Story posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Exposé Shines Light On Dairy Farm Cruelty
Wagner Farm Rescue Fund (WFRF) and Have A Heart Farm (HAHF) Founder and President Debby Rubenstein notes:
Our friends at Mercy for Animals (www.mercyforanimals.org), who excel at undercover investigations, recently released the following:
"A newly released Mercy For Animals investigation is pulling back the curtains on the largest dairy factory farm in New York State - Willet Dairy in Locke. The investigation, which broke on ABC's World News Tonight and Nightline, is exposing millions of Americans to the hidden cruelty common in the dairy industry.
Evidence gathered at the dairy facility reveals:
Cows with bloody open wounds, prolapsed uteruses, pus-filled infections and swollen joints, apparently left to suffer without veterinary care
"Downed" cows - those too sick or injured to even stand - left to suffer for weeks before dying or being killed
Workers hitting, kicking, punching, and electric-shocking cows and calves
Calves having their horns burned off without painkillers, as a worker shoved his fingers into the calves' eyes to restrain them
Calves having their tails cut off - a painful practice opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association
Newborn calves forcibly dragged away from their mothers by their legs, causing emotional distress to both mother and calf
Cows living in overcrowded sheds on manure-coated concrete flooring
Workers injecting cows with a controversial bovine growth hormone, used to increase milk production
In a joint statement, internationally renowned experts, including Dr. Bernard Rollin, an expert witness on animal welfare issues in the U.S. and abroad, and Dr. Temple Grandin, a world-renowned cattle welfare expert and advisor to the USDA, compared the conditions documented at Willet to the infamous Hallmark slaughterhouse, where undercover video exposing abuse of downed cows resulted in the largest beef recall in US history. They state, "This dairy presents at least as bad a picture of the industry as does Hallmark." New York veterinarian, Dr. Holly Cheever, bluntly stated, "(It) is my professional opinion that the environment that this dairy provides as well as its cattle-handling techniques are improper, unhygienic, dangerous, and inhumane."
Despite the overwhelming evidence that the dairy operation repeatedly violated New York's animal cruelty laws, which was meticulously compiled by Mercy For Animals and presented to the Cayuga County District Attorney, the law enforcement agency refuses to uphold the state's laws to protect animals - allowing abuse to continue at Willet, unchecked.
Sadly, the inhumane conditions uncovered at this factory farm are not isolated. Whether raised for meat, dairy or eggs, animals used in food production are frequently subjected to appalling confinement, mutilations, brutal handling and slaughter. Because agribusiness values profit over ethical principles, cruelty to animals continues to run rampant on factory farms.
Thankfully, compassionate consumers can choose to withdraw their support of these abusive industries by adopting a vegan diet. Each time we eat we can choose kindness over cruelty.
Also thankfully, this expose has led to some major changes in the dairy industry. Mercy for Animals has also noted, "there has been some major fall-out from Mercy For Animals' New York dairy farm investigation that could change state law, prevent cruelty to thousands of animals and open the hearts and minds of millions of Americans to the plight of dairy cows!
After reviewing MFA's investigation, New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal proposed a ban on tail docking - A.09732 - similar to one that was enacted in California last year. Tail docking, which involves cutting off the ends of calves' tails - severing through sensitive skin, nerves and bone without any painkillers - is among the most disturbing practices MFA's undercover investigator captured on film at Willet Dairy - New York's largest dairy mega-farm.
Although the American Veterinary Medical Association condemns tail docking as painful and unnecessary and cutting off the tails of horses has been illegal in New York for decades, it remains common practice in the dairy industry.
MFA's release of cruelty footage at Willet Dairy has also led to Leprino Foods, a Denver-based cheese producer, dropping Willet as a milk supplier. Leprino distributes cheese to the three largest pizza companies in the United States - Pizza Hut, Dominos and Papa John's.
Perhaps most importantly, this investigation has brought to light the issue of animal cruelty within the dairy industry to millions of Americans for the first time."
Recently, animal rights protesters in Vienna, Austria had to intervene in macabre scientific experiments that involved the burying of pigs in snow and then monitoring their deaths. It was being claimed by scientists that these experiments were being done to determine factors in how long humans can survive in air pockets after being buried by avalanches without suffering permanent brain damage.
Scientists claimed that the pigs were sedated and anesthetized beforehand and did not suffer, and their convoluted response to the intervention of animal rights activists was that to stop the experiments at that point would mean that the pigs that had already been sacrificed had died in vain.
Also recently, several dozen roosters who had been seized from a Wisconsin cock fighter were released to a friend of the defendant because the county did not want to continue to incur the expense and time in caring for them. Essentially, therefore, the birds have been returned to their abusive owner because the law allowed for it.
Whether it is cattle, pigs, chickens, or the many other kinds of farm animals, these animals are treated in horrific ways due to their being viewed as commodities for human whims, and the lack of protection by law that they are subjected to compared to domestic animals. However, recognition that the abuse of these animals is a travesty is resulting in both increasing legislation to protect these animals, as well as the growing and global number of farm animal rights advocates. This is all evidenced by the number of people joining up with farm animal welfare organizations and the number of legislators responding to them.
Those who disregard the welfare of animals need to keep in mind that they do not really know who is observing them and their practices, and those who do not view themselves as abusive or themselves to be in danger of being publicly exposed for any reasons may find to the contrary that not only are they in danger of being publicly exposed, but that the exposure comes when least expected and is done globally so through television and the internet.
Wagner Farm Rescue Fund and its sister organization, Have A Heart Farm, welcome support from individuals, corporations, and foundations to maintain their ongoing efforts to promote humane treatment, good living conditions, finest available medical care, transportation, sanctuary establishment and maintenance, and lifetime care for both former and current Wagner Farm animals and other animals in need.
Both organizations are 501 c (3) non-profit corporations.
Donations to either organization may be made to:
P.O. Box 2815
Glenview, IL 60025
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