Letters Needed Re Trenton NJ Slaughterhouse

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PLEASE CROSS POST

 

Forwarded Message:
Subj: letters needed re: Trenton, NJ slaughterhouse 
Date: 1/24/2006 6:02:16 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: vegan...@comcast.net

PLEASE CROSS POST WIDELY

 

 

 

Please write letters about this slaughterhouse, Trenton Halal Packing Co., and demand that the owner (Mohammad Malik) be charged and prosecuted for cruelty to animals and assault on a police officer, and that the business be permanently shut down.

 

 

 

As noted below, Patrol Officer Alexis Durlacher described witnessing cows or bulls “screaming in pain as they were crushed to death by a metal grate that squeezed them against a concrete wall” inside the Trenton Halal Meat Packing Co. An un-named Sergeant arrived, ordering Malik to stop, after 2 animals had already been tortured and killed, but Malik continued to torture a third. It is also noted that moaning animals can be forced to remain outside, in the truck, for hours in the summer heat. “Malik estimated that as many as 50,000 goats are slaughtered there per year, as well as lambs, steers and chickens.”

 

 

 

There are 2 articles, below, about this situation, preceded by contact info for letters. The more current article is first.

 

 

 

** NOTE: Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, make anti-Muslim comments. Egregious cruelty is inherent in all slaughterhouses, but as 2 police officers (Officer Alexis Durlacher and an un-named Sergeant) witnessed the abuse at Trenton Halal Packing Co., we must demand that action be taken. There are evil and good people in all religions (and among those who practice no religion). The focus must be on the cruelty, not the religion of the alleged abusers.

 

 

 

CONTACT INFO:

 

 

 

(1). The name/address of the business is:

 

Trenton Halal Packing Co.

 

phone: (609) 394-0331

 

610 Roebling Ave (though article states it is 612)

 

Trenton, NJ 08611

 

Owner: Mohammad Malik

 

If any of you are Muslim and can cite Muslim law promoting kindness to animals and, especially, vegetarianism, certainly mention this to Mr. Malik.

 

 

 

(2). Submit letters to the Trenton Times to: let...@njtimes.com

 

 

 

(3). Trenton City Council

 

It appears that only one Council Person, Annette H. Lartigue (Council Vice President), has e-mail (westwar...@aol.com). Please e-mail her and ask that she share your e-mail with the other 6 Council Members. As noted below, Officer Alexis Durlacher reported the animal torture she witnessed, and the attack on her person, directly to the City Council on January 19.  Council President Paul Pintella told the officer that she should have arrested Malik. You can also send e-mails to the Council Members and to Mayor Douglas H. Palmer (the Mayor’s chief of staff has said that "This is a priority issue”) through the general e-mail address: webm...@trentonnj.org.  Just specify to whom the e-mail is going.

 

 

 

The articles note that several residents have been pressuring the Council and Mayor to compel Malik to relocate the slaughterhouse, which has been there for decades, to a nonresidential setting. And Trenton's principal sanitary inspector said officials will try to craft an ordinance "limiting the amount of time trucks with live animals in them can sit outside the slaughterhouse.”  INSTEAD, URGE THAT THIS VILE BUSINESS BE SHUT DOWN AND THE OWNER PROSECUTED.

 

 

 

(4). Mercer County Prosecutor

 

Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr.

 

Phone (609) 989-6305 or (609) 989-6350

 

Their web site does not give an e-mail address or FAX number. You can try to e-mail them from their “Crime Stoppers Tip Information” page at http://tinyurl.com/7qfml. Where it asks for “INTERNET  NUMBER,” enter 803.

 

Urge the prosecutor to levy all applicable charges and to seek maximum felony-level penalties. Malik should be prohibited from ever harboring or working, in any capacity, with animals, permanently. Also, urge that Pre-Trial intervention (which allows first time, non-violent, offenders to avoid prosecution) NOT be offered, as this IS a very violent crime.

 

 

 

(5). Steven Cohen, spokesman for the USDA food, safety and inspection service, “would not say if there are any plans to investigate Durlacher's allegations. ”A federal inspector told the city that the city has jurisdiction over the storage of animals outside the slaughterhouse. The city, however, has no jurisdiction over what goes on inside.”

 

 

 

Contact Steven Cohen and demand an investigation and shut-down of Trenton Halal Packing Co.:

 

Steven Cohen, Senior Press Officer

 

Food Safety and Inspection Service

 

Phone: (202) 720-9113

 

FAX: (202) 720-5704

 

 

 

THANK YOU.

 

 

 

*************

 

 

 

http://tinyurl.com/aszu5

 

 

 

Slaughterhouse denies inhumane practices

 

Saturday, January 21, 2006

 

 

 

TRENTON - The owner of Trenton Halal Packing Co. yesterday rebutted charges that animals are slaughtered in an inhumane manner at the Roebling Avenue facility.

 

 

 

"We don't let them suffer," said Muhammad Malik, who has owned the Roebling Avenue slaughterhouse, which dates back to 1934, for 11 years. "We lift the animal, hang it up and slit its throat right away."

