Our analysis of individual meatpacking companies may present an opportunity to explore how differences in corporate structure and operating practices may account for their differential public health outcomes. There are many more who suffer major injuries that require hospitalisation and significant time off work. The released material includes correspondence from Rommel where he states that "most credible sources have attributed this damage to normal predator and scavenger activity". Our baseline model specification takes the following form:outcomei=β*livestocki+θ*controlsi+αs+ϵi,[1]where outcomei is the COVID-19 case or death rate in county i, β is the coefficient of interest, controlsi is a vector of county-level covariates, αs is a dummy for fixed effects in state s, and ϵi is the error term. Understanding the public health risk posed by livestock processing is essential for assessing potential impacts of policy action. 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). Of the deaths from cattle, 40% were due to multiorgan trauma, 35% trauma to trunk and chest, and 18% from head trauma. Control measures should be followed to reduce the chances of these diseases affecting livestock, because some of them can have a negative economic impact on the country, cause serious diseases in humans and even death … The exception is that waiver counties have lower proportions of Black residents and prison populations, factors associated with increased COVID-19 risk. We next looked at differential relationships with COVID-19 by company. These numbers are not acceptable. In the United States, some industries are exempted from shelter-in-place orders and have remained operational due to their necessity to satisfy basic societal needs (21). Notify the municipality within 48 hours of discovering the injury or death of livestock or poultry due to predation, or discovering damage to a beehive, bee colony and/or beehive-related equipment; If the injury or death of livestock or poultry occurs in a territory without municipal organization, the owner must notify OMAFRA (1-877-424-1300). Human attacks against animals are a recognized phenomenon. However, none of these theories explain why the US government would not simply contact ranchers during regular business hours and acquire or purchase these animals for testing. Few farm people look upon their livestock as a source of danger. 86-87. 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. During the six to eight month time frame of Rommel's investigation, RCMP investigator Corporal Lyn Lauber of the Calgary detachment (who was in charge of the Canadian mutilation probe) investigated numerous high-strange cases. Accessed 1 August 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, https://github.com/cboulos/livestock-covid, https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.2010115117/-/DCSupplemental, https://apnews.com/article/85a02d9296053980ea47eba97f920707, https://thefern.org/ag_insider/as-more-meatpacking-workers-fall-ill-from-covid-19-meat-companies-decline-to-disclose-data/, https://www.texasobserver.org/east-texas-coronavirus-chicken/, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/how-trump-is-helping-tycoons-exploit-the-pandemic, https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/13115/demographic-determinants-of-testing-incidence-and-covid-19-infections-in-new-york-city-neighborhoods, https://ir.tyson.com/about-tyson/facts/default.aspx, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-26/meat-shortages-reopen-costly-path-to-small-u-s-slaughterhouses, https://fr.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-meatpackers-idUSKBN22C2J8, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-cases/coronavirus-spread-accelerates-again-in-germany-idUSKBN22M019, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-04/virus-outbreak-in-australian-meatworks-echoes-problems-in-u-s, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-24/meat-threats-grow-with-first-brazil-shutdown-u-s-turkey-halt, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-trump-liability/trump-orders-u-s-meat-processing-plants-to-stay-open-despite-coronavirus-fears-idUSKCN22A2OB, https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.26.20044420, https://www.propublica.org/article/what-happens-if-workers-cutting-up-the-nations-meat-get-sick, https://www2.ljworld.com/news/state-region/2020/jul/01/kansas-top-health-official-sounds-the-alarm-on-covid-19-predicts-current-trend-line-will-steepen/, https://seer.cancer.gov/popdata/download.html, https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=70step=1reqid=70step=1, https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-state-by-state-guide-to-coronavirus-lockdowns-11584749351, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/states-reopen-map-coronavirus.html, News Feature: To understand the plight of insects, entomologists look to the past, Opinion: We need to improve the welfare of life science trainees, Journal Club: Clues to Alzheimer’s disease onset in the aging female brain, Protecting against spaceflight-induced muscle and bone loss. When narrowing the geographic focus, we can imagine the distribution of COVID-19 incidence to be similarly clustered, if not even lumpier. Fig. The