Former Nestle Dairy Supplier to be Prosecuted for Multiple Counts of Animal Cruelty
After a grueling investigation and lengthy three-year legal battle by Animal Outlook, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania has ordered the DA to prosecute the dairy mega-farm.
Credit: Animal Outlook
Dairy farm Martin Farms is set to be prosecuted by the Pennsylvania State Police and the District Attorney’s (DA) office on multiple counts of animal cruelty following a ruling issued this month by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
The move comes after a 2018 undercover investigation, undertaken by animal rights group, Animal Outlook (AO), revealed horrific abuse occurring on the farm, which was at the time a domestic supplier for Nestle.
AO presented 327 instances of animal cruelty, aggravated cruelty, and neglect under PA law, many of which were captured on video. Documented instances of the abuse included workers stomping on cows, dragging the exhausted animals with a tractor bucket, and de-horning terrified calves with a hot iron and no pain relief. Following the expose, Nestle dropped Martin Farms as a supplier.
But despite the cruelty documented, the DA refused to prosecute the dairy facility. AO initiated a petition with the lower court to overturn the decision, but this complaint was dismissed in 2021, leading AO to appeal.
Now, four years after the investigation into Martin Farms began, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania has ordered the trial court to direct the DA to prosecute, after ruling that the “trial court committed multiple errors of law”.
The court found that AO demonstrated sufficient evidence of neglect and cruelty in regard to Martin Farms’ handling of downed cows, excessive shocking and tail pulling, and horn removal, and that the dairy farm was not exempt from prosecution under Pennsylvania’s “normal agricultural operation” exemption.
“We have never doubted that the cruelty and neglect revealed by our investigation is squarely within the scope of conduct prohibited by Pennsylvania law, and that includes so-called standard practices,” said Will Lowrey, legal counsel for Animal Outlook, in a statement.
“We have long believed that if we were given access to fair and thorough process under the law, this cruelty would be recognized. We’re grateful that the Superior Court did just that here, thoughtfully considering the weight of evidence from our investigation that confirmed Martin Farms’ conduct violated Pennsylvania’s animal protection laws. The Court’s ruling sends a clear message that animals used in agriculture are worthy of protection.”
The appellate court took particular issue with the issue of hot-iron horn removal of calves and the inapplicability of the “normal agricultural operation” exemption to this practice, saying “the most obvious evidence overlooked by the trial court was that concerning the dehorning of calves … the technique used by Martin Farms as shown in the video caused the calves to be “in agonizing pain, shown by their violent thrashing and bellowing.” It called the DA’s position on the exemption “absurd.”
Inherent Animal Abuse
Nearly ten billion land animals are slaughtered for their flesh in the U.S. each year, and time and time again, the work of investigators has revealed that abuse is inherent in the industry. Just last week, animal rights organization, Mercy for Animals (MFA) and the New York Times, exposed the disturbing reality inside industrial chicken farms, with MFA’s president commenting the cruelty “documented isn’t a matter of one farm failing to meet industry standards” but “a matter of industry standards allowing for blatant animal suffering”.
Erin Wing, Animal Outlook’s deputy director of investigations who documented the abuse while working as an undercover investigator and employed at Martin Farms, said, “Since the end of my investigation of Martin Farms in 2018, the images of routine cruelty and violence I witnessed there have been burned into my memory. It made me wonder what the limit was for how much cruelty a farm could put animals through before such blatant abuse was recognized. With that accountability finally being delivered by this ruling, I hope this sets a new standard going forward.”
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