 

 

 

He was responding to a city police officer's gruesome account of what she witnessed at the plant last week. The officer, Alexis Durlacher, was invited to a city council meeting Thursday, where she told council members of steers screaming in pain as they were crushed to death by a metal grate that squeezed them against a concrete wall.

 

 

 

Malik's son-in-law, Ahmed Bajwa, said no animal is treated cruelly at the facility. "We have respect for these animals. That's really wrong saying we crushed them. That hurts our feelings, too."

 

 

 

Both men spoke in the plant's office at 612 Roebling Ave. yesterday afternoon while goats were being slaughtered farther inside. Video displays on a flat-panel computer monitor showed two men lifting each animal and hanging it by a rear hoof. Another man slit its throat. The entire process took about 5 seconds per goat.

 

 

 

Malik pointed to a man in a white hardhat who examined every goat carcass and identified him as a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector. He said an inspector must be on hand for slaughtering to occur.

 

 

 

But on rare occasions, including around Muslim holy days, Trenton Halal can slaughter animals without an inspector present, but only with prior written permission from federal authorities, Malik said.

 

 

 

Concerning the horrible scene Durlacher described to city council members, Malik said three steers were in holding pens awaiting slaughter when the officer arrived around 8 p.m. on Jan. 9.

 

 

 

Durlacher had been dispatched to Chestnut Avenue to investigate a noise complaint, but immediately concluded the source of the noise was several blocks away at the slaughterhouse.

 

 

 

Malik said some animals cry out prior to slaughter while others stand silently. But he disputed that any animal making noise inside the plant would be heard down the street.

 

 

 

Johanna Moreno, who lives directly across the street from the plant, said she has not heard "much noise" at all in the 1 1/2 years she has lived there. "We don't have any problems with them."

 

 

 

Because of the size of a steer, workers stun those animals with an electrode before it is raised in the air by a back leg. Malik said.

 

 

 

"We use stun guns for the bulls," said Emad Taha, who spoke yesterday during a short break from slaughtering goats. With each animal, he says a prayer out loud before slitting its throat, Taha said.

 

 

 

The prayer is "Bismillah. Allah hu akbar. Allah hu akbar. Allah hu akbar." It means, "In the name of God. God is great. God is Great. God is great."

 

 

 

Durlacher stood by her story yesterday afternoon. On Jan. 9, she walked into the slaughterhouse twice, she said. The first time she saw three bulls in pens. After resuming a sometimes heated discussion with Malik in the company office, she heard a scream and went back to the holding pens, she said.

 

 

 

Durlacher then saw that one bull had been killed, one was standing in a pen and another "was suspended against the wall with its legs off the ground, screaming. Why would I make that up?"

 

 

 

The officer said she heard a loud noise when she arrived at the plant. Malik yesterday said that noise was an air compressor, not an animal in agony. But according to Durlacher, "the compressor was moving a grate up against the animal" with enough force to pin it against a concrete wall and lift it off the ground.

 

 

 

She also said there was no inspector present. Malik said yesterday he had permission from inspectors to slaughter because of the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha Muslim festival of sacrifice.

 

 

 

Steven Cohen, spokesman for the USDA food, safety and inspection service, said Trenton Halal is operating its normal and custom slaughter operations within federal regulations, and has never been cited for any inhumane methods.

 

 

 

Federal inspections are continuous at slaughterhouses, with at least one inspector assigned to a plant during normal business hours, he said.

 

 

 

In normal slaughters, inspectors look for the way the animals are unloaded, that they have access to water if kept in pens, that they are not treated in a way that causes them stress, the slaughter method and that the slaughter is done correctly.

 

 

 

Inspectors are not assigned for custom slaughters, Cohen said. Under such slaughters, an animal is killed for the personal use of the owner of the animal, not for sale. A company is still expected to comply with sanitation regulations and humane slaughter procedures, Cohen said.

 

 

 

Crushing an animal to death is not considered a humane method, he said.

 

 

 

Cohen would not say if there are any plans to investigate Durlacher's allegations.

 

 

 

"We do follow up on information that is forwarded to us from citizens and public officials," Cohen said.

 

 

 

"If the city government was concerned about something that was taking place at one of our regulated facilities, we will look into it."

 

 

 

East Ward Councilman Geno Melone said he has received numerous complaints from nearby residents and business owners about what goes on outside the slaughterhouse.

 

 

 

"Everything from storing the animals on that street for hours and hours and hours. They're out there in multiple trucks, in the summer heat, with the stench and the moaning of the animals in those trucks," Melone said. Some constituents have complained about slaughterhouse employees and customers "carrying slaughtered and skinned animals over their shoulder in plain view of children and residents."

 

 

 

Jimmy Kamies, owner of Amici Milano, a popular Chambersburg restaurant located across the street from the slaughterhouse, said he has had many problems with Malik's trucks blocking his parking lots and hitting customers' cars. He said slaughterhouse customers routinely use his restaurant's parking lot.

