Strapped with a surveillance camera, the animal rights activist went undercover this fall to document activities at a New Mexico dairy that supplied cheese products to several major U.S. pizza chains.
He says he was sickened by what he saw — and videotaped. This wasn’t a slaughterhouse, but a dairy farm where animals live for years.
The activist says he captured images of workers using chains and metal wires to whip animals on their faces and bodies, using tractors to drag milk cows too weak to walk on their own, and electrically shocking the genitals of many animals to get them to move. Cows were also kicked, punched and stabbed with screwdrivers, the footage showed. The Winchester Dairy, a 3,000-head, privately owned business outside Roswell, closed down shortly after the video became public in September, the firm said in a statement. The cows were sent to other dairies and the employees fired. The New Mexico Livestock Board, a state agency, launched an investigation, and the Chaves County district attorney’s office is reviewing evidence for possible criminal charges.
On Thursday, Denver-based Leprino Foods, for whom Winchester Dairy was a supplier, announced a program that requires its dairy suppliers and farmers to comply with new company guidelines regarding animal care. Leprino, the world’s largest producer of mozzarella cheese and a supplier to fast-food chains nationwide, has said that it was “extremely repulsed” by the video. The livestock board completed its investigation into Winchester in
October, but Chaves County has yet to say whether it will file charges.
“We gave the prosecutors our results months ago,” said Ray Baca,
executive director of the board. “But we’ve heard nothing from them.”
The prosecutor’s office did not respond to calls for comment...more
HT: NMFLB's Daily Dirt
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