Another horrible animal abuse video

[Tommy Coyote]

A non for profit outfit called Mercy for Animals has a video (absolutely disgusting) of animal abuse at a big dairy farm in Ohio. Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City.

The owners of the farm are 4 th generation. They haven't denied that the abuse occured. They have denied that this is the way they do business and are acting on it.

 

I just don't get this stuff at all. The article said that employees were stamping on the heads of newborn calves. The other stuff was equally awful. Why on earth would anyone do that? Aren't the calves valuable? And aren't there supposed to be inspectors?

 

I just don't get abuse in any form. But this kind of stuff always amazes me. Kind of like the awful things employees were doing to chickens that was caught on tape by under cover people.

 

 

http://www.mercyforanimals.org

 

don't look at this unless you have a strong stomach.

[geonni banner]

This is the stuff that nightmares are made of. It wasn't even like they were just being mean to try to force the animals to do something, which is bad enough. They were just being viciously, horribly brutal for the sake of inflicting pain. This sort of sustained brutality should be punishable by death. It is pure evil. I can't imagine the person doing the filming having to witness this sort of thing without taking the perpetrators out.

[bcnewe2]

Couldn't watch. got sick and dizzy. couldn't even handle listening while trying to read the article and not watch the tape.

Theses aren't farmers, these are sadistic torturers. I'm sure the thing that human abusers are made of.

 

I know there is inhumane treatmeant in corp. farming but NO one could ever say what was on this film was in anyway a necessary evil of corp. farming.

Almost feel like it was a made up evil tape of PETA. NOt doubting authenticity, though not really able to believe it either. just saying...NO freakin way.

[Christina]

I watched only a few seconds. How could this be real? How could people be so absolutely disgustingly horrible? There is a special place in hell for anyone who would do something like this.

[Tommy Coyote]

I'm pretty sure its real. The Washington Post wouldn't have printed it without checking it out first.

 

The only good thing about this is that it is all over the internet now. I don't see how this dairy farm can survive.

And they shouldn't survive. People who operate like this need to be shut down and kept from going back into business under another name. These owners need to be prosecuted. Any employees involved in this should be prosecuted and banned from ever working with animals again.

[Diana A]

I'm pretty sure its real. The Washington Post wouldn't have printed it without checking it out first.

 

The only good thing about this is that it is all over the internet now. I don't see how this dairy farm can survive.

And they shouldn't survive. People who operate like this need to be shut down and kept from going back into business under another name. These owners need to be prosecuted. Any employees involved in this should be prosecuted and banned from ever working with animals again.

 

If you look on the website for Mercy for Animals, they say they're an animal rights group promoting a vegan diet. The video itself has propaganda against buying dairy. It looks way too much like a set up to me - I mean, who in their right mind films themselves doing that kind of stuff, including talking directly into the camera about what they're doing, and then it just happens to find its way into the hands of an animal rights group? Looks pretty fishy.

 

Diana

[bcnewe2]

Yes I was thinking the same thing. With the documentary of the chicken processing plant there was some real idiots that did some horrible things but not to this level.

Just smacks of PETA to me.

And when you say washington post wouldn't have posted without investigation, again, think of who supports PETA, most of it's supporters don't really know what they are supporting and if the truth be known I think half the celebs that are members would quickly and quietly slip away.

PETA gets lots of free press cause they use very underhanded propaganda and false claims.

[geonni banner]

Nobody wants to believe that there are people out there with animals at their mercy, and doing things like this. But there are. Watch the documentary "Dealing Dogs." Hidden cameras are very sophisticated nowadays.

 

I personally have seen animal professionals do things this horrible. It does happen...

 

Not to say that PETA is above creating something like this. But this looked real to me. Sickening, heartbreaking, enraging - but unfortunately, real.

[juliepoudrier]

No doubt the group posting the video has a specific agenda: to stop people eating dairy products. But I honestly don't see how this could have been staged. I'd love to think it's fake, but it's probably all too real. It would be unfortunate if the (sub)humans in the video (and I did not watch it--just read a lot of the comments from folks over on the Fugly blog) got away with extreme cruelty as a result of people not believing the video simply because the folks behind it have a vegan agenda. (In other words, this is one farm where cruelty clearly existed and no one should extrapolate that *all* dairy farms are this way, which may be the overt implication of the video--like I said, I couldn't watch. Still, the horrible activities at *this one farm* have been brought to light, and the people involved should be prosecuted.)

 

J.

