Six Steers Shot and Killed After Escape From Meatpacking Plant

Six steers that escaped from a National City meatpacking house were shot and killed by slaughterhouse employees Friday while trapped in a parking lot.

The animals escaped from the Cuyamaca Meat Co. in the 2500 block of Cleveland Avenue at 9:15 a.m. and wandered two blocks before being herded into a fenced parking lot, said Bill Grove, manager of the slaughterhouse.

After catching up with the cattle, employees shot and killed five of the six animals before officials from animal control arrived and shot and killed the last one, police said.

“When (cattle) get out, and when they get excited, and people start chasing them and yelling at them, it makes them a little wild,” Grove said. “We could have taken the same animals and herded them back, but, with the cars and people on the street, it could have been dangerous.”

Witnesses complained that the shooting of the cattle took about an hour and a half and was cruel.

“I’m still upset about it,” said Valerie King, an employee of Motivational Systems, where the cattle were fenced in. “They killed them slowly. They didn’t use enough power, and it took a long time for the cows to die.”

“It was really cruel,” King said. “There was one that refused to die, and it walked around with a bullet between his eyes.”

Jerry Landes, operations manager at Motivational Systems, said nobody asked for permission to fire into the parking lot and that “there didn’t appear to be much concern for safety.”

Landes said employees of his firm were working in the building behind the cattle while the animals were being shot. No bullets penetrated the building walls, Landes said.

Police said the incident did not violate any codes on the firing of weapons in public, and that the case is closed.

Grove said the animals escaped while being inspected by an officer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture through a gate that had not been properly secured.