Dairy Farm Fires Worker Over Animal Abuse Allegations
PLAIN CITY, Ohio — An dairy farm employee was arrested on Wednesday after video revealed alleged abuse.
An animal welfare group asked prosecutors to review undercover video that it says shows workers abusing cows at a central Ohio dairy farm, 10TV News reported.
The group, Mercy For Animals, said the video was recorded over the past month at Conklin Dairy Farms, based in Plain City.
The video was presented to the City of Marysville prosecutor's office for review, 10TV News reported.
Billy Joe Gregg Jr., 25, was arrested by the Union County Sheriff's Office and charged with several counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.
Mercy For Animals publicizes what it calls cruel practices in the dairy, meat and egg industries and promotes a vegan diet.
The video shows workers holding newborn calves down and stomping on their heads. It also shows one worker wiring a cow's nose to a metal bar near the ground and repeatedly beating it with a bar while it bleeds.
On Wednesday, Conklin Dairy Cattle Sales issued a statement, saying it conducted an initial review of the video and found it "clearly inconsistent" with high standards set for its farm and workers.
"We have launched our own internal investigation into this matter and will be conducting interviews with everyone on our farm who works with our animals," the statement read. "We already have terminated the worker involved who was seen to have willfully abused our cows and calves."
The company said it was cooperating with authorities investigating the matter, and retraining all employees who work with animals.
ACTUAL UNDERCOVER VIDEO CAN BE FOUND HERE: WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/
Chilling undercover footage recorded during a new Mercy For Animals investigation exposes dairy farm workers sadistically abusing cows and young calves.
Captured on hidden camera, the shocking scenes of abuse reveal a culture of cruelty at Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio.
During a four-week investigation between April and May, MFA's investigator documented farm workers:
Violently punching young calves in the face, body slamming them to the ground, and pulling and throwing them by their ears
Routinely using pitchforks to stab cows in the face, legs and stomach
Kicking "downed" cows (those too injured to stand) in the face and neck – abuse carried out and encouraged by the farm's owner
Maliciously beating restrained cows in the face with crowbars – some attacks involving over 40 blows to the head
Twisting cows' tails until the bones snapped
Punching cows' udders
Bragging about stabbing, dragging, shooting, breaking bones, and beating cows and calves to death
After viewing the footage, Dr. Bernard Rollin, distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University, stated: "This is probably the most gratuitous, sustained, sadistic animal abuse I have ever seen. The video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty, based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless."
Immediately upon completion of the investigation, Mercy For Animals contacted the City Prosecutor's Office of Marysville regarding the ongoing pattern of abuse at Conklin Dairy Farms. MFA is pushing for employees of the facility to be criminally prosecuted for violating Ohio's animal cruelty laws.
The deplorable conditions uncovered at Conklin Dairy Farms highlight the reality that animal agriculture is incapable of self-regulation and that meaningful federal and state laws must be implemented and strengthened to prevent egregious cruelty to farmed animals.
Although many of the abuses documented at Conklin Dairy Farms are sadistic in nature, numerous MFA undercover investigations at dairy farms, pig farms, egg farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses have revealed that violence and abuse to farmed animals – whether malicious or institutionalized – runs rampant nationwide.
Compassionate consumers can end their direct financial support of farmed animal abuse by rejecting dairy, and other animal products, and adopting a vegan diet.
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/