happened on Friday in Sheung Shui, in the northern suburb of the Asian city-state. The man was allegedly attacked by surprise and severed an artery
Fatal incident at Sheung Shui slaughterhouse in the northern suburbs of Hong Kong: Last Friday, a 61-year-old butcher who had worked at the facility for 24 years was killed by a pig he was about to kill. A colleague found him unconscious: the man still had the cleaver in his hand and a 40 centimeter long cut on his leg. According to the reconstructions, he would have gotten it after being attacked by the animal and severing an artery: he was probably surprised by the pig, which would have unexpectedly regained consciousness after being stunned with an electrogun.
All attempts at resuscitation were in vain, as was the subsequent rush to the hospital: the doctors could only determine the victim’s death. Both the Ministry of Food and Environmental Hygiene and the Ministry of Labor expressed their condolences to the family and announced that they had opened an investigation to verify the causes of the incident and establish the responsibility of supervisors: case of violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act – said a spokesman to CNN – we will take the action provided for by law.
The Hong Kong episode, which immediately hit the internet, puts another spotlight on the world’s treatment of animals for slaughter. In neighboring China, for example, the world’s largest pig farm was recently inaugurated: a 26-story skyscraper that can house around 520,000 animals and slaughter more than 1.2 million a year. The Sheung Shui slaughterhouse, the largest in the city-state, instead kills up to 5,000 people a day, potentially over 1.8 million a year. An assembly line that, as we have seen, not only encourages the spread of disease and the adoption of practices that cause avoidable suffering to animals, but can also increase the risk of fatal distractions on the part of operators.
January 23, 2023 (change January 23, 2023 | 19:41)
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