Yesterday Jonathan
Talbot, a former worker at Chilliwack Cattle Sales—the largest factory dairy
farm in Canada—pleaded guilty to one count of violating the BC Wildlife Act and
two counts of violating the BC Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. He will
return to court in a few weeks for sentencing.
This is the ninth animal cruelty conviction stemming from a Mercy For Animals undercover
investigation at Chilliwack Cattle Sales. Hidden-camera footage shows
workers beating, kicking, and punching animals; using chains and tractors to
hoist cows into the air; poking and squeezing festering wounds; and punching
bulls in the testicles.
See for yourself.
These convictions mark the first
time in Canadian history that factory farm workers have received jail time for
animal abuse after being exposed through undercover footage by an animal
protection organization.
Earlier this year, two former workers at Chilliwack Cattle
Sales pleaded
guilty to a total of three counts of violating the BC Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals Act. Additionally, last December in another historic victory for animals, Chilliwack
Cattle Sales and one of its owners, Wesley Kooyman, were convicted of animal
cruelty and ordered to pay fines totaling almost $350,000.
The cruelty exposed through MFA’s Chilliwack Cattle Sales
investigation led British Columbia’s agricultural minister, Norm Letnick, to amend
the BC Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to incorporate the Dairy Code of
Practice. MFA is now calling on all Canadian provinces to incorporate the Dairy
Code of Practice into their animal cruelty legislation. Doing this will require
the dairy industry to follow basic minimum standards for animal welfare.
You can help protect farmed animals from this horrific abuse
by switching to a compassionate vegan diet. Click here to get started.