PETA Releases Additional Video Showing That Manager Dragged, Jabbed, Cursed at Downed Cow at Cabot Cheesemaker's Supplier
For Immediate Release:
April 11, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Peru, N.Y. -- A month has gone by since a video shot at Adirondack Farms, LLC, a Clinton County, N.Y. factory farm that supplies milk to Agri-Mark, Inc., the maker of Cabot and McCadam cheeses, showed that cows were jabbed with poles and canes and left to suffer without veterinary care for vaginal prolapses. Despite being notified of the abuse and employees involved before PETA went public with its findings—and PETA's request that the farm take disciplinary action against the employees involved, including the manager caught on video repeatedly electro-shocking a cow in the face—the manager is still working in a supervisory capacity at the facility, and the company has gone silent.
In previously unreleased video footage, available here, the manager repeatedly jabs a downed cow in the ribs with a screwdriver and drags her behind a skid steer when she is unable to stand, calling her a "dumb bitch" and an "idiot." During PETA's investigation, this same manager admitted being aware that workers "get carried away with" striking cows, but he failed to stop the abuse. He also stated that when a cow's uterus prolapses during calving, workers "put [the uterus] back in and hope she lives … long enough for the beef truck to come get her."
"One month later, the treatment of cows at Adirondack Farms is still overseen by a manager who dragged and shocked cows and let others' abuse go unchecked," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "Any decent person would want assurance that this farm—or Agri-Mark, the company that it supplies—is willing to take even the smallest steps to prevent such cruelty from continuing."
Agri-Mark has not responded to a PETA request to require all cooperative members to implement basic and reasonable reforms that would improve the lives of cows. More than 48,000 supporters have written to Agri-Mark in support of these reforms.
For more information, please visit PETA's blog.