Beit She’an slaughterhouse workers indicted for animal cruelty

The Northern District Attorney’s Office indicted four employees of the Adom Adom meat supplier.

By BEN HARTMAN
A WORKER at the Adom Adom slaughterhouse 370 (photo credit: Facebook)
A WORKER at the Adom Adom slaughterhouse 370
(photo credit: Facebook)
The Northern District Attorney’s Office, in collaboration with the Agriculture Ministry, indicted four employees of the Adom Adom meat supplier on Tuesday for cruelty and causing bodily harm to animals.
The employees, who all worked at the Adom Adom factory in Beit She’an, were Eliyahu Sheetrit, 45, the manager of the factory’s slaughterhouse; Bahah Darbashi, 33; and two outside contractors who worked at the slaughterhouse – Fadi Hadayari, 34, and Salah Fudi, 23.
According to the indictment presented to the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court, Sheetrit supplied the employees with an electric cattle prod to help them move the calves and sheep down the slaughter line. The indictment says the employees used the cattle prod without proper reason and caused pain and suffering to calves and sheep, particularly by applying the pod to the animals’ testicles and other sensitive areas such as the face.
The prod was used on animals that had fallen or were under stress, and at times when they were physically incapable of moving, the indictment states. It adds that on a number of occasions, the employees beat the animals with wooden rods and plastic hoses, mainly on their backs, but also on the head.
The indictment follows a December 2012 hidden-camera report on the Channel 2 program Kolbotek, which showed the workers using the prod and sticks at the Beit She’an factory. That report, which caused a sensation in the Israeli media, led to protest and calls for consumer boycotts. It also spurred police and the Environmental Protection Ministry to launch an investigation into Tnuva, which owns Adom Adom.
According to the Kolbotek report, which also showed workers using forklifts to drag animals by the legs, abuse was rampant at the site.
The indictment further alleges that Fudi punched animals in the stomach, sat on the backs of sheep and hit them in the head with a stick.