On Friday we showed you a picture of a half dozen horses with their hooves in the air behind a south Bakersfield business. The viewer who sent it to us says they were partially covered in plastic and were being dipped in formaldhyde. "When neighbors start to see mini rendering plants behind business that concerns us so," said Senator Dean Florez, Shafter(D).
Sargeant's Wholesale Biologicals, near District and Stine, processes large and medium-sized animals for dissection by students at places like veterinary schools. "A lot of times they will have smaller animals, but apparently they had some horses in the back of this facility which is visibly disturbing to see," said Brian Pitts of the Kern County Environmental Health Department.
The USDA confirms what owner Michael Sargeant told us. His business is randomly inspected and has been found to be in compliance with all federal laws for the last several years of available records.
The county environmental and public health departments also looked into the facility Friday. Pitts says, "If any industry handles their process correctly, we wouldn't get involved. As of (Wednesday) morning, the information that we have from the city is yes, the animals come in are processed and are removed."
But Florez wrote a letter to the state department of food and ag calling on them to take a closer look too. "They have an investigative team and they are going to hopefully come out sometime today (Wednesday), maybe tomorrow (Thursday)."
Sargeant didn't return our calls Tuesday night or Wednesday, but he told us last week the horses are shipped to him dead. He says the horses are often sick or old and headed to rendering facilities where they are broken down into products. He sees his business as a valuable resource to education.
