Whistleblower Video Reveals Suffering, Filth, Death at Local Dairy Farm

PETA Releases Footage of Cows and Their Calves Suffering From Injuries and Infections at Ferme Ste-Sophie

For Immediate Release:
July 23, 2020

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

A whistleblower has provided PETA with video footage showing cows suffering from illnesses, injuries, and infected wounds at Ferme Ste-Sophie, a farm that uses more than 1,000 cows for dairy production and reportedly has plans to double in size. The Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec claims to have investigated the whistleblower’s allegations but won’t release records related to any investigation it may have conducted. PETA has now called on the farm to make the investigation’s findings public and share what corrective actions have been taken, if any, to address the cows’ suffering and prevent them from enduring further harm.

The whistleblower’s video shows a calf who was so sick that she was trembling uncontrollably. Another injured, apparently downed cow is shown trapped in a quicksand-like pit of dung, where she reportedly had lain for two days before being shot and killed. Infections and wounds were allegedly common. According to the whistleblower, one cow couldn’t bear weight on her painfully infected hoof but was still regularly forced to stand for daily milking. Another cow allegedly gave birth and bled profusely for days—the farm’s owner eventually shot her in the head. Dead calves and cows were allegedly left to decompose among live animals for days.

“This video shows cows left to suffer with serious injuries and oozing infections while mired in their own waste,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “This is the misery behind every bite of cheese or sip of cow’s milk. PETA encourages everyone to stand against cruelty to animals by going vegan.”

The whistleblower also told PETA that three workers at the farm had kicked a cow who was in labor while her calf was hanging out of her and that another worker had forcefully and repeatedly struck a lame cow with a garden hoe. As a result of the filthy conditions, a diarrhea-inducing parasite allegedly ran rampant in the calf population, and as many as 12 afflicted calves were shot in a single day.

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