Bakersfield Conviction

In 1998, a Bakersfield area stockyard was convicted of violating California's downed animal law when it allowed two downed cows to be dragged onto a slaughterhouse truck. The stockyard was placed on probation for 3 years and fined $500. Unfortunately, the district attorney chose not to press charges against the slaughterhouse because the identity of the trucker who dragged the cows was unknown.

"The Bakersfield Californian" (January 16, 1999)

A Kern County prosecutor confirmed Friday he will review whether to file criminal charges against a Hanford slaughterhouse operator for allegedly removing two downed cow from an Arvin-area stockyard.

Deputy District Attorney Eric McGillivary, who has already obtained a misdemeanor conviction against the stockyard owner in the incident, said he was asked by a farm animal protection group to go after the slaughterhouse.

That national group, Farm Sanctuary, whose California chapter is based in Orland, lodged a complaint in March when an employee of Coehlo Slaughterhouse in Hanford used a winch to drag the animals to its truck.

Gene Baur (formerly Bauston) , executive director for the California chapter of Farm Sanctuary, said a state law was passed in 1995 prohibiting the acceptance and sale of downed farm animals.

A downed animal is one that is diseased or crippled to the point it cannot stand up on its own, Bauston said. The law prohibits a stockyard, which sells animals to slaughterhouses, from accepting or selling downed animals, he said.

Bauston praised McGillivary for prosecuting Jerry Hixon, the owner of the Dairyman's Beef Auction, 3334 Bear Mountain Blvd., in the case. Hixon pleaded guilty in December.

Hixon was placed on three years probation and fined $500, a South Kern Municipal Court clerk said.