On Thursday Dr. Dean Wyatt, supervisory public health veterinarian for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA, submitted testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee outlining instances of being overruled when reporting inhumane handling practices at slaughterhouses.

In his testimony, Wyatt details accounts that he and other inspectors witnessed of conscious pigs shackled on the slaughter line despite rules that they be stunned and unconscious before butchering, pigs being trampled by one another while being unloaded from a truck by a worker with a paddle, and a frustrated employee hitting a pig in the face 8-12 times. He describes cows being shot multiple times in the head regardless of regulations that require immediate unconsciousness with a single bullet, calves being dragged and thrown, and calves being deprived of food and water resulting in death from dehydration and starvation.

In each case, the FSIS District Office overruled the citings. At times, Wyatt and the other inspectors were chastised, reprimanded, and demoted for reporting violations. In his written testimony, Wyatt explains, “It seems almost unbelievable to me, but I have been ignored by my own people and have suffered physically, emotionally, and financially in the process. More importantly, animal welfare and food safety have suffered as well.”

Wyatt, a graduate from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University, has served at the USDA for over 18 years.  He followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a FSIS Public Health Veterinarian. Sadly, Wyatt’s father died at a young age after contracting cryptococcosis, a fatal fungal disease, from a turkey slaughter factory he inspected.

When asked why he would risk ruining his career to blow the whistle on the USDA, Wyatt quotes Abraham Lincoln, “to sin by silence, when one must protest, makes cowards of men.” By providing his testimony Wyatt proves that he is far from a coward but rather a compassionate hero that won’t stand silent when wrongs are committed.

Wyatt says, “When we turn our backs on the helpless, when we fail to speak on behalf of the voiceless, when we tolerate animal abuse and suffering, then the moral compass of a just and compassionate society is gone.”

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