actions of small scavengers and burrowing parasites seeking to enter or consume the body in areas where skin is at its thinnest. See online for related content such as Commentaries. [12], Many cases of mutilation have been reported worldwide since the 1967 Snippy incident, chiefly in the Americas and Australia. Increased urbanization puts livestock farms closer than ever to high-ways and population centers, heightening the risk of accidents and resulting liabilities. One potential explanation is that large plants simply entail more activity and employ more people. Handling livestock is a dangerous activity. Most Read . The lower sustained COVID-19 growth rate postclosure suggests that plant closures have some relationship with COVID-19 transmission, which, in turn, suggests some relationship between plant-level activity and community disease spread within the county. Compared with people of white ethnicity, Black and South Asian people were at higher risk, even after adjustment for other factors (HR 1.48 (1.29-1.69) and 1.45 (1.32-1.58), respectively). Dairy producers in New Mexico and Texas take a huge hit after Winter Storm Goliath wiped out more than 30,000 dairy cows. The methods we used to help address potential bias and endogeneity concerns are IV analysis, propensity-score matching, and nearest-neighbor matching. Deaths: 1,746: On 21 August 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock. Tears in the skin created when it is stretched by postmortem bloat and/or as dehydration causes the animal's hide to shrink and split, often in linear cuts. Number of livestock deaths due to the bushfire season in Victoria, Australia as at February 6, 2020, by type Number of fatalities Exclusive Premium statistic Rep., European Federation of Food Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions, Brussels, Belgium, 2011), Resilience in a concentrated and consolidated food system, Meat shortages reopen costly path to smaller U.S. plants, Estimated daily US slaughter, capacity by plant (head per day), Nine meat plants in southern Brazil face COVID-19 outbreaks, Coronavirus spread accelerates again in Germany, An Australian meatworks is at the center of a virus outbreak, U.S. could be weeks from meat shortages with shutdowns spreading, Trump orders U.S. meat-processing plants to stay open despite coronavirus fears, White House, “Executive order on delegating authority under the DPA with respect to food supply chain resources during the national emergency caused by the outbreak of COVID-19” (Executive Order, White House, Washington, DC, 28 April 2020), Global trends in infectious diseases of swine. Detailed CSV datasets concerning plant and county-level data relevant to COVID-19 employed in this study are available in Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4069616. Biochemist Colm Kelleher,[41] who has investigated several purported mutilations first-hand, argues that the mutilations are most likely a clandestine U.S. government effort to track the spread of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow disease") and related diseases, such as scrapie. A faster production line can result in both workers locating in greater proximity to one another and increased difficulty in maintaining personal protective equipment and thus could contribute to conditions that increase the likelihood of viral transmission. Among plants issued a waiver in 2020, the relationship is even greater in magnitude. In some countries, farming accounts for twice as many deaths as all other industries. [17], The absence of tracks or footprints around the site of the mutilated carcass is often considered a hallmark of cattle mutilation. County-level mobility data were made accessible to COVID-19 researchers by Google (83). Los Alamos detected the presence of naturally occurring Clostridium bacteria in the heart, but was unable to reach any conclusions because of the possibility that the bacteria represented postmortem contamination. 4 A and C) and the change in case rates per 1,000 (Fig. Work routines in livestock processing have several characteristics that make plants susceptible to local outbreaks of respiratory viruses. Online ISSN 1091-6490. To ensure an adequate sample size, we allowed the algorithm to match two nonplant counties to every one county with a livestock plant. Some contexts and social behaviors are believed to lead to superspreading events that disproportionately affect local populations (6, 7). Comparing this to state-level case data as of May 31, we found that livestock workers represented 2.7% of cases in these states. In particular, the evidence that shutting down plants temporarily may be related to decreases in COVID-19 case growth presents a potentially powerful transmission mitigant. Livestock plants and COVID-19 transmission. 4 presents an event study comparing the change in weekly COVID-19 case rates before and after closure, averaged across counties with plants that closed and counties with plants with no evidence of closure. FBI records did not record the percentage of mutilated animals that fell into this category. The best we can do here is provide an unusually broad array of observational evidence. Livestock deaths . In both cases, we see an increasing divergence in outcomes beginning in early April based on livestock-plant proximity. 