On December 18, 2024
Opinions

Vermont Packinghouse animal cruelty investigation

Dear Editor,

According to a Dec. 9 article in VTDigger, a local slaughterhouse, Vermont Packinghouse, is under investigation again for cruelty to animals. Allegedly, workers failed to intervene when a truck driver unloading pigs kicked animals in the head and neck and shoved them off the back of the trailer. The pigs suffered heat stroke after an eight-hour journey from a New York farm. 

Vermont Packinghouse claims it is taking corrective action to “uphold its commitment to humane animal handling.” 

This statement from a slaughterhouse previously shut down for 15 noncompliance violations of federal and state animal welfare laws for improper stunning of pigs and sheep is outrageous. In each instance, employees failed to stun an animal effectively and render it immediately unconscious, as required under the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. The “mis-stunned” animals tried to escape and had to be re-captured and stunned multiple times.

Vermont Packinghouse, local meat farms, and butcher shops use the word “humane” liberally to advertise their services and products. But labels do not always tell the truth.

“Food” animals, even locally raised ones, suffer all manner of cruelties from birth to death: Newborn dairy calves shiver alone in outdoor huts; pigs in double-decker trucks endure long-distance transport in extreme temperatures; terrified animals wait hours or days in slaughterhouse holding pens for their turn to die, etc. “Stunning” requires violence either by captive bolt, blow to the skull, or electrocution, and, as we know from Vermont Packinghouse’s prior offenses, it is easily botched.

Merriam-Webster defines “humane” as “marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration.”Sympathy requires an ability to put oneself into the shoes of another. Killing animals for food is not a humane endeavor in which animals are treated with compassion. Vermont Packinghouse and local meat purveyors should lose the “humanely-produced” label and just call it meat. 

Lucy Goodrum, Reading

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Gov. Phil Scott, we’ve never needed you more, where are you?

July 2, 2025
Dear Editor, I was scheduled to be the final speaker at the “No Kings” rally in Burlington last week. Unfortunately, the event ran longer than anticipated, and I was not able to address the crowd. Here’s what I had planned to say:  Good afternoon. My name is Larry Satcowitz. I’m a state representative from Randolph.…

H.454 passed but not a done deal

July 2, 2025
By Rep. Peter Conlon Editor’s note: Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, is chair of the House Education Committee. The passage of the education bill, H. 454, in the General Assembly, and presumably gaining the governor’s signature into law, marks the start of efforts to transform Vermont’s education system into one that recognizes the incredible demographic changes…

The worst bill in modern U.S. history

July 2, 2025
By U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders Editor’s note: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) gave the following remarks Sunday, June 29, on the floor of the U.S. Senate opposing President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Mr. President: President Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” now on the floor of the Senate, is the most dangerous piece of legislation in the modern history…

Protecting SNAP protects farmers

July 2, 2025
Dear Editor, As the director of the Burlington Farmers Market I am deeply concerned about what’s happening in Congress right now and the potential to gut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid, two of the most essential programs that help people put food on the table and get the healthcare they need. At our…