Stopping the Presses & New Downer Rule

Stopping the Presses & New Downer Rule plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

New rule banning downer cattle from meat processing plants will take effect soon. Dr. Dan Engeljohn, with USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, explains the new downer cattle rule that goes into effect next month.

ENGLEJOHN: If cattle that had previously passed ante-mortem inspection becomes injured after that point then the establishment management is required to notify FSIS and then upon that notification FSIS is directed to have its inspectors condemn those cattle so that they would be immediately euthanized so there would be no prolonging of their suffering for humane purposes and then those cattle would not be allowed to go into the human food supply.

It’s the end of an era. Since 1863 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has been printing and today is the final issue. The PI to us in the northwest has been a daily must read over breakfast or on our way to work. Hearst Corp. failed to find a buyer for the newspaper, which it put up for a 60-day sale in January after years of losing money. Now the P-I will shift entirely to the Web. Along with that go some 140 jobs. I got my start in newspaper and am always sad to see it go.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

There are several wildlife preserves or sanctuaries across the United States for the protection of numerous different animal species or fauna while offering the opportunity to conduct study or research. Most are managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Others are run by state or local governments or private trusts. Right now the American wild horse population is in need of such a sanctuary and the wife of a Texas oil tycoon is ready and willing to do just that. Madeleine Pickens proposed to a House subcommittee that, “she is ready to create a “living museum” for an icon of the American West”. If any animal is deserving of protection and preservation, it is the noble horse, thousands of which are suffering abandonment and slaughter. Pickens and officials are in the middle of talks on how to best proceed with the proposed million acre refuge in Nevada. Let’s hope and pray that the powers that be don’t take their usual sweet time in coming to an agreeable solution. Time is one thing the American wild horse is quickly running out of.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.