GREENBACK, Tenn. (WATE) — Federal inspections of a butcher shop in Greenback have been suspended after the United States Department of Agriculture found that it had inhumanely handled and slaughtered livestock.

The suspension came on Oct. 12 from the USDA stating that the Butcher Shop at Hyde Farms had failed to handle livestock humanely in accordance with the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1978 and regulations instituted by the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, all meat sold commercially must be inspected and passed to ensure all regulation have been adhered to. Inspections at the shop will not resume until written corrective actions and preventative measures are provided to make sure the animals at the slaughterhouse will be handled humanely.

According to the findings of the suspension, a bovine was placed in a head catch, and a stun operator used a rifle to stun the animal but failed to do so. The operator attempted five more stuns, which also failed. That’s when the owner of the slaughterhouse, Gerald Hyde, got a handgun which was then put onto the head of the cow and fired and according to the suspension, “The animal was rendered insensible by this attempt and remained so thereafter.”

The suspension stated that this act of “inhumane handling incident” was a violation of the humane slaughter requirements among other serious violations.

Hyde will have to address the root cause of the incident, the reason why it occurred, actions are taken to eliminate the cause of this incident and a plan to prevent this from happening in the future.