Many people have contacted VHS about the terrible animal cruelty exposed at Chilliwack Cattle Sales, Canada’s largest dairy farm. VHS has published an opinion editorial in the Vancouver Sun, giving our reaction to this horrific example of factory farm mistreatment.
People everywhere are appalled at the unconcionable brutality inflicted on the animals and want to know what to do to help prevent such abuse. Here are some key actions you can take:
Use social media to get this footage and our op-ed in front of anyone and everyone.
Stop buying dairy products. Animals suffer horribly by the millions in food production in Canada and it’s because consumers demand cheap food. There are now many alternatives to dairy products on the market. If you are not prepared to replace dairy products in your diet, reduce your consumption and purchase certified organic products. That designation means there is some third-party oversight of the farm with the result that the animals have a better quality of life.
Contact Dairyland (Saputo), which buys milk from B.C. dairy farms, including Chilliwack Cattle Sales. They have the ability to demand wholesale changes in animal welfare but they won’t do it if people continue to buy their products.
Contact Canada’s agriculture minister and B.C.’s agriculture minister. The Codes of Practice for farm animal welfare in Canada need to be mandatory and enforceable, with third-party inspections and on-site video surveillance.
Write or email grocery stores to let them know how much your trust in them has been compromised. Ask for concrete assurances with proof that this can never happen again and make it clear that you will not purchase their products until this is done.
Shop at stores with a conscience, like Whole Foods. The Overwaitea Food Group here in B.C. just instituted signage designed by VHS that for the first time in North America, indicates which eggs are from hens kept in cruel wire cages. Please encourage your local grocery stores to do the same.
7 replies on “Dairy farm cruelty – What YOU can do”
Thank you for the information. I have now written to Dairyland to let them know that I and my friends/family are now boycotting their products. I hope others do the same.
Any animal should be treated with respect. It is not right and not acceptable to abuse animals in any form. The law should step in and charge these and any people that are found abusing animals. What is our world coming to . Animals have feelings just like you and I. The trouble is they can not speak. So lets be their voice and say enough is enough, stop abusing ANIMALS. They are truly beautiful creatures. Lets be their voice and protect them.
I had the opportunity today to purchase cheese from Saputo today and decided not to. Already making a difference. This just cannot continue. It’s disgusting!
I stopped eating animals a few years ago when I saw the documentary “Earthlings” — I was appalled at the treatment, enslavement, and cruelty that animals have to endure at the hands of humans, and I was appalled at myself for not knowing. Since then I have become their voice and I fight hard for their rights as beautiful sentient beings that deserve to live their lives as naturally as we do. I have cried many tears and say prayers daily that this abuse stops. I hope this BC Dairy Farm incident creates a huge and much needed awareness so that people truly care enough to make a difference for farmed animals — the abuse is all around us for chickens, cows, pigs, ducks, sheep, goats, etc. and it has been going on for far too long — wake up and realize that each voice does matters for them and take a stand for them. When you make the connection that the meat on your plate has truly suffered, your consciousness evolves to a higher place of being, and the rewards from there are endless because you have stopped contributing to this horrible unnecessary madness.
I don’t understand the minds of anyone that could hurt a animal, I hope that the men that did this to these cows should have the same treatment and be put in jail. The owners of the farm should be made to shut down. I don’t believe that they didn’t know what was going on. They had to know just by seeing the state the cows were in. It is just disgusting , Canada needs much harsher laws when it comes to animal cruelty. We the people must speak up to make a change.
I hope that these men are charged and pay for the horrific abuse to these animals, I agree that the owners knew and they should be charged as well and make them shut down. They do not deserve to continue profiting from the abuse and cruelty to the poor defenseless cows. I will not never buy Dairyland
products again. I will make sure Saputo is not on my shopping list either. I hope others do the same. Animals deserve to be protected by laws just like us. I hope the Canadian Government does something about it.
I’m appalled and outraged that our farm animals are so cruelly treated in a country like Canada. Our governments should be ashamed of themselves at allowing it to go on. It’s all non-dairy for me now.