Highlights from Expert Statements

Independent, nationally and globally renowned academic and professional experts in farmed
animal welfare and veterinary medicine reviewed the video footage from MFA Canada's
undercover investigation at Chilliwack Cattle Company. Below are some of their statements.
James Reynolds, DVM, MPVM
Dr. James Reynolds is a professor of large animal medicine and welfare at Western University,
College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Reynolds has served as chair of the animal welfare
committees of both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association
of Bovine Practitioners. He received the AVMA Animal Welfare Award for 2007 and the
American Association of Bovine Veterinarians Award of Excellence for 2010. Dr. Reynolds
graduated from UC Davis in 1982. He was in private dairy and beef practice in California for 14
years and was the chief of clinical services for production medicine at UC Davis for 12 years. Dr.
Reynolds has worked extensively in on-farm clinical bovine practice in the United States,
Armenia, and many other countries. Dr. Reynolds states:

The actions observed in this video are the most severe cases of animal abuse I have ever
seen in 32 years as a bovine veterinarian.

[It] depicts acts of willful animal cruelty and abuse. Multiple people are observed
repeatedly beating and kicking cows on and at the milking parlor (a rotary parlor). Cows
are struck with full force with canes and kicked with the heel of boots, indicating willful
attempts to inflict as much pain as possible. Cows are observed throughout the video to be
in pain and frightened.

Two cows are observed being forced down by beatings at the entrance to the
rotary parlor, effectively pinching and crushing them in the rotation of the parlor. The
cows rotate and are twisted between pipe posts and themselves in the action and are
obviously in severe pain and distress.

The other sections of the video show multiple cows on the rotary parlor with
severe swelling, wounds and draining abscesses on their hocks. These are lesions from
chronic irritation when the animal lies down. Other cows are seen with lacerated wounds
on feet, severely lame cows being walked onto the rotary parlor, cows receiving injections
on the rotary parlor and cows with severe mastitis. The number of cows with these lesions
and the severity of the lesions indicates long-term problems involving farm management
regarding animal care and welfare on the farm. The dairy has failed to provide basic
required veterinary care to the observed animals.

Several workers are shown committing serious acts of animal cruelty and abuse.
The fact that many animals have serious chronic and painful medical conditions means
these problems existed for a considerable period of time. Workers were provided the
canes, the chains and the tractor to pull cows over backwards by the management of the
farm. The dairy management has failed to provide medical care to animals suffering
severe injury and pain. None of the actions observed can be defended as reasonable
animal handling or management. The actions by people in this video are appalling.

Mary Richardson, DVM
For over 20 years, Dr. Mary Richardson has been involved in animal welfare issues. She chaired
the Animal Welfare Committee for the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and produced
policy statements on a wide range of topics. She also served as chair of the Animal Care Review
Board for the Solicitor General of Ontario, presiding over court cases involving animal abuse.
Additionally, Dr. Richardson was a board member of the Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare
at the University of Guelph. Dr. Richardson writes:

The workers attitudes are very worrisome. Not only is there a complete disregard for the
animals welfare, but there seems to be great hatred directed at the cows. If this evidence
had been presented to me when I was Chair of the Animal Care Review Board for the
Solicitor General of Ontario I would certainly have charged these individuals under the
OSPCA Act, with causing unnecessary pain and suffering.

Lee Schrader, DVM
Dr. Schrader is a practicing veterinarian, who obtained her doctor of veterinary medicine degree
from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Schrader has over 35 years
of experience working with animals, particularly animals with serious, difficult-to-diagnose
disorders. She performs post-mortem examinations on animal victims of abuse and neglect and
provides expert testimony in such cases. Dr. Schrader states:

Workers brutally handle the cows in this video. The cows are kicked, beaten with chains
and rods, punched and prodded. This abuse is openly performed in the presence of other
workers. The workers seem to enjoy inflicting pain. One worker says of another He likes
to kick cows. Another states that they should leave a cow hanging by her neck on a chain
(used to get her to a standing position). One attaches a milking machine to a bulls
testicles.

