Canada’s farmers are under heavy attack now that Mercy for
Animals has released the third underground video depicting horrific animal
abuse, this time at what it claims is the largest dairy farm in Canada in
Chilliwack, B.C.
Humane Society International is among a number of animal
welfare and animal activist groups that are jumping on the bandwagon, demanding
politicians take stern action to discipline farmers.
Chilliwack Cattle Sales fired eight employees after the
video became public.
Humane Society International and the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals say
the eight ought to face criminal charges for beating cattle with chains and
canes.
Earlier Mercy-for-Animal videos showed turkeys being clubbed
with a shovel at Hybrid Turkeys of Kitchener and chicks put through a grinder
at a hatchery at Hanover.
Here’s what the Humane Society International wrote in a news
release this week:
“The abuse and gratuitous cruelty witnessed in an undercover
investigation on the largest dairy farm in Canada is horrendous.
“Under current laws, farm animals in Canada have virtually no
legal protection.
‘No independent oversight exists on farms to protect animals
from acts of violence.
‘Undercover investigations such as the one conducted by Mercy
For Animals Canada are the only window the public has into factory farms
confining animals by the thousands and, in most cases, the only reprieve these
animals have in instances of abuse.
“Humane Society International/Canada commends the authorities
for acting to bring the individuals responsible in this case to justice, and
urges all provinces to immediately begin conducting on-farm inspections to
enforce basic welfare standards.”
“Facts:
•
The B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has
recommended eight workers on a dairy farm in Chilliwack, B.C. to be charged
with animal cruelty after receiving secretly-filmed footage from animal
protection group Mercy For Animals Canada.
•
Approximately 700 million farm animals are raised and slaughtered in
Canada each year. Undercover investigations have routinely exposed suffering
caused by standard agricultural practices as well as callous acts of cruelty.
•
Despite numerous public campaigns and widespread support to do so,
Canada’s federal animal cruelty laws have not been meaningfully updated since
1892.
"No
province conducts proactive on-farm inspections to verify welfare standards.”
The
animal welfare and animal activist groups were all out with their publicity
long before the dairy industry, including well-financed marketing boards, said
anything.
