Investigation: Pig’s Blood Flowing into Trinity River

Blood clearly visible on the left, one of the images used as evidence. | sUAS News

From MyFox
By Lynn Kawano

DALLAS – An Oak Cliff meat-packing company is the focus of a pollution investigation.

The Columbia Packing Company is on East 11th Street. It is very close to a section of the Trinity River that the city wants to develop for recreation.

Two months ago a resident taking pictures of the area noticed the water behind the plant was dark red. He notified the county.

The Department of Health and Human Services took its own pictures and confirmed the water in Cedar Creek was suspicious. Cedar Creek feeds into the Trinity River.

On Thursday a search warrant was executed on the 99-year-old slaughter house and meat-packing plant. Investigators said they found an underground pipe leading into the creek and the substance in the pipe tested positive for pig’s blood.

“This additional pipe, the pipe is there and why is it there? And who put it in?” asked Zachary Thompson, the spokesman for the health department.

Those are questions all the agencies involved – from the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department – now want answered.

In the meantime, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office would not comment about the investigation or what kind of charges the plant operators could face.

FOX 4 did try to contact someone at the plant but was not allowed on the property. The company’s attorney did not return phone calls.

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