In summary, this facility obviously tolerates and promotes a culture of abuse,
cruelty and disregard for the welfare of the cows. The lack of veterinary care for the
wounds, lamenesses, and other injuries results in severe suffering to these animals. The
multiple downer cows and cows with retained placentas show a lack of good
management practices and attention to the needs of these animals. I feel that the
treatment of the cows in this facility is inhumane and completely unacceptable.

Debra Teachout, DVM, MVSc
Dr. Debra Teachout is a practicing veterinarian, who graduated from the University of Minnesota
College of Veterinary Medicine. She also holds an advanced degree in veterinary clinical
pathology from Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, SK, and has completed
additional coursework in farmed animal welfare. Dr. Teachout states:

Down cows should never be moved by hanging. This practice not only causes significant
pain and fear, it also can create serious injury and further suffering. Punching a cow in
the face is an overt act of animal cruelty. An animals face is a particularly sensitive area.
In addition, yelling in the face of this cow, regardless of the words used, is unnecessary
and abusive as she was up and moving. It instills fear and dairy cows are typically
compliant animals that do not respond well to yelling. Of particular concern to me are the
comments by the workers to leave her hanging combined with the worker yelling at her
that she is so dumb. This type of worker behavior exposes a culture of widespread
intentional animal abuse in this facility that is underscored again and again in the
incidents described below.

All of these injuries require veterinary care; however, there is no evidence in the
video that there is any medical care given to the problems. The uncared for injuries would
certainly be accompanied by discomfort, chronic pain and suffering in these cows.

The welfare of the cows in this facility is extremely poor. They should live in an
environment that is safe and meets their needs. Instead, they are brutally beaten, kicked
or hung and are treated with great contempt by workers who clearly have no regard for
their welfare. They are physically and verbally abused. Intent to cause harm seems
evident as revealed by worker actions such as connecting the milking equipment to the
bull testicles, tripping a cow by striking her feet, and repeatedly kicking a down cow in
the face. Most alarming are the attitudes of the workers as expressed in their hostile
outbursts calling for leaving the cow hanging, killing a cow, or shooting the cows that
went down after one was tripped by the worker. A culture of overt cruelty and abuse is
permitted to flourish in this facility. The comment from one worker about how another
worker likes to kick cows and a second worker chimes in that it is more fun than milking
seems to sum up the permissive atmosphere for abusing the cows. Management is either
negligent or complicit in allowing this brutality to continue.

Currently the cows in this facility are suffering. Many are in pain; many are
injured or sick and not receiving any veterinary care; many are living in distress and fear.
Their environment is not safe. The workers in this video that are caught in abusive
behavior toward cows and those that are permitting it to happen should never work with
animals again. They should be held accountable for their actions. This facility must cease
operations immediately until they can insure that the dairy cows will be treated with
respect and that dairy cow welfare becomes a top priority.

Debora Zimmermann, DVM
Dr. Debora Zimmermann graduated from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in 1988. In
addition to her doctorate degree, she holds a degree in biology with a specialization in zoology
from the University of Alberta. She is a member of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association,
the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association, the Edmonton Small Animal Veterinary Association,
and the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management. Dr. Zimmermann writes:

At this dairy operation there were typically 34 people present in each clip, each of whom
exhibited the same cruel and often sadistic behaviors. This suggests that this conduct is
part of the culture at this facility, and not simply the modus operandi of a rogue or
mentally unstable individual.

The fact that these gentle animals showed no active resistance to the onslaught of
violent attacks to their bodies makes the level of force and cruelty displayed towards them
even more disturbing.

Many cows also had evidence of mastitis (swollen, red udders/blood clots in
teats), and draining abscesses. With the number of cows in the operation and the
indifference and disdain for cows demonstrated by the employees, it is unclear if these
cows will be treated for their painful conditions. Without treatment, the level of pain
caused by swollen joints, foot rot and mastitis would be severe and unrelenting.
In conclusion, the employees at this dairy demonstrated a disturbing level of
callousness and obvious pleasure in abusing these good-natured, often debilitated
animals. As well, many cows in this dairy demonstrated severe and advanced medical
conditions.

