A dairy factory farm just outside Loveland, Colorado, is
under investigation after public health officials claimed cow
manure had been dumped into the Big Thompson River.
In November 2015, inspectors from the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment reported two manure ponds overflowing into a
drainage ditch that flowed into the Big Thompson River. The inspector stated
that the leaks had likely been “ongoing for a significant period of time.
The dairy factory farm, which is a contract supplier of Longmont
Dairy Farm, was issued a violation and a cleanup order in March.
City officials claim it took them nearly a year and a half from the first
report of the violation “to conduct a thorough investigation of the facts.
Unfortunately, incidents like this happen all too often. Toxins
like manure and fertilizer from factory farm runoff leak into nearby waterways.
These toxins promote algae blooms, which create oxygen-deprived zones that kill
marine life.
Animal agriculture is a major source of water pollution. In fact, animal excrement and agricultural runoff have polluted nearly one-third of rivers in
the U.S.
In April, more than 190,000 gallons of manure from
Tony Silveira Dairy spilled into Tillamook Bay in Oregon. And this summer, an
HP Hood dairy facility in Frederick County, Virginia, came under fire for regularly
violating pollution limits in its wastewater.
Dairy factory farming is not only damaging to human health
and the environment but unspeakably
cruel. At dairy factory farms, cows are treated as mere milk-producing
machines. They are forcibly impregnated and kept in terrible
conditions. Calves are torn away from their mothers shortly after they are
born. Male calves are killed for veal. Females are forced into the dairy herd,
trapped in a cycle of abuse for years until they are considered “spent and
sent to slaughter.
Heartbreaking, right? Just watch this undercover video from
a Mercy For Animals investigation.
Join the millions who are boycotting this terrible industry
by ditching dairy and other animal products and switching to a compassionate
vegan diet. Click here to
get started!