- Home
- Politics
- Entertainment
- Sports
- Health
- Religion
- Society
- Tech
- Money
- People
- Science
- Galleries
Animal Rights
Disturbing Abuse Uncovered At Ohio Dairy Farm
I have been traveling around Ohio the past few days with a half-dozen livestock farmers, who had assembled to speak out in favor of the ballot measure to ban some of the most inhumane and reckless practices in industrialized agribusiness. But the big news on the farm animal front in Ohio during the last 24 hours was the release of graphic and sickening video of dairy cow abuse at Conklin Dairy in Plain City.
show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYTkM1OHFQg&feature=player_embedded
An investigator with Mercy For Animals was hired by Conklin Dairy and recorded hidden camera video during a four-week undercover operation. The video shows several employees, including farm owner Gary Conklin, abusing cows for no apparent reason. A well-known farmer in central Ohio, Conklin is seen on the video repeatedly kicking a downer cow in the face. The most malicious acts in the video were conducted by Conklin Dairy employee Billy Joe Gregg, 25. Gregg not only body slammed and repeatedly and forcefully punched cows, but stabbed confined animals with pitchforks and ruthlessly struck them in the face with a metal bar. Gregg was seen on the video telling the investigator how much he loved beating the animals.
Gregg was taken into custody yesterday and arraigned this morning, facing 12 counts of animal cruelty. No charges have been brought as yet against the farm owner or the other employees, and presumably the farm is still operating. Gary Conklin issued a statement yesterday after the video came to light. "Our family takes the care of our cows and calves very seriously," Conklin said. "The video shows animal care that is clearly inconsistent with the high standards we set for our farm and its workers, and we find the specific mistreatment shown on the video to be reprehensible and unacceptable." Conklin did not address his own apparent misconduct in the video.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture inspected the facility three times within the last year, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Officials said they did not witness any abuse and approved it as a “Grade A” facility, meaning that the milk can be sold commercially for any purpose.
Union County Sheriff Rocky Nelson told the Dispatch that the behavior he saw on the videotape was "vile and disgusting." "If there was a way this could be a felony charge, I would push for that," Nelson said.
Unfortunately, Ohio’s anti-cruelty law does not allow for felony-level charges for farm animal abuse, no matter how malicious the act. This is due to the lobbying influence of Ohio agribusiness interests.
Those same interests are fighting the Ohio ballot initiative to halt the abuse of downer cows, the strangulation of animals on the farm, and life-long confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and laying hens in cages and crates barely larger than the animals’ bodies. Volunteers are now circulating the petition and have until June 29 to gather 402,000 signatures of registered voters in Ohio.
The farmers on the tour with me expressed their disgust for the abuses documented at Conklin Dairy. But they also spoke out against other forms of more routine cruelty within agribusiness, and called on the good people of Ohio to support this reform and return some level of responsible care and husbandry to the practice of animal agriculture.
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
Comments
Cant say anything!
Hurting or killing an animal should be a bigger punishment than killing another human. Because at the very least Humans can say something! Like help me...Animals cant say what they are going through. they cant say help me or defend themselves especially when they are caged like that! Those men should be shot on sight...Litteraly. Or get some help. then get shot on sight.
conklins kids
Are the offspring of these sick people, conklin & henchmen just as sick?
Have they been raised to be bullies? Do they also mistreat animals? I would venture to guess they probably DO! Kids imitate what they see and if they saw sick stuff like this or grew up with these sickos, then violence is a part of their life & they think nothing of it so guess how they will turn out or have turned out? Just like daddy dearest!
SICK, SICK, PSYCHOPATHIC SICK
Well, gary conklin himself is seen kicking a cow. Now, he may say to get her up, but if she was beat or mistreated like the others BY HIS WORKERS, then maybe she could not handle anymore? How would he like to be treated that way? Animals have feelings too! How would he like for his children or grandchildren to be treated the way HE & HIS WORKERS treated these cows? These cows have put food on your table, a roof over your head, nice clothing on your back and THIS is how you treat them? YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF OWNING ANIMALS OF ANY KIND! Animals may not be very intelligent, but YOU gary conklin & those CRETINS that work for you are waaaaay below their intelligence level. SNAKES are better than you!
If I could afford to buy your farm, I would! NO animal should be mistreated or abused!
I think if Ohio WILL NOT & DOES NOT prosecute this kind of behavior to the full extent of the law, then maybe NO ONE should do business with ANYONE that owns & profits off livestock of any kind so that business can go to other states that do NOT treat animals this way or that WILL prosecute to the full extent of the law when these things happen.
Who is going to FIRE YOU gary conklin? I'd love to see you & your HENCHMEN get the same kind of treatment you gave those cows. Heck, I would love to do it myself! SICK PHUCKS!
What is even more scary
is this Gregg guy is training to be a cop!!!! We need protection FROM people like that, can you imagine arming this sick twist?! And no, I will not be coming a VEGAN anytime soon as mentioned below but I will not just sit on my hands and say OH WELL there is nothing I can do about it. I have signed the petition against the farm along with over 37.000 other people and I have e-mailed the farm several times expressing my outrage. I could not finish watching the video it upset me so bad. To think these are the very animals they profit from. These farmers have to know there is a risk of getting caught if they behave so horribly. I hope while they are in jail someone smashes them in the face, or takes a metal bar and beats them, or takes a vicegrip to their nose and chains them up and then beat them, make them know the pain that was inflicted on those poor calves and cows. We are just men judging them, but a higher power saw it all and when they answer to him there will be hell to pay !!!
Violent Criminal Act Must be Prosecuted
This person is no use to society acting as he does. Animals and people alike are in danger in his presence. He clearly lacks empathy and must be restrained by law .
"Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man." - Arthur Schopenhauer, (German Philosopher)
"Murderers ... very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids ." - Robert K. Ressler, (Former FBI Serial Killer Profiler)aw.
This is so wrong
Where do people like this get off on hurting innocent animals ? Did they get picked last at gym class? Did non of the girls like them?
I would more than love to see justice come to these sick, sick individuals.
I agree