Griffin Industries to discontinue dead animal pickup

Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 10:52 am

Effective Juy 1, a dead animal pickup service will no longer be provided by Griffin Industries, The Messenger has learned.
General manager Dennis Sigman formally notified Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire to that effect in a letter dated May 10.
The issue is included on the business agenda for Friday’s meeting of the Obion County Budget Committee.
Sigman said the service has been provided in this area since at least 1983. But now it’s about to end.
He explained the decision.
“It was a ruling by the federal government that the products that are generated from (dead animals) can no longer be used in anything to feed animals,” he said.
Sigman declined to comment further. He referred The Messenger to company headquarters in Cold Spring, Ky. Corporate officials could not be reached for comment.
Sigman’s letter to McGuire reads in part, “Please be advised that Griffin did not make this decision in haste, but after many months of study on the economic impact of the new feed rule enacted Oct. 27, 2009, and codified (in federal regulations). …
“John L. Griffin built this company on dead animal removal service, and it is with deep regret that we inform you that we can no longer provide this core service. …”
Tim Smith, extension director for the local UT Extension Office, said farmers will have no other choice but to bury their dead animals. “They take responsibility for their animals, they have to take responsibility for them when they die,” he said.
And Obion County is just one of many counties affected.
“Griffin did this service for all of West Tennessee, most of all Middle Tennessee. They were hauling animals here from Wayne County, for example, and I’m assuming from western Kentucky,  too,” he  said.
“Now farmers will have to dispose of the carcasses themselves, bury them.”
But what do you do with a dead deer out on a highway?
“You just let it  rot, I guess. It’s a good question. It’s a health concern for everybody in the county,” he said.
Published in The Messenger 6.1.10