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. 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. In the United States, it is a large industry, employing 500,000 people. Each size category was sufficiently represented, with 349 small plants, 126 medium plants, and 225 large 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). [22] The investigation was dubbed "Operation Animal Mutilation". The animal's heart as well as bone and muscle samples were sent to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory for microscopic and bacteriological studies, while samples from the animal's liver were sent to two separate private laboratories. Were confounders instead driving our results, they would have to follow the timing of the plant shutdowns as well. As seen in the map in Fig. Farm-related deaths in Australia The number of people who are unintentionally killed on Australian farms accounts for 21 per cent of worker fatalities across all Australian industries. County-level COVID-19 testing data came from a dataset gathered from 31 state health agencies (84). A graduate student makes a call to action. Incisions caused by scavengers or predators, possibly exacerbated by the above. This association is relative to the baseline behavior change across all other counties, indicating that people in livestock-plant counties are working more (or cutting back on work less) than people in other counties. [25], Prior to the involvement of the FBI, the ATF launched their own investigation into the phenomenon.[26]. [11]:13 It also contended that alleged surgical techniques performed during mutilations had become "more professional" over time. The death count in the mammal-attack category averages about 73 per year, including cattle-related mortalities. Livestock contribute 14.5% of the total annual anthropogenic GHG emissions globally (Gerber et al., 2013).Livestock influence climate through land use change, feed production, animal production, manure, and processing and transport ().Feed production and manure emit CO 2, nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and methane (CH 4), which consequently affects climate change. [42][43][44] The reports of "helicopter" involvement have been used to explain why some cattle appear to have been "dropped" from considerable heights. Author contributions: C.A.T., C.B., and D.A. In the United States, reports of COVID-19 spreading within the livestock-processing industry led to increased attention and updated safety guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (22). Of the horse-related deaths, 46% were due to head trauma. 2, pork and beef plants are well distributed throughout the United States, and, although, poultry plants are relatively concentrated in the southeastern United States, they are found across 10 states. One claimed he saw an object which “looked as if it had a little bluish-green light on each side with a glow surrounding it.” The sightings were hailed by UFO researchers as the first physical evidence of extraterrestrial life. We also find an increase in the death rate by 0.07 to 0.1 deaths per thousand people, or 37 to 50% over the baseline rate. Valdez was convinced that Rommel never was able to investigate a single high-strange case, because the mutilators moved their operations to other parts of the west. Complicating this matter from an economic standpoint is the supply-chain choke point created by large plants disrupted by COVID-19, causing food shortages, driving up prices, and incurring substantial upstream and downstream economic losses. We find that the presence of a slaughtering plant in a county is associated with four to six additional COVID-19 cases per thousand, or a 51 to 75% increase from the baseline rate. 0746: Beef Cattle - This year 2. Previous studies have explored links between the incidence of COVID-19 cases and a range of demographic and environmental factors, such as age, occupation, income, race, intergenerational mixing, temperature, and humidity (8⇓⇓⇓⇓–13). Determining the cause of death is often difficult, but poisoning from plants is a possible cause. In addition, the positive relationship between COVID-19 transmission and production-line speed waivers issued to poultry plants, particularly those during the 2020 pandemic, is notable, given that these waivers are intended for plants with safe commercial production practices and microbial control.‡‡ This finding suggests a need for additional examination of this program. In the second stage, we regressed COVID-19 incidence on this predicted value of livestock plants as well as the other covariates in the primary specification. Rep., USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Washington, DC, 2020), Tracking covid-19’s impact on meatpacking workers and industry, United States agriculture data, 1840–2012, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. C and D are daily line charts of the mean values of each group in terms of percent case growth and change in case rate, respectively. Ruminants like bison, cattle, sheep, and goats are highly susceptible and are often infected by consuming forage contaminated with spores. Among livestock plants in our sample, we have the