[geonni banner]

No doubt the group posting the video has a specific agenda: to stop people eating dairy products. But I honestly don't see how this could have been staged. I'd love to think it's fake, but it's probably all too real. It would be unfortunate if the (sub)humans in the video (and I did not watch it--just read a lot of the comments from folks over on the Fugly blog) got away with extreme cruelty as a result of people not believing the video simply because the folks behind it have a vegan agenda. (In other words, this is one farm where cruelty clearly existed and no one should extrapolate that *all* dairy farms are this way, which may be the overt implication of the video--like I said, I couldn't watch. Still, the horrible activities at *this one farm* have been brought to light, and the people involved should be prosecuted.)

 

J.

 

What she said...

 

I know the OP said this in the first post - but this video is REALLY tough to watch. I'm pretty thick-skinned about these things and I was shaking and felt ill when it was over.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I just posted this at my blog

 

http://deltabluez.blogspot.com/2010/05/ohi...arm-horror.html

 

You can put your comments there also

[BCkris]

Could not finish that video. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Yes these people should be prosecuted, I think these type of people should be exposed for all of society to see, meaning publish who they are what they look like & what they have done. They should be marked so that everyday of their life they will be judged for being a sick person.

 

Sorry, it just really upsets me that every year their is another farm being exposed of this kind of treatment to animals. Just think of how many more are out there. So sad.

[MrSnappy]

I worked for an "animal welfare" organization for some time, specifically, an anti-trapping organization. I have seen lots and lots of raw video, unedited photos and interviews with trappers, and spoken to lots of trappers myself as well. They are quite happy to tell or show you how they brutalize and kill the animals, and much of the footage we had was FROM trappers who were quite happy to supply it. Because they don't really see animals as anything that require compassion or kindness and see no problem with bludgeoning or stomping them to death. Their interest in the animals is the pelt, not the animal. They don't care if it spends 14 days in a Connibear and then they beat it to death with the butt of a rifle, or stand on its ribcage to break its ribs and pierce its lungs - it's not a very good pelt as long as it remains on the animal, after all. They are generally confused about why anyone would object to what they do or why anyone should care. Because they are "just coyotes" or badgers or muskrats or lynxes etc. And in the case of Conklin farms, they are "just" cows, and they are "just" cows at the mercy of what are likely low paid, undereducated and emotionally undeveloped young men with some seriously displaced rage. (Part of me thinks "god help their wives" and part of me thinks they are just a bunch of dudes who really don't see anything wrong with treating a cow badly).

 

Anyway, naturally people accused of us doctoring the images and video all the time. Because we had an agenda - to put an end to animal trapping. But just because an organization has a purpose doesn't mean they use disingenuous means to make their point. It is unfortunate that some of the most successful, or infamous if you will, organizations have done and do that, but certainly not all of them do. What the video illustrates best of all is our ever-widening gulf between where our food comes from and what we consume. Almost nobody has any idea what goes on at large scale factory farms, nor do they CARE. (And while it may not all be this explicitly awful, it's rarely pretty or nice.) Until the general populace sees something like this that horrifies them, they don't even think for a minute about how their cheese got to their local Safeway.

 

And because people don't like to think this goes on, and how their purchases and silent consent permits it to happen, they like to think that it's falsified because those crazy animal whacko people want to put an end to eating anything except grass and wearing nothing but hemp (and yes, I spoke to many people who accused us of just that too).

 

RDM

[Tommy Coyote]

The Dairy Farmers of America really need to get out in front of this thing. They should present a a strong front against any kind of abuse in the Dairy Industry. It wouldn't hurt to let cameras come in and shoot footage of how the animals are really treated on good dairy farms.

 

You would think by know that people would realize that there are cameras everywhere. You let this kind of horror exist on your farm and you will probably see yourself on camera on the nightly news. So, if you don't care about cruelty and could care less about the welfare of these animals then at least care because the awful publicity will put you right out of business. I don't see any way this dairy farm could survive this. And they shouldn't. These people should spend the next 20 years in jail.

[juliepoudrier]

Thanks for the insight from someone who's been on the animal welfare side, RDM. Well said.

 

A note: I read elsewhere that the owner of Conklin Dairy claims that this is not the norm and that the people involved have been fired and everyone else is being retrained. But apparently somewhere around 1:30 on the video the owner himself is shown kicking a downed cow in the head (again, I couldn't watch the video--just taking this information from someone who did). It sounds to me as if there was a culture of abuse there--from the TOP down.

 

J.

[bc4ever]

These people should spend the next 20 years in jail.

If they get anything it looks like a few months in jail and a small fine, according to the news this a.m.

[books]

At least the fellow in this video is being charged story here. Hopefully further charges are forthcoming.

[WildFlower]

What the video illustrates best of all is our ever-widening gulf between where our food comes from and what we consume. Almost nobody has any idea what goes on at large scale factory farms, nor do they CARE.

 

I agree with this statement 100%.

 

And thank you RDM for sharing your first hand experience.

