Activists protest at company blamed for 'river of pigs' blood'

Dallas - An animal rights group protested outside a Dallas meat packaging plant last night, after it was accused of churning out pigs' blood directly into a creek, which led to the Trinity river.

Members of the Animal Connection of Texas (ACT), "dedicated to the elimination of animal suffering" gathered outside the plant, to stand against the company that pumped pigs' blood into a Texas creek last week, turning it red. The Columbia Packing Plant is currently under criminal investigation for supposedly letting pigs' blood from their slaughter plant, drain into a nearby creek that feeds into the Trinity River. City officials say the dumping is possibly illegal and an environmental hazard. Authorities were alerted on Jan. 19, after a tip from an anonymous man, who with his remote-controlled airplane and camera, captured the scarlet creek on film. Last Thursday the EPA, TCEQ, plusTexas Parks and Wildlife executed a search warrant at the plant with the Dallas County Health and Human Services concluding that the pig blood, was coming from an underground pipe near the back of the facility. Since then, both the City and the plant appear to be taking slightly different stands. The packing company is saying the City is responsible for not keeping the sewer clear, while the City is citing several violations from the company including dumping grease, pig flesh and pig hair into the sewer. Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer, found the entire situation unnerving, especially as the plant "is saying it put the pig blood, pig flesh and pig hair into the sewer the right way," he said. He's shocked that "there's a right way to put pig blood, pig flesh and pig hair down the sewer" at all. Apparently the plant could be dumping waste from its pigs legal under permits, suggests Schutze, who then queries whether other permits allow for "God-knows-what-else [...being put...] into the system". Meanwhile, the amateur enthusiast who discovered the creek, told sUAS News: "I was looking at images after the flight that showed a blood red creek and was thinking, could this really be what I think it is? Can you really do that, surely not? Whatever it is, it was flat out gross." The Columbia Packing Company, in a Jan. 26 statement, said it has "an excellent record of safety and quality," and "that a clog in the sewer line, had caused the flow to back up into an overflow vent line." The City, they said, had been aware of the clog problem for "41 days" before "notifying us of the problem." The plant also added that "the clog has now been removed," and lines are now flowing cleanly and "in compliance with city code".