Breaking Investigation Reveals Dairy Farm Horrors
Sometimes I consider myself a hardened PETA veteran. With each new investigation I force myself to watch, I convince myself that that I’ve seen the worst abuses that animals are subjected to. But then something like this new video, which was shot by an undercover worker at an Ohio dairy factory farm, hits my desk, and I am again moved to tears by the way people exploit and abuse animals.
In the video, which was recorded over the past few weeks by Mercy For Animals, workers at Conklin Dairy Farms are seen beating cows with crowbars and stabbing them with pitchforks. One worker wires a cow’s nose to a metal bar and then repeatedly beats the cow with another bar as she bleeds.
These findings are similar to what PETA revealed when we went undercover at a Land O’Lakes supplier in Pennsylvania. Over the course of several months, PETA’s investigation documented that cows who had trouble standing were kicked and electro-shocked. One cow’s gangrenous, infected teat ruptured while she was being milked by a machine. Another cow collapsed in a deep pool of liquid manure and was left to languish there for hours as the urine and manure covered her body and coated her eyes, nose, and mouth.
The next time someone asks you, “What’s wrong with eating dairy products?” tell them, “Everything!” and then show them these videos.
Please take a minute to share this investigation via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. Then let your friends and family know that the best way to help prevent cows from suffering these abuses is to go vegan. If you haven’t already taken that leap, check out these cruelty-free alternatives to dairy “products” to get started.
Update: A man who police believe to be one of the dairy farm workers who was recorded on video beating cows with crowbars and poking them with pitchforks was charged yesterday with 12 counts of cruelty to animals!
Billy Joe Gregg Jr., 25, was jailed in Mechanicsburg and was to be arraigned on Thursday. Each cruelty-to-animals charge he faces carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $750 fine.
Written by Shawna Flavell