[Tommy Coyote]

At least the fellow in this video is being charged story here. Hopefully further charges are forthcoming.

Wow. The Huffington Post is on it. Jamie Lee Curtis is getting involved. I wonder if that is the guy's mug shot? He looks like he thinks the whole thing is really funny.

 

This might lead to much stronger abuse regulations.

[Howdyjabo]

I can't think too much of the person filming either.

Thats the equivalent of standing by while someone is beating their wife or kids and doing NOTHING-- they should be put in jail too

And I wonder if at times the filmers weren't encouraging the bad behavior-based on the guy bragging. You don't brag to someone that is disgusted with you- you brag to someone that you identify with.

[juliepoudrier]

Karen,

This very topic (filming abuse) was just before the Supreme Court, and it was said that one of the reasons they didn't want to make such abuse films illegal (excuse my wording; I'm no lawyer and so may not get it exactly right) was because then these types of movies couldn't be made to expose abuses. It's a difficult line to walk if you're trying to document something so that legal action can be taken, but I think it must be necessary to detach oneself from the actual activities being filmed or you'd never get the proof that was needed for prosecution. I couldn't bring myself to watch the video, so I sure don't think I could have recorded it, but I'm glad someone was able to do that and so bring to light what was going on at that particular farm. I don't think the people doing the abusing need a defense of "well the videographer did nothing to stop it, so he's guilty too."

 

J.

[geonni banner]

Karen,

This very topic (filming abuse) was just before the Supreme Court, and it was said that one of the reasons they didn't want to make such abuse films illegal (excuse my wording; I'm no lawyer and so may not get it exactly right) was because then these types of movies couldn't be made to expose abuses. It's a difficult line to walk if you're trying to document something so that legal action can be taken, but I think it must be necessary to detach oneself from the actual activities being filmed or you'd never get the proof that was needed for prosecution. I couldn't bring myself to watch the video, so I sure don't think I could have recorded it, but I'm glad someone was able to do that and so bring to light what was going on at that particular farm. I don't think the people doing the abusing need a defense of "well the videographer did nothing to stop it, so he's guilty too."

 

J.

 

I have to agree with this. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have to watch this sort of thing - the very thing that your efforts go to eradicate. It would take more nerve than I have. But if someone doesn't do this work and do it convincingly, these sorts of abuse never come to light. This means acting a part to infiltrate the scene. It seems like a sort of "Schindler's List" scenario. The dilemma of the filmmaker dealing with the stress of witnessing these acts is addressed in the documentary "Dealing Dogs." (Available on Netflix)

 

This is the sort of thing that gets places like S-------'s puppy mills shut down - documentation of abuse. It takes courage and nerves of steel to pull off. I destroyed the chance for an animal abuser to be prosecuted once by removing a puppy with a leg broken in three places, two cracked ribs and multiple cigarette burns from the scene of his abuse. I was afraid. Afraid of the screaming man who had inflicted this abuse - he lived two doors down from my house - and afraid that the puppy would die. It was hard enough to walk up, pick up the pup and run. What these filmmakers do is infinitely harder.

[Lenajo]

I can't think too much of the person filming either.

Thats the equivalent of standing by while someone is beating their wife or kids and doing NOTHING-- they should be put in jail too

And I wonder if at times the filmers weren't encouraging the bad behavior-based on the guy bragging. You don't brag to someone that is disgusted with you- you brag to someone that you identify with.

 

I both pity and admire a person who videoed this.

 

I pity them, becaue like the police, social workers, nurses, and docters I know who have witnessed and cared for the results of such abuse in children ....they will never forget the horror of what they saw. It will haunt them from this day forward. How could it not? And yes, sometimes you have to get an abuser to identify with you to get the whole story.

 

I admire them because they held the emotional stength to hold the fury and the tears back so that real change can be made. I don't think I could have.

 

I watched the video, and I'm still reeling. It's beyond evil, it's an absolute lack of respect for life because it is not human. It's also an appalling waste. Even if you thought *nothing* of the species, the senseless waste of a productive food animal in a world full of hungry people is malicious in itself.

 

Will more laws really make stuff like this stop? I really don't think so. Anybody got a better idea that's legal?

[bcnewe2]

Not that's legal!

[Howdyjabo]

I'm not sure some of these zealots even care about the animals. I think they are just as power hungry as abusers are, they just go about it a different way.

If they just care about the animals why tape for so long, why egg the abuser on and why release it publicly before giving the authorities a chance to deal with it without all the fan fare.

Bad people do bad things inisde and outside of agriculture- their goal is to tarnish animal production not promote good husbandry.

 

Abuse is illegal already- there is nothing more to prove by releasing that tape-------- unless you have an agenda that goes futher than that. I don;t trust zealots that go after publicity- and we shouldn;t be encouraging them.