Animal protection advocates are celebrating the closure of Manning Beef in Pico Rivera, the last cattle slaughterhouse in Los Angeles county limits. It marks what they said is a significant victory for animals, workers, and the nearby community.
Ben Williamson, executive director of Animal Outlook, said the closure, evinced by a disconnected phone line and no activity on the premises for weeks, follows their nonprofit’s undercover investigation that revealed what the group calls the most severe case of animal cruelty in its 30-year history.
“This closure represents justice for the countless animals who suffered unimaginable cruelty at Manning Beef,” he said. “Our investigation revealed systematic torture that shocked even our most experienced investigators, The community spoke loudly and clearly — this kind of cruelty has no place in Los Angeles. Now we must ensure this property never again becomes a site of animal suffering.”
Williamson said Animal Outlook is launching a public campaign urging Force10 Partners, the investment firm representing Manning Beef’s bankruptcy proceedings, not to sell the property to any company that intends to use it for meat processing or animal slaughtering. It is directing supporters to email the company and voice their opinions.
“Force10 Partners has the power to discontinue this cycle of cruelty and ensure that Pico Rivera never again hosts industrial animal slaughter,” Williamson said.
Force10 Partners did not respond to emails asking for its response to the campaign. Calls to Manning Beef did not go through.
Steve Carmona, Pico Rivera’s city manager, said the City Council is aware of Manning Beef’s recent bankruptcy filing and are monitoring the process.
“As the property transitions to its next chapter, our priority is ensuring that any future use aligns with Pico Rivera’s long-term goals, community values, and the quality-of-life standards our residents expect. We are committed to working with all parties to support a positive and compatible outcome for our city,” Carmona said.
Manning Beef, founded in 1920, had accumulated 61 humane handling violations between 2018 and 2024, for allegedly starving animals, shocking them excessively and beating them in the face, according to Animal Outlook. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended the company multiple times, according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service website, but Williamson said it continued to supply federal child nutrition programs until its closure.
The evidence Animal Outlook’s undercover investigator gathered while working at Manning Beef for two separate months in 2024 showed the violations were not isolated incidents but rather systemic abuses ingrained in the company’s practices, “from workers to supervisors to corporate leadership, this culture of cruelty pervaded every level of the operation,” Williamson said.
The company, which as of September, reportedly employed nearly 30 people, has seen its share of controversy in recent years.
In 2020, actor Joaquin Phoenix spoke with Anthony DiMaria, owner of Manning Beef, before rescuing a mother cow named Liberty and her newborn calf Indigo. Phoenix had won an Academy Award for Best Actor the night before and spoke about animal farming and how people can be compassionate toward all sentient beings.
In 2021, 41 cows escaped from Manning Beef and ran through the streets of Pico Rivera and South El Monte, injuring at least one person. Two of these animals were rescued by Hollywood songwriter Dianne Warren. The rest were slaughtered for meat.
Those two rescues, named June B. Free and Susan, joined the mother and daughter duo of Liberty and Indigo at Farm Sanctuary in Acton.
Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, was with Phoenix during the Pico Rivera visit, said while he is grateful DiMaria surrendered the mother cow and her calf five years ago, “I wish all slaughterhouses would close.”
Baur said the company’s closure is a symbolic victory that is part of a bigger picture.
“Other slaughterhouses will pick up their work, and I think this is a practical opportunity to do something different and better,” he said, encouraging Pico Rivera residents to speak up about what happens in their neighborhood.
“If we have a chance not to cause unnecessary harm, why wouldn’t we? Every day each of us can make decisions about what we eat and those decisions influence whether animals are exploited or killed.”
At the 39-acre Farm Sanctuary, which also has another location in upstate New York, the four animals rescued from Manning Beef are among about 500 animals in the sanctuary’s care.
“They get to be themselves in a peaceful place, and never have to worry about humans harming them,” Baur said.