Video of Dairy Farm Workers Beating Cows Has PETA Calling On Feds to Shut Down Cedar Valley Farms

For Immediate Release:
November 8, 2021

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

Today, PETA sent a letter to British Columbia Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham and federal Minister of Agriculture Marie-Claude Bibeau calling on them to shut down Cedar Valley Farms, the organic dairy farm whose license was recently suspended after Animal Justice released video footage showing workers beating cows with canes and wrenches, among other abuse.

“It doesn’t get much worse than this, as cows were beaten, struggling to stand, and crying out for their calves at Cedar Valley Farms,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Suspending this operation’s license is a first step, but we’re calling on provincial and federal officials to ensure that these abusers never go back to business.”

The video footage also shows cows emaciated and limping in pain, workers repeatedly beating cows in the face and spraying them with high-pressure hoses, a worker kicking a mother cow to keep her away from her newborn calf who had been tossed into a wheelbarrow, and workers repeatedly shooting cows in the head and leaving them to die slowly over the course of several minutes.

One of Cedar Valley Farms’ owners, Dr. Rich Vanderwal, was also the veterinarian overseeing Chilliwack Cattle Sales, where undercover video footage showed workers whipping, punching, kicking, and beating cows. Seven workers there subsequently pleaded guilty to cruelty-to-animals charges, and one of them was shown working in the Cedar Valley Farms video.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.