SPAM Slaughterhouse to Become Senior Citizens Center

Catelli Bros., Inc.—a slaughterhouse in Shrewsbury, NJ—will be soon be demolished to accommodate a new business, Sunrise Senior Center. The slaughterhouse was a supplier to pork company Hormel Foods, and the target of an investigation conducted by animal-rights group Humane Society of the United States, which exposed rampant cruelty in the handling of young calves at the facility in 2014. The new space will be a three-story building with 111 beds that will provide health care and living assistance to the elderly. “I think it would be an asset to the town,” Shrewsbury zoning board chairman Judy Martinelly said. “I don’t think we have any objectors at all.” Melissa Clifton-Bahrs owns an adjacent eyebrow grooming business and expressed relief that the slaughterhouse is shuttering. “It’s unsettling, knowing what’s going on next door, also seeing trucks of animals come by at night,” Clifton-Bahrs said. “It’s not a very nice thing.” A 2015 investigation conducted by animal-rights organization Compassion Over Killing revealed similar abuse of pigs at a Minnesota-based Hormel supplier.