 

 

 

Kamies also agreed with Melone that animals sometimes sit in trucks for up to half a day.

 

 

 

But Bajwa disputed that, saying that many of the animals are trucked from a farm in Burlington County and workers are ready to process them as soon as they arrive.

 

 

 

Melone was happy to learn from a federal inspector yesterday that the city has jurisdiction over the storage of animals outside the slaughterhouse. The city, however, has no jurisdiction over what goes on inside.

 

 

 

"We'll be meeting with the legal department to draft an ordinance to meet the concerns of residents," Melone said.

 

 

 

Martin Moore, Trenton's principal sanitary inspector, who met with Melone and the federal inspector yesterday, said officials will try to craft an ordinance "limiting the amount of time trucks with live animals in them can sit outside the slaughterhouse. And we talked about limiting the slaughterhouse hours of operation from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m."

 

 

 

Melone has been pushing for the city to find an alternate location for the slaughterhouse, which is located in a residential and restaurant district.

 

 

 

Malik said he would be open to such discussions, but said such efforts failed to produce an acceptable alternative site several years ago.

 

 

 

Melone said a slaughterhouse would not be allowed to open in the neighborhood today. Trenton Halal does not conform to the present zoning but has a "grandfather" exception because it was operating legally on the site before zoning rules were changed. It started out decades ago as a "mom-and-pop slaughterhouse, but now it's an industrial operation," Melone said.

 

 

 

Malik estimated that as many as 50,000 goats are slaughtered there per year, as well as lambs, steers and chickens.

 

 

 

NOTE: Contact Joseph Dee at jd...@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5704.

 

 

 

© 2006  The Times of Trenton

 

© 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

******************

 

http://tinyurl.com/atgx4

 

 

 

Slaughter horrors recounted

 

Friday, January 20, 2006

 

By JOSEPH DEE

 

Staff Writer

 

 

 

TRENTON - Members of city council listened almost in disbelief yesterday as a city police officer told of her harrowing and infuriating encounter with the owner of a controversial slaughterhouse located in the Chambersburg section.

 

 

 

Patrol Officer Alexis Durlacher described witnessing cows or bulls being crushed to death against a concrete wall inside the Trenton Halal Meat Packing Co., screaming in pain as their bones snapped.

 

 

 

Durlacher said she was responding to a noise complaint on Chestnut Avenue about 8 p.m. on Jan. 9 when her ears and nose drew her to the nearby slaughterhouse at 610 Roebling Ave.

 

 

 

Once there, she said, she heard animals screaming and saw blood running across the sidewalk into the street.

 

 

 

The officer said she was unsure of the laws governing the humane slaughter of animals but ordered owner Mohammad Malik to stop.

 

 

 

Durlacher said Malik swore at her, accused her of harassment based on religious bigotry and sprayed her with the hose he used to clean the sidewalk of blood.

 

 

 

She said she did not arrest him, even though he was taunting her to do so. Council President Paul Pintella said she should have. "This blatant disrespect is intolerable. You should have slapped cuffs on him," he said.

 

 

 

Malik, who is Muslim, allegedly accused Durlacher of a "Christian bias." In an interview after the council meeting, she said she didn't bother telling him she is Jewish, not Christian, because religion had nothing to do with her actions.

 

 

 

Efforts to reach Malik by phone and at the slaughterhouse last night were unsuccessful.

 

 

 

Durlacher was invited to the council meeting by East Ward Councilman Geno Melone, in whose ward the slaughterhouse is located. It is in a residential neighborhood opposite a popular Chambersburg restaurant, Amici Milano.

 

 

 

Several residents have been pressuring the council and Mayor Douglas H. Palmer to compel Malik to relocate the slaughterhouse, which has been there for decades, to a nonresidential setting.

 

 

 

"Animals were screaming," Durlacher said. "Blood was running across the sidewalk out to the street. It smelled like a farm. Meanwhile, customers were going into Amici's.

 

 

 

Once inside the slaughterhouse, Durlacher said she was horrified to see how the animals were being killed. "They were compressing them with this metal thing. You could hear its bones being crushed. It was absolutely horrible."

 

 

 

Durlacher said a sergeant arrived at the scene and also ordered Malik to stop after the second cow or bull was killed. The patrol officer said her car was blocking the end of a truck where a third animal could be kept overnight, but when she returned inside, Malik had already begun crushing it.

 

 

 

"There was no inspector on site," Melone said. "It is my understanding that an inspector has to be on site when slaughtering takes place."

 

 

 

Lt. Paul Mussina, who also attended the meeting last night, told council members Malik argued that no inspector is necessary when workers are conducting "ritual" killing for religious holidays.

 

 

 

He said city police and administration officials are scheduled to meet with a federal inspector today to discuss the slaughterhouse and all applicable regulations.

 

 

 

"This is a priority issue," said Palmer's chief of staff, Renee Haynes.

 

 

 

NOTE: Contact Joseph Dee at jd...@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5704.

 

 

 

© 2006  The Times of Trenton