On 12/07/17 (Thursday) at 9:00pm, the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office became aware of a letter from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) with attached documentation from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding an investigation conducted by the USDA.

USDA documentation chronicled an investigation into the death of an “aggressive beef cow” at Masami Foods on November 1st, 2017 which apparently was not conducted in a manner approved by federal and/or state guidelines for slaughter. Masami Foods was sanctioned by the USDA following this event and the KCSO was not notified at that time by the USDA inspector.

It was learned that PETA sent the same information to local news organizations in order to “alert” them to their belief a crime had occurred during the slaughter of this particular aggressive cow. It became apparent that news organizations received this information prior to the KCSO and at least one news outlet ran the story without comment from law enforcement. This quickly sparked public concern that the crime of Animal Abuse First Degree had occurred during the slaughter of this animal.

After reviewing the information contained in the USDA investigative report, Klamath County Sheriff Chris Kaber met this morning with two Sheriff’s Office large animal criminal investigators and later with the Klamath County District Attorney. It was determined no crime had been committed in the death of the cow and the appropriate USDA sanction of Masami Foods had already been executed, and subsequently lifted, more than one month ago.

The Klamath County Sheriff’s Office will not be investigating Masami Foods or the involved employee as requested by PETA. As stated previously, it was the consensus of law enforcement investigators and Klamath County District Attorney that no crime had been committed.

Press release from Chris Kaber, Klamath County Sheriff

***Klamath Falls News was not provided a letter from PETA.