There is a reason that big agricultural companies spend tons of money lobbying against freedom of speech and civil liberties laws that allow people to secretly investigate what goes on in the agricultural business supply chain. A new video, released by the organization Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) on Tuesday, provides an illustration. ARM’s investigation is purported to have spanned three months, with its videos show widespread and nauseating abuses of cows and more specifically young calfs on the Fair Oaks Farm, owned by Fairlife, in Fair Oaks, Indiana. In it, calves are thrown about, left separated from their mothers in inhumane temperatures, beaten, kicked, punched, slapped, stabbed, thrown, and frequently killed.
Amongst other abuses reported by ARM is widespread drug use by employees on the farm, unbelievable levels of abuse, acknowledged covering-up of misdeeds, and an actual conspiracy by Fairlife to brazenly lie about its continued business connections with the veal industry. According to ARM, Fairlife is one of the largest dairy producers in the country, with its products distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. ARM is calling for Coca-Cola, which has promoted a pro-animal stance publicly, to put its money where its mouth is and sever all ties with the dairy giant.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Fairlife has suspended the distribution of milk produced in the area. Hundreds of grocery stores in Chicago—less than 80 miles from where the video was shot—have already announced that they are pulling Fairlife milk off their shelves. Coca-Cola released a statement saying that it is supporting Fairlife’s “proactive approach,” which is technically the opposite of what Fairlife is doing.
The sheriff's office in neighboring Newton County, Indiana, told the Tribune that it is looking into whether the now-former employees seen in the video will face criminal charges, but there’s been no word yet as to whether Fairlife and its obvious lack of oversight will face investigations.
The video is below the fold. WARNING: It is disturbing and very graphic.
The Biggest Undercover Dairy Investigation in History - Fair Oaks Farms and Coca Cola from ARM Investigations on Vimeo.
Friday, Jun 7, 2019 · 10:54:11 PM +00:00
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Walter Einenkel
Fairlife founder Mike McCloskey released a video and written statement on the ARM video. One of the assertions by McCloskey is that ARM infiltrators were the main, but not sole, perpetrators of the abuses seen in the video.
It is with great disappointment to find, after closely reviewing the released ARM video, that there were five individuals committing multiple instances of animal cruelty and despicable judgement. Of the five, four were our employees and one was a 3rd party truck driver who was picking up calves. Of the four who were our employees, three had already been terminated prior to us being made aware months ago of the undercover ARM operation, as they were identified by their co-workers as being abusive of our animals and reported to management. So, in this instance our policy of cow care training – “see something, say something” – worked. After reviewing the video frame-by-frame, those three employees are responsible for the overwhelming majority of offenses seen in this video.
McCloskey mentions a third party review of his farms and it would be interesting to see the details of that report in regards to the video footage. McCloskey says that a misunderstanding in the supply chain led to the company lying about not sending male calves to veal pens.
It will also be interesting to see if McCloskey’s statement above, that the majority of abuses seen in the video were perpetrated by the animal rights activists is both true and prosecuted. Because either way, the people in that video deserve some punishment and rehabilitation for their grotesque brutality.