Owner of Bushway Slaughter Plant Pays for Animal Cruelty

The HSUS

I wrote recently about The HSUS investigation at the Bushway slaughter plant and the brave people involved in bringing the abuse of baby calves to light. Last week, Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell announced a plea deal with Frank Perretta, one of the owners of the plant. Perretta was charged with criminal animal cruelty for excessive shocking of baby calves before they were slaughtered. Under the terms of the agreement, Perretta will pay a fine of $2,000 and complete 120 hours of community service. Most remarkably, he is banned from participating in any animal husbandry or slaughterhouse activity.

Farm animals will no longer be subjected to cruelty at Perretta’s hands, and we congratulate the Attorney General’s Office in achieving this important and somewhat unprecedented outcome. A co-worker of Perretta’s at the slaughter plant continues to be prosecuted for felony animal cruelty for his actions. All animals deserve humane treatment, and this sort of appalling mistreatment should never be tolerated under the law.