Tough Day for the Army Read Online Free PDF Page B

reflected distantly in his eyes.
    â€œWhat are you teaching me about life and living?” I say. “Tell me.” His tail swishes the air behind him, stirring some dust motes. When he’s really excited, his tail takes the shape of a comma arcing over his back. My dog doesn’t speak, or write, or even inspire books, but in this moment I think I get the message.
    This is next , he is saying. Life is about whatever you do next.

Return-to-Sensibility Problems after Penetrating Captive Bolt Stunning of Cattle in Commercial Beef Slaughter Plant #5867: Confidential Report
    DRAFT B-4—NOT FOR CIRCULATION!
CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY
Purpose
    To evaluate the efficacy of penetrating captive bolt stunning of cattle in Commercial Beef Slaughter Plant #5867 and identify potential causes of a return to sensibility among stunned cattle.
Purpose behind the Purpose
    Stifling the complaints. In the opinion of this researcher, the combination of on-site protests; undercover, illegally obtained video aired on one of the TV newsmagazines with a title dealing with either time or vision (this researcher forgets which); a rising sense of public outrage; and, most important, lawsuits, results in the drawer of the short straw (that being this researcher) trading his oxfords for work boots, his pleated wool trousers for rubber coveralls, and spending sixteen consecutive days on the slaughter floor at plant #5867.
Procedure
    184 hours of stunning over 16 operating days were observed at an average line speed of 129 cattle/hr. Cattle were evaluated for signs of returning to sensibility on the bleed rail.
Why You’ve Got to Hang Them on the Bleed Rail Prior to Evaluation of Proper Stunning
    1. Because if they aren’t stunned, they are more than willing to drive a stone-hard hoof through your skull.
    2. Helps avoid misinterpretation of spasms that occur during ejection from the conveyor restrainer system and of tonic spasms, commonly seen a few seconds after stunning.
Procedure cont.
    Previous research suggests that the corneal reflex becomes absent in conjunction with electroencephalographic patterns that indicate the animal is insensible. Cattle no longer have corneal reflexes when all of the following four criteria are fulfilled.
    1. No spontaneous blinking
    2. No vocalization
    a. Mooing
    b. Bellowing
    c. Or any other sound
    3. Eyes have a wide, blank stare; the eyeballs must not be rotated; and nystagmus must be absent.
    4. No righting reflex when the animal is hung on the bleed rail. Animal must:
    a. Have straight back
    b. Neck and head will be limp and flaccid
    c. Momentary flopping of a limp, loose head should not mistaken for a righting reflex, and kicking and limb movement must be ignored.
How You Come to Ignore Kicking and Limb Movement of a Cow or Bull Recently Stunned and Hung on a Bleed Rail
    If you see anything enough times over and over and over, that anything, no matter what it is, becomes entirely unexceptional. Plus, sometimes they just twitch for awhile.
Procedure cont.
    In addition to the previous four criteria, if the tongue is fully extended, limp, and flaccid, the animal can be considered properly stunned and insensible, as in the author’s experience, an animal with a fully extended, limp, and flaccid tongue will never ever never have spontaneous blinking.
    A completely relaxed jaw is also a good indicator of profound brain dysfunction.
A Note on the Smell inside Commercial Beef Slaughtering Plant #5867
    Thick. Tactile almost, like you could reach out and hold it in your fist. Like it surrounds you. In this researcher’s experience, an adjective such as “chewy” would not be entirely out of the question. The dominant scent is fresh cow insides, which this researcher suggests smell exactly as you think they would.
Procedure cont.
    However, a stiff curled tongue is a sign of possible return to sensibility.
    On the other hand, the tongue will not always slip out of the jaw, even in