Today, 12 plants produce over 50% of the country’s beef, and 12 others, similarly, produce over 50% of the country’s pork (30, 31). 20711-01041-0749-99-31-00 for horse purchases. Livestock deaths . The coronavirus pandemic and aerosols: Does COVID-19 transmit via expiratory particles? CR Staff - August 21, 2020. It displayed "classic" mutilation signs, including the removal of the rectum and sex organs with what appeared to be “a sharp and precise instrument” and its internal organs were found to be inconsistent with a normal case of death followed by predation. But for northern Queensland, the toll is immense. Our study suggests that, among essential industries, livestock processing poses a particular public health risk extending far beyond meatpacking companies and their employees. Our results indicate a strong positive relationship between livestock-processing plants and local community transmission of COVID-19, suggesting that these plants may act as transmission vectors into the surrounding population and accelerate the spread of the virus beyond what would be predicted solely by population risk characteristics. 0752: Reptiles - This year E.g. Missing or mutilated mouth, lips, anus, and genitalia are explained as: Missing/mutilated eyes and soft internal organs are explained as: Surgical incisions in the skin are explained as: The hypothesis that natural phenomena account for most mutilation characteristics has been validated by a number of experiments, including one cited by long-time scientific skeptic Robert T. Carroll, conducted by Washington County (Arkansas) Sheriff's Department. The first stage in the IV analysis, presented in SI Appendix, Table S12, shows that the instrument is highly relevant with the F-statistic far above Stock and Yogo’s (63) 10% maximal bias threshold. While many unconventional explanations have been put forward to explain cattle mutilations, a variety of scientists, veterinary workers, and knowledgeable observers (including farmers and other agricultural workers) have suggested more conventional ideas, most of which revolve around the hypothesis that "mutilated" animals died of natural causes and were subjected to known terrestrial phenomena – including the action of predators, parasites, and scavengers.[27]. Meatpacking workers are a diverse group who need better protections, Blood, sweat, and fear: Workers’ rights in US meat and poultry plants, Restructuring of the US meat processing industry and new Hispanic migrant destinations. We found the relationship between livestock plants and COVID-19 transmission to be most pronounced among the largest plants, whose presence in a county is associated with a 35% higher COVID-19 case rate relative to the average coefficient for livestock plants shown in Table 1. Each size category was sufficiently represented, with 349 small plants, 126 medium plants, and 225 large plants. Subsection 70 (2) requires the legal representative of such a deceased farmer to include the value of livestock at death in the deceased farmer's income tax return for the year of death or elect to file a separate return to include the value of all the decedent's rights or things (including livestock) and pay tax thereon for the taxation year in which the farmer died as if the farmer were another person. Increases in production-line speeds due to technological enhancements as well as policy changes have also been hypothesized to exacerbate COVID-19 transmission (5, 42). The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings, 1994, Doubleday, NYC, NY. ... followed by livestock carcass removal, culling older cattle to prevent death loss, and frequent checks in areas or seasons in which predator risk is high. ↵‡In our main analyses, we included category 4 and 5 pork and beef facilities and category 5 poultry facilities (which comprise 57% of total poultry plants); see Materials and Methods for a full discussion. Meanwhile, there is a lesser and imprecise relationship with retail and recreation activities, which may contribute to viral spread. There is a clear positive relationship between COVID-19 cases and deaths in relation to livestock facilities, and the county-level mean case rate varies directly with a county’s proximity to a neighboring county with a livestock facility. Related Gallery: Livestock Award Banners | You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. It is also highly concentrated: The largest four companies in beef, pork, and poultry processing capture 55 to 85% of their respective markets (22⇓⇓⇓⇓–27). Small and medium-sized plants were generally not found to have significant relationships with local COVID-19 transmission, suggesting that the scale of production is an important variable for industry leaders and policymakers to consider. The flood wreaked havoc on Devillier’s ranch, killing at least 60 cattle (along with several horses) that represent 20 percent of his herd. These numbers are not acceptable. The investigation was funded by a US$44,170 grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and was headed by FBI agent Kenneth Rommel. Beliefs held by proponents of the cult hypothesis vary, but may include: The hypothesis that cults were responsible for cattle mutilation was developed in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s, a time of growing national concern over cults (such as the Peoples Temple and Jonestown) and ritual satanic abuse ("Satanic panic").[34][35]. Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS. The scientists performing the analysis were unable to explain these anomalies. Covid-19 and community mitigation strategies in a pandemic, Scientific and ethical basis for social-distancing interventions against COVID-19, Projecting hospital utilization during the COVID-19 outbreaks in the United States, The effect of human mobility and control measures on the COVID-19 epidemic in China, Impact of international travel and border control measures on the global spread of the novel 2019 coronavirus outbreak, Advisory memorandum on identification of essential critical infrastructure workers during COVID-19 response, (Tech. For nearest-neighbor matching, we used the MatchIt package in R to restrict the sample to similar treated and control groups. In a second step, we used this predicted probability (i.e., the propensity score) as a control in a regression of COVID-19 incidence on livestock plants. Given that the average closing period was only 9 d, it is unclear whether the plant closures themselves reduced COVID-19 transmission rates, or whether closures resulted in plants taking more COVID-19 precautions (e.g., implementing enhanced safety protocols). That’s according to the Department of Rural and Community Development, which is responsible for dog control policy and legislation. This article does not address tearing due to bloating. Among front-line meat-processing workers in the United States, 45% are categorized as low income, 80% are people of color, and 52% are immigrants, many of whom are undocumented and lack ready access to healthcare and other worker protections that could facilitate COVID-19 prevention and treatment (54⇓–56). He claimed there had been 130 mutilations in Colorado alone, and further reports across nine states. A larger space that employees must navigate in reaching their workstations may also increase the number of workplace interactions. • About one-third of cattle operations had deaths in adult cattle. The association is found primarily among large processing facilities and large meatpacking companies. Stats show that there were 804 livestock deaths recorded by the CFIA in 2006 in Saskatchewan; 493 cattle, 254 bison, 6 horses, 33 sheep, 13 cervids (white-tailed deer and elk), 3 pigs, and 2 goats. This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. Livestock-Handling Related Injuries and Deaths 83 Unfortunately, the number of animal handlers is not exactly known, but tens of thousands of people are exposed daily to farm animals. The average number of counties in each band increases with distance. We next examined whether there is a relationship between local COVID-19 transmission and plant-operating procedures. Facebook. 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