the bins. These pigs did not appear to have been slaughtered—they most likely died during transit.

Monday, July 25, 2005
Livestock Auction House in Pennsylvania: Inside one of the trucks, I saw an injured cow with cuts and scrapes on her back, breathing heavily and unable to get up. She was left on the truck for nearly two hours with a dead cow directly in front of her the entire time. [A]nother trailer pulled up with more dairy cows—two of whom were also unable to get up. I witnessed the driver and several workers wrap a chain around the back leg of each cow and, one at a time using a "bobcat" tractor, drag these downed cows, who were still very much alive and fully conscious, off the truck and onto the pavement. After about an hour, these two injured cows were still lying in the same spots on the pavement where they had been dragged, and several workers tried to force one of them to stand. As they were pushing her, another worker approached and poked her with an electric prod, which caused her to scream. She still could not get up.

Friday, July 29, 2005
Truckstop in Elm Creek, Nebraska: I talked with a driver who told me a story about fellow driver who had 24 calves die during one of his trips through the Mojave Desert from Sacramento to Texas. This driver also told me that he has driven cattle from Quebec to Mexico and that cows coming from Canada into Mexico are not allowed to "touch U.S. soil" due to diseases, so the animals are confined on the truck without food or water throughout the journey.

Saturday, July 30, 2005
Truckstop in Elm Creek, Nebraska: One driver I talked with was hauling a truck filled with 283 pigs. He explained that…the animals would not be fed or rested throughout their journey—which would last at least 35 hours—nor would they have access to water aside from what was sprayed on them for cooling purposes. When I asked him if any pigs die in transit, he pointed out one pig who had already died and made reference to another dead pig in a different part of the truck. He said these dead pigs would be left in the truck with live pigs for the rest of the journey. I later noticed one of the pigs nudging the face of a dead pig.

Read the complete log notes from this investigation.

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