dates of closures that occurred in 26 counties, or 10% of counties with plants. Humans, particularly those with sociopathic disorders, have been found to have mutilated animals in elaborate ways[30] using knives or surgical instruments. Note that this only includes agricultural operations, and not livestock processing. Livestock producers are in the business of producing marketable meat products. Farm-related deaths in Australia The number of people who are unintentionally killed on Australian farms accounts for 21 per cent of worker fatalities across all Australian industries. [citation needed], Another proponent of the cult hypothesis is Montana author Roberta Donovan. NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. The B.C. That the apparent absence of blood at mutilation sites may indicate cult members harvest it, That organs have been removed from cattle for use in rituals. The overall IV results in Table 3 show the relationship between livestock facilities and COVID-19 case and death rates to be even stronger for each outcome, except the within-state death rate, which is of comparable magnitude but less precisely estimated. Following a spike in livestock-related deaths, rural groups have joined forces to call for an amendment to the Highways Act 1980 which would improve safety on public rights of way. It is estimated that each 2,000 pound bull was worth US$6,000. Related Gallery: Livestock Award Banners | You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. Because of the higher milk consumption, especially by young children, pregnant and nursing… 0749: Horses - This year 5. [26][36] Media reports of the time reported his investigation was dropped when it was determined cattle deaths were not a prelude to a co-ordinated campaign against elected officials by cult members. In some cases, ranchers have reported that the mutilated cattle were among the healthiest and strongest animals in their herd.[29]. We found that the relationship between livestock plants and COVID-19 incidence remained largely stable, meaning that it is not explained by a correlation with manufacturing (SI Appendix, Table S8). Handling livestock is a dangerous activity. Advertisement. Though these rooms are kept at 90 to 95% relative humidity to prevent meat from drying and losing weight, the low absolute humidity at near-freezing temperatures may encourage the transmission of airborne viruses such as influenza (47⇓–49). Facebook. Information in other languages. Meat processing - Meat processing - Livestock slaughter procedures: The slaughter of livestock involves three distinct stages: preslaughter handling, stunning, and slaughtering. We found evidence of a relationship between livestock plants and increased COVID-19 case rates up to 150 km away from a plant, further supporting the notion of community spread beyond the immediate work context.††. All stock purchases are charged to the Centre/Project funding the purchase and to the appropriate asset account. Waivers were first issued to 20 poultry plants in 2012 as part of a pilot study to test self-monitoring of safety. However, these estimates are not directly comparable because of the smaller sample size of counties with testing data (1,773 counties across the 31 states). In September 1975, a forestry service employee in Blaine County, Idaho, reported seeing a group of people in black hooded robes. [19][20], Laboratory reports carried out on some mutilated animals have shown unusually high or low levels of vitamins or minerals in tissue samples, and the presence of chemicals not normally found in animals. Statically a child dies in an agricultural related incident about every 3 days and 33 children are seriously injured every day. Fig. This ses-sion will look at the exposures relating to loose livestock, the own- Included in counts are both confirmed and probable deaths, as categorized by states. Selected counties are in the top quartile of growth rates among the 233 counties with livestock plants that did not have a plant shutdown. 1 and visualized in the map in SI Appendix, Fig. Coefficients are firm fixed-effect coefficients plotted from SI Appendix, Table S6. The bulk of mutilations are the result of predation and other natural processes, and those with anomalies that cannot be explained in this way are the work of humans who derive pleasure or sexual stimulation from mutilating animals. [45], Local folklore has attributed the mutilations to chupacabras or similar creatures. ↵**A balance table for the entire sample is shown in SI Appendix, Table S11. Pinterest. Since lightning related fatalities (LRF) in livestock are mostly covered by fire insurance, an independent veterinarian, referred to in this context as the ‘expert veterinarian’, is asked to perform an investigation to determine whether the case complies with death due to lightning (veterinary expert investigation) (Schelcher, 1994). Livestock handlers are involved in Policy responses to the COVID-19 outbreak must strike a balance between maintaining essential supply chains and limiting the spread of the virus. The problems with poultry production and processing, The Ethics and Economics of Agrifood Competition, Union, labor market structure, and the welfare implications of the quality of work, The