Update: PETA Files Suit Seeking Information on Sanctioning of Cruel Dairy Farm

Update: PETA has filed a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Agriculture and
Markets under the state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) seeking records relating to
Adirondack Farms, LLC—the subject of last year’s undercover PETA investigation
that revealed routine abuse and neglect of cows (see below for details).

© Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Despite these abuses, the department certified Adirondack
under its Cattle Health Assurance Program, which is meant to protect the health and welfare of cows
on dairy farms. Records relating to a farm’s participation in this program are supposed
to be open to the general public under FOIL, but the department has improperly
denied PETA access to many of these records. Since this information is of vital
interest to anyone who wants to see farmed animals treated with the respect and
care that they deserve, PETA was left with no choice but to sue to obtain the
withheld records.

Originally posted on
April 11, 2012:

The
dairy farm manager who repeatedly electro-shocked a cow in the face and brushed
off the fact that his workers hit cows with poles and canes by saying that they
sometimes “get carried away” is still employed as a manager at the
farm—a month after PETA notified the farm’s owners of the cruelty and released
video evidence of the abuse.

More Cruelty Caught on Video

The
same manager at Adirondack
Farms, LLC, in Peru, New York, was
recorded jabbing a downed cow in the ribs with a screwdriver and dragging her behind
a skid steer. He cursed at her—calling her a “dumb b***h” and asking
how the “f**k” she was unable to stand. You may remember that this
man stated that when a cow’s uterus prolapses during calving, workers simply “put
[the uterus] back in and hope she lives … long enough for the beef truck to
come get her.”

Farm Silent on Ending Abuse

Before
we went public with the video footage that we gathered during our undercover investigation, we asked the farm’s
owners to take immediate disciplinary action, including termination, against
the employees who were documented abusing animals. We gave the owners a
detailed list of men and explained what they did. We followed up. Four weeks
later, the owners remain silent. Even after eye-opening news reports on the case, neither Adirondack
Farms nor Agri-Mark, the company that it supplies with milk, has announced
taking a single meaningful step to improve their animal welfare standards. And
that this manager is still on the job at the farm suggests that it’s cruel
business as usual there and beyond in the dairy industry.

What You Can Do

• Urge
  Agri-Mark
  CEO Dr. Richard Stammerto implement PETA’s recommendations
  immediately to end the most egregious abuses of cows on cooperative members’
  farms.
• Send a polite e-mail to Jon Rulfs, an owner of Adirondack Farms, LLC, asking
  him to discipline and/or terminate the employees PETA documented hitting,
  whipping, shocking, jabbing, dragging, and neglecting his cows.
• For
  calcium without the cruelty, check out PETA’s list of delicious dairy replacements.