Hanging prompts complaints
US - Animal rights groups are calling for the Iowa Department of Agriculture to investigate a veterinarian who they claim testified in an Ohio court that a pig farm humanely killed hogs by strangling them to death.The groups, including the Humane Farming Association, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and The Humane Society of the United States, are calling for sanctions against Dr. Paul Armbrecht, a veterinarian in Lake City, Iowa.
They sent a letter and a DVD of Armbrecht's testimony to the Agriculture Department's Iowa Board of Veterinary Medicine on Friday. The letter states that when Armbrecht served as a paid expert and delivered testimony in the Ohio case, he likely violated the Iowa Veterinary Practice Act by supporting actions that constitute livestock neglect. The groups said the act prohibits 'knowingly making misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representation in the practice of the profession.'
In the letter, they ask for disciplinary action 'up to and including revocation of his license to practice veterinary medicine.'
A telephone message left for Armbrecht at his office Monday afternoon wasn't immediately returned.