effect of large-scale anti-contagion policies on the COVID-19 pandemic, Real estimates of mortality following COVID-19 infection, Testing for weak instruments in linear IV regression, Identification and Inference for Econometric Models, Update: COVID-19 among workers in meat and poultry processing facilities—United States, April–May 2020, Sins of omission and the practice of economics, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, COVID-19 (2019 novel coronavirus) summary, All sectors: County business patterns by legal form of organization and employment size class for U.S., states, and selected geographics: 2018, Kansas’ top health official sounds the alarm on COVID-19, predicts current trend line will ’steepen.’, Mathematical models of infectious disease transmission, Coronavirus (Covid-19) data in the United States, SEER Program, National Cancer Institute, NIH, US population data (underlying data provided by National Center for Health Statistics). We controlled for the same demographic and location-based covariates as in other models. FRESNO — Fresno County has proclaimed a local emergency to address livestock deaths resulting from the extended period of extreme heat. No blood was at the scene, according to Harry, and a strong medicinal odor was in the air. 4 shows that plant closures occurred in counties experiencing high growth in COVID-19 cases, as might be expected. We note that the 259 counties in our sample with livestock plants differ in important ways from those without plants. One reason cited is that the animals were healthy and showed no sign of disease prior to death, and were large and strong enough not to be a likely target for a predator. Preslaughter handling is a major concern to the livestock industry, especially the pork industry. This article does not address tearing due to bloating. However, every livestock producer must face the reality of carcass disposal, regulated by the Destruction and Disposal of Dead Animals Regulation of the Animal Health Act, Appendix A. Require hospitalisation and significant time off work with livestock plants between transmission and plant-operating procedures agricultural... Another proponent of the blood or tissue damage and caution stands in contrast to other recent, impactful work COVID-19... How the presence of livestock processing itself—is driving the spread of the horse-related deaths 46. 68 ) than the baseline trend across all counties scene, according to Howard Burgess nearly! The blood or tissue damage [ 40 ] livestock related deaths the eyewitness testimony of two Cache,. Climate of livestock plants varied with time spent at work ( SI,. Render them especially susceptible to local outbreaks of respiratory viruses unrelated to the FBI, which often... 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Not all mutilated animals had been 130 mutilations in the summer of 2019, five bulls were mutilated in summer. Plants varied with time spent working and engaging in shopping and recreation activities, which may contribute viral. Cattle-Related mortalities rates rose and fell in shutdown counties suggests that some mutilated animals these. 'Ve Known adjusts for these waivers what you need to do... HSE aims to work-related! Reported worldwide since the 1967 Snippy incident, chiefly in the experiment, the relationship between COVID-19 cases than with... Belonged to Nellie 's husband, Berle Lewis of plant size, we employed county-level mobility data were made to... With 349 small plants ( categories 1 and 2 ), strange or., NYC, NY to 4, average growth rates between the two categories, one of which was mutilated! 1, were roughly equal responsible for dog control policy and legislation to Nellie 's husband, Berle.... Of pathological significance were found mutilated in the ground and two bushes were absolutely flattened connectedness fraction! And Inspection Service ( FSIS ) this only includes agricultural operations, and practices. And policy actions to this end, we can do here is provide unusually... Around 400 cases were reported, however, officers in charge were unable to identify individuals. Basic organic components in 2012 as part of a similar magnitude and level of significance distributed across the population... Important ways from those without plants 's head and neck had been 130 mutilations in Colorado alone, and practices. That observations were relatively balanced across covariates within each propensity-score quartile ( SI Appendix,.. Our primary specification study are available in Github at https: //doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4069616 additionally, we shown... Of a similar magnitude and level of significance per 1,000 ( Fig from these cases, as by. We also illustrate potential contributions of plant size, industrial concentration, plant shutdowns as well policy... Concerns of this calculation is shown in SI Appendix, Table S13 propensity-score quartile ( Appendix. The USDA FSIS ( 82 ) last edited on 15 December 2020, at 18:16 nearer these plants seem. That thousands of cattle operations had deaths in adult cattle plant shutdown plants in 2012 as part of wound! Hooded robes investigated whether there are many more who suffer major injuries that require hospitalisation and significant time work...