According to farm labor union United Farm Workers, a
dairy worker drowned in manure last month. On February 16, 2016, Ruperto
Vazquez Carrera, 37, died shortly after showing up for work at Sunrise Organic
Dairy in Paul, Idaho. His body was found approximately 10 hours later submerged
in a 20-acre manure lagoon.
Similarly, Randy Vasquez, 27, drowned in a manure lagoon on
February 24, 2015, while strapped into a front loader at Riverview Ranch, a
dairy in rural Mabton, Washington.
These deaths are not
isolated cases; Idaho alone reported three dairy fatalities in 2013.
Manure lagoons are
enormous stores of animal feces and urine that can span several football fields.
See for yourself:
They are terribly
toxic and otherwise dangerous for those working near them.
In July 2015, an
Iowan father and son were working on their hog farm when they were overcome by fumes and died.
Employees at all
factory farms work in hazardous conditions. On average in Washington, one dairy
farm worker dies every 16 months and one is injured per day. BuzzFeed News reported earlier this year that at
processing plants owned by Tyson, the world’s largest meat producer, an average
of one employee per month is injured by equipment and loses a finger or limb.
In order to make a profit, factory farmers blatantly
disregard the environment, their workers, and the animals they confine, mutilate, and kill.
The best thing we can do to protect people and animals is to
boycott the industry that abuses them.
For information on adopting a compassionate plant-based diet,
including delicious vegan recipes, click here.