Claims of violent treatment and cows being passed off as organic have been presented to the Department of Agriculture
Sophie Kevany
Thu 15 Oct 2020 04.00 EDT
Evidence of what appears to be aggressive animal abuse, practices leading to heightened disease risk and cows being passed off as organic at a Texan auctioneers has been presented to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) by undercover welfare investigators. A second, separate abuse investigation at a dairy farm is on its way to court in California.
... In one video, the undercover investigator, hired as an animal handler, is told that removing a cow’s ear tags, and replacing them with new “back tags” that indicate a cow is organic, can triple or quadruple their meat sale value.
In another clip, the investigator films himself collecting ear tags from the ground. In a third, the undercover operative is told: “Out-of-state cows come in, they turn into Texas cows when they leave.”
The investigator said he witnessed the tag switching process.
... A Seed spokesperson said the tags were designed to control disease transmission risks – between animals and from animals to humans ...
Sophie Kevany
Thu 15 Oct 2020 04.00 EDT
Evidence of what appears to be aggressive animal abuse, practices leading to heightened disease risk and cows being passed off as organic at a Texan auctioneers has been presented to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) by undercover welfare investigators. A second, separate abuse investigation at a dairy farm is on its way to court in California.
... In one video, the undercover investigator, hired as an animal handler, is told that removing a cow’s ear tags, and replacing them with new “back tags” that indicate a cow is organic, can triple or quadruple their meat sale value.
In another clip, the investigator films himself collecting ear tags from the ground. In a third, the undercover operative is told: “Out-of-state cows come in, they turn into Texas cows when they leave.”
The investigator said he witnessed the tag switching process.
... A Seed spokesperson said the tags were designed to control disease transmission risks – between animals and from animals to humans ...