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Gail Eisnitz, chief investigator of the Humane Farming Association (HFA), is determined to expose injustices so huge many people in positions of power won’t even admit the problems exist. Facing such odds, others might have given up. But not Eisnitz. Since 1992, she has devoted herself to documenting the atrocities committed day after day in America’s slaughterhouses. Frustrated by the media consistently turning a cold shoulder to her story, she wrote Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect and Inhumane Treatment Inside the US Meat Industry. Eisnitz interviewed meatpacking workers as well as US Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors. She visited bars on the edge of slaughterhouse towns to listen to workers’ experiences. She went on killing floors, sometimes undercover, but always with the courage to get the photographs, tape-record the conversation or establish the trust of a whistleblower nervous about losing his or her job. Even facing threats of violence, she delivered. The meat so abundant in America’s supermarkets belies a host of appalling federal crimes and public health risks. Her evidence proves that cattle are routinely skinned and dismembered while still conscious; live hogs are lowered into tanks of scalding water; crippled animals are whipped, kicked, strangled and beaten to death with lead pipes; diseased meat often finds its way into the processing plant and E. coli and salmonella have skyrocketed since the USDA reduced its number of inspectors. This kind of investigative journalism is crucial to the success of the animal protection movement because it sets the record straight. Top officials at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service can no longer claim ignorance or underestimate the extent of the problems that run rampant in the meatpacking industry. For this outstanding work, as well as her investigations into greyhound racing, the theft of companion animals for laboratory research, puppy-mills, factory farm violations and more, Eisnitz truly deserves AWI’s 2004 Albert Schweitzer Medal. In Eisnitz’s 23 years of working on behalf of animals, two accomplishments rise above all others in her mind. Getting unprecedented front-page coverage in The Washington Post’s April 2001 article “They Die Piece by Piece,” an exposé by Pulitzer-prize winning author Joby Warrick, was one milestone. Eisnitz provided the bulk of evidence for the story and was delighted when it became The Washington Post’s second highest reader-response piece. Eisnitz also takes satisfaction in the critical role she played in stopping construction on tribal trust land of what was planned to be the world’s third largest pig factory. Working with Lakota and other local activists in South Dakota, as well as HFA’s lawyer Jim Dougherty, Eisnitz succeeded in gathering damning evidence needed to shut down the factory on Rosebud Reservation.
At the awards presentation, held on November 8, 2004 at the Russell Senate Office in Washington, DC, AWI President Cathy Liss acknowledged not only Eisnitz’s courage in helping all animals, but her compassion for people as well. “During the course of her investigations, she has had to work with some of the very people who have committed heinous acts against animals, or who witnessed such acts without trying to stop them….She has listened intently to their stories, without condemning them, and through this patient restraint, she has earned their trust,” Liss said. After Liss’ introduction, Gary Dahl, a leader in the American Federation of Government Employees Federal Meat and Poultry Inspectors Union, gave Eisnitz an award on behalf of his union. “Gail is all about making a difference,” he said. She has “a drive second to none in doing what’s best and right for all humanity.” John Mackey presented the Albert Schweitzer Medal. As president of Whole Foods Market, now 166 stores strong in North America and the United Kingdom, he’s built his store’s reputation on selling natural and organic foods. Eisnitz and Mackey had never met before the awards event, but they share a mutual respect and understanding that the success of each person’s work depends upon the other. Mackey sees Eisnitz’s investigations as deeply important and filled with integrity. Eisnitz, in turn, sees Mackey’s initiative to develop humane standards for all farmed animals as a huge part of the solution to inhumane factory farming. Products from animals raised according to those standards will be marketed under the label “Animal Compassionate” in Whole Foods’ stores. “Animal Welfare Institute has been by far the biggest contributor to the process,” Mackey said. AWI’s Farm Animal Advisor, Diane Halverson, has been involved in the work from the start, providing Whole Foods with the framework for the standards created thus far. Eisnitz recognized Mackey’s “enlightened approach” to food marketing and production by saying it gives her tremendous hope for the future. She also noted that AWI’s founder, Christine Stevens, was the first person in animal welfare to hire her.
In sizing up her own contribution to the animals she said: “…. these issues are now on the national radar screen. And a lot of people who never saw past the cellophane packages in supermarket meat cases are thinking about what sentient animals go through to arrive on America’s dinner plates.” Eisnitz’s book Slaughterhouse has often been compared to the 1906 historical novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. She clearly deserves as much credit as Sinclair for opening the eyes of ordinary citizens and condemning the collusion of public officials with big business. Like the original muckrakers, Eisnitz has stirred America’s conscience and her work will long have an impact in helping make our country a more just and compassionate nation.
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