Bruce Rotz Violates New York Law
JOIN Animals’ Angels Complaint to Bring the Notorious PA Kill Buyer to Justice!!
Pennsylvania kill buyer Bruce Rotz, whose willful disregard of animal protection laws has made him a frequent subject of past Animals’ Angels investigations, has broken the law yet again, and once again the Animals’ Angels team has stepped up to investigate, document, and report his illegal activities.
For years, our investigators have personally witnessed and reported numerous instances of abuse, neglect, and legal violations perpetrated by the notoriously cruel kill buyer/broker in an effort to expose his inhumane slaughter operations.
As one of the largest shippers on the East Coast, Rotz routinely acquires horses at auctions in Pennsylvania, New York, and Tennessee before callously shipping the animals to their deaths at the Viande Richelieu horse slaughter plant in Quebec, Canada.
Over the years, Rotz has committed a long list of offenses against innocent horses. A small selection of his evil deeds include:
Transporting a group of horses to slaughter in conditions that resulted in thirty of the horses being burned alive.
Overloading a trailer of horses purchased at auction, resulting in the death of ten horses after the vehicle crashed.
Shipping blind and injured horses to slaughter.
Locking four distressed, sick, emaciated pigs in a barn for days without any access to food or water, while withholding pain medicine. Rotz pled guilty to aggravated animal cruelty and incurred a $100 fine and 12-months of probation with the stipulation that he refrain from neglecting or abusing any animal in his care.
Rotz Breaks New Law in New York
Undaunted by the long list of offenses accumulated during his shameful career in the slaughter business, Bruce Rotz has struck again, this time by violating a law that was passed just one year ago in the State of New York.
On December 13, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed bills A5109/S2163B into law, banning the slaughter of horses throughout the state and making it illegal for any entity to transport horses in or through the state of New York if the horses are intended to be slaughtered for human or animal consumption.
A violation of the law is considered a misdemeanor, and a first-time violation of the law is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 per horse for an individual and up to $2,500 per horse for a corporation, association, or other entity.
In the year since the new law was enacted, Animals’ Angels has worked hard to collect information about Rotz’s shipping activity in New York. After months of research and multiple calls to different agencies to request a range of documents, we discovered that, true to form, Rotz had broken the law on at least eight different occasions with no regard for the consequences.
We were excited to obtain documented proof that, in the months since the law went into effect in April 2024, Rotz (doing business as Rotz Livestock) has shipped over 200 horses through the crossing in Champlain, New York straight to the Viande Richelieu horse slaughter plant in Quebec, Canada.
Animals’ Angels Files Complaint Against Rotz
After discovering Rotz’s flagrant violations of New York’s new anti-slaughter law over the last year, the Animals’ Angels team quickly filed a complaint with New York State Attorney General Letitia James, providing evidence of Rotz’s crimes and requesting that an investigation be opened. A copy of the complaint was provided to Governor Kathy Hochul and Commissioner of Agriculture Richard Ball.
We also contacted all legislative sponsors of the bills, copying them on the complaint filed with the attorney general and alerting them to Rotz’s offensive violation of their bills.
The legislators we contacted included J. Gary Pretlow and Deborah Glick in the New York State Assembly and Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. in the New York State Senate.
We are now waiting to hear back as to the steps the attorney general plans to take in order to ensure the law is enforced and that Bruce Rotz faces justice.
Based on the punishment guidelines defined in the law, Rotz’s business could face a penalty of $2,500 for each horse he transported to slaughter, which means he is facing fines totaling $500,000 or more for these violations.
Help Bring Rotz to Justice!
You can add your voice to those calling for Rotz to be held to account for his flagrant violations of the new anti-slaughter law by contacting Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, Commissioner Ball (NY Department of Agriculture & Markets and Kathy Hochul, the Governor of the State of New York.
PLEASE call, email, or write to them today. Tell them how passionately you feel about this law and its enforcement, and make sure to ask them to investigate Bruce Rotz and hold him accountable.
We also encourage all our supporters and all animal advocates who read this newsletter to share this information with as many people as possible and ask them to join this call to action as well.
Hopefully, our combined efforts will convince Attorney General Letitia James to investigate Rotz and hold him accountable for his numerous violations of the law the legislators and animal advocates have worked so hard to enact.
Contact Information:
New York Attorney General Letitia James
1-800-771-7755
New York Department of Agriculture and Markets
Commissioner Richard Ball
(518) 457-2771 |
Commissioner@agriculture.ny.gov
New York Governor Kathy Hochul
1-518-474-8390
https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form