Dear Secretary Rollins,

<h3>The USDA is preparing to give up to $500 million to independent slaughterhouses through the SPUR program.</h3> <h3>I'm writing to ask you to add one safeguard before that money goes out.</h3> <h3>On September 11, 2024, a USDA inspector at a slaughterhouse in Montague County, Texas, watched a bull get shot in the head four times. After three shots, the inspector wrote that he "remained upright and conscious and was visibly bleeding."</h3> <h3>This isn't an isolated case. The Animal Welfare Institute found that from 2019 to 2022, 37% of the slaughter violations USDA inspectors cited were for animals still conscious after being shot or stunned. That's up from 13% a decade earlier.</h3> <h3>Many Americans believe no slaughter is ever kind. At the very least, federal law requires that animals be made unconscious first.</h3> <h3>Taxpayers shouldn't reward slaughterhouses that fail even that test.</h3> <h3>Please check every applicant's USDA inspection record before SPUR payments are made, and deny funding to any slaughterhouse cited for mistreating animals.</h3> <h3>Thank you for your consideration.</h3>