Thu, Feb 28, 2008 (2:08 a.m.)

A Texas lawmaker and the secretary of the U.S. Agriculture Department have criticized the Humane Society of the United States for failing to release sooner a video showing cattle being abused in a California slaughterhouse.

The shocking video released in late January showed workers at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. forcing sick or lame cattle to stand using forklifts, hoses and cattle prods. Food safety regulations generally prohibit the slaughter of sick animals because of the potential for infecting human food with disease.

The video resulted in the recall of 143 million pounds of beef — the largest such recall in U.S. history — and has placed the Agriculture Department under criticism.

The New York Times reports that Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, condemned the Humane Society at a House subcommittee hearing Tuesday, asking why the group waited “until now to bring this to our attention.”

Humane Society representatives have said the video was shot over a period of six weeks, starting in October. In December the society gave the video to California prosecutors, who asked the group to withhold the footage while the incident was investigated.

The activists waited until Jan. 30, when they released the tape because they thought the investigation was moving too slowly. Soon after, prosecutors charged two slaughterhouse employees with violations regarding animal mistreatment and mishandling of potentially sick or lame cows — often called “downer” cattle.

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer criticized the Humane Society last week, saying that in waiting to release the footage, the group “stood by and allowed it to happen.”

Hardly.

Schafer’s inspectors dropped the ball by failing to adequately oversee the meat company’s operation. It also doesn’t help that the Agriculture Department relaxed its rules in 2007, allowing downer cows to be slaughtered as long as they can be raised to their feet for a veterinarian’s examination. Federal officials have said they are not certain such examinations always take place.

The Agriculture Department’s rule allowing questionable animals to be slaughtered should be reversed. And the next time Schafer wants to criticize those who have allowed inhumane and shoddy slaughterhouse practices to continue, he should stand before a mirror.