This egregious cruelty and lack of attention to animal welfare at this dairy must
not be tolerated. An immediate investigation is warranted and all individuals involved
dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. As well, these cows deserve to be treated for
their medical conditions and spared from further harms.

Armaiti May, DVM, CVA
Dr. Armaiti May, a practicing veterinarian with experience treating farmed animals, received her
doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of California-Davis School of
Veterinary Medicine. She has experience treating livestock, and is an expert at recognizing the
signs of pain and distress in farmed animals. Dr. May states:

In viewing this video I was absolutely appalled by the numerous acts of callous cruelty
inflicted on dairy cows. There are a number of instances in which cows too weak or sick
to stand up or walk are subjected to cruelty including being kicked in the face and
forcefully beaten repeatedly with metal rods. In one segment, a live cow is lifted by her
neck using a chain. In several segments, workers are observed violently whipping cows
with metal rods as well as yelling curse words and obscenities at them. This type of
behavior is totally unacceptable. Workers are seen abusing the cows in gratuitous ways
such as forcefully yanking out their tail hairs and then throwing them to one end of the
milking parlor. There are also instances of cows having the skin of their udders cruelly
pinched. Such blatant cruelty has no place in any facility that keeps animals for any
purpose.

Cows are seen suffering from bleeding infected foot sores as well as severely
swollen and infected hocks. Some cows also have bleeding sores from having their tails
docked while others are seen suffering from lameness or mastitis, a painful infection of
the udder that requires veterinary treatment. The way these cows are handled is
completely inexcusable and undeniably poor welfare practice.

Katherine van Ekert Onay, DVM
Dr. Katherine van Ekert Onay holds a degree in veterinary medicine from the University of
Sydney, Australia. She is current president of the veterinary-based organization Sentient, The
Veterinary Institute for Animal Ethics, director of Animal Consultants International, and a
member of The Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics. She has experience working with
livestock, including investigating farmed animal cruelty both while working as a government
district veterinarian, and working for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
Australia. She also has experience in animal welfare policy development at a state government
level. Dr. van Ekert Onay concludes:

The footage depicts gross mistreatment of multiple cows that were caught in races and
rotary crushes, and given no clear sense of direction in which to move. Workers were
observed to kick and strike cows in their cervical (neck), lumbar, spinal, and head regions
using open hands, wooden canes, workers boots, a rake, and thin plastic pipe. All of
these actions would have resulted in unnecessary and unjustifiable pain and suffering,
being an ineffective way of encouraging movement from animals that were clearly
trapped and unable to raise or move themselves.

These animals would have found the interactions highly distressing. Several
behaviors indicated that the cows were stressed, with cows facing their ears in downward,
backward directions, and cows shying away from workers approach. Approaching cows
towards their head regions is additionally stressful because it works in the flight zone of
this species, a natural boundary that exists in these animals to signal escape from
predators.

Two cows were suspended from their neck region with chains, one being lifted by
their entire body weight. Suspending cows from their heads places unnatural and
excessive pressure on the cervical region, resulting in severe pain, risk of spinal cord
damage, and muscular and ligamentous tears. This experience is also unnecessary from
an animal management perspective and unjustifiably stressful for these animals.

Numerous cows exhibited significantly sized swellings over their hock, foot and
rump regions. These were most likely due to abscessation, and many appeared to have
secondary surface infections and open, bleeding scabs. This type of wound requires
veterinary medical attention and should have been treated before they were allowed to
develop to the sizes that they did. At this stage, they would have been highly painful and
risked further pain from secondary trauma, and dissemination of infection elsewhere in
the body. They also pose a significant risk to milk contamination, as oozing wounds and
draining sinuses are able to leak pus and blood matter into the milk lines.

Two cows were forced to walk with grade 4/5 (where 5 is non-weight bearing)
right hind limb lameness, causing unnecessary and unjustifiable pain. These cows should
not have been forced to walk, let alone on a slippery surface which would have
exacerbated their instability and risked further slips and soft tissue tears.