Longtime Dairy Worker Blows the Whistle on Farm Exposed by PETA

Flowing Manure, Pus in Milk, Electroshocking Cows, and Lack of Veterinary Care Reportedly Continue at Reitz Dairy Farm

For Immediate Release:
December 15, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Shamokin, Pa. –

A longtime worker at Reitz Dairy Farm—the former Land O’Lakes supplier in Shamokin that was the subject of a PETA exposé—has come to PETA with reports of cruelty and filth at the facility, conditions that PETA first disclosed in 2009.

The man worked at Reitz Dairy Farm for eight years before resigning some weeks ago over the owners’ reported failure to address numerous issues, including the following, as attested to in his sworn affidavit (available here):

The farm’s owner and his son slit the throats of fully conscious “downed” cows in full view of other cows.
Cows lay in their own waste as manure flowed across the property and into a creek.
The so-called “hospital pen” was severely crowded with ill or injured cows who were often denied basic care or licensed veterinary treatment and had to fight for access to food.
The farm’s owner also electroshocked “downed” cows by putting a “hot shot” inside their ears.
Milking staff were not properly trained to detect mastitis and often failed to notice that cows’ udders were infected until large chunks of pus appeared in the milk.
The cows’ food was teeming with maggots, and the milking parlor was filthy.

The whistleblower now works at a different farm and is available for interviews to discuss what he experienced at Reitz Dairy Farm, where he alleges that farmhands also face unsafe working conditions.

“This longtime industry man knew that slitting fully conscious cows’ throats and leaving them to wallow in their own waste is wrong,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “The rampant filth and cruelty on this disgusting dairy farm are exactly why PETA urges everyone to go vegan.”

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way.” For more information, please visit PETA.org.