On August 6, Attorney General of Vermont, William H. Sorrell, announced that Frank Perretta, a fugitive from justice in connection with an animal cruelty charge, was arrested in New York on an extradition warrant seeking his return to Vermont.
The cruelty charge stems from a 2009 undercover investigation into Bushway Packing, Inc., a Vermont veal processing plant that is no longer in operation. Video footage obtained by an undercover operative of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), revealed extreme cruelty to young calves, including one worker attempting to skin a calf alive, and Perretta excessively electric-shocking multiple calves.
Following a complaint filed by HSUS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of the Inspector General and Food Safety Inspection Service conducted its own investigation, which resulted in the filing of criminal charges against Perretta and the other worker. The USDA also permanently shut down the slaughterhouse.
Each cruelty charge is a misdemeanor, carrying a possible sentence of not more than one year’s imprisonment and not more than $2,000 in fines. That brutalizing calves with an electric prod and even skinning a calf alive only constitute misdemeanors in Vermont illustrates the need for stronger state and federal legislation to protect farmed animals from abuse.
Sadly, the cruelty perpetrated against the calves at Bushway Packing is not isolated. Recent investigations into two U.S. dairy factory farms – Willet Dairy and Conklin Dairy Farms – exposed unimaginable cruelty, including the standard dairy industry practices of burning out the horns and cutting off the tails of young calves without anesthesia.
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