Nuclear Beef

Shooting a cow turned Dave Louthan into a crusader

On Dec. 9, at Vern's Moses Lake Meats in Moses Lake, Wash., Mr. Louthan killed the only mad cow found in the United States.

Two weeks later, he says, he was dismissed after four years as Vern's slaughterer when he talked to the television crews outside and told them he was sure the cow, ground into hamburger, had already been eaten. The plant's owners did not return calls seeking comment.

"I got a big mouth," he said in a telephone interview.
...
Mr. Louthan said the agent who ordered him to be quiet suggested that he was akin to "an urban terrorist" for spreading alarm about beef.

"I'm not," Mr. Louthan said. "I just want to enjoy my cheeseburger like anybody else. I don't want to think: Is this the magic burger that's going to kill me?"

Every story I read about an individual in the meat industry scares the living bejeezus out of me. Anyone who says anything remotely critical about their masters seems to get completely effed over. The whistleblowers are often so kooky, however, that it's hard to be sure what to think. Are there any sane people in the Meat Industry?

Props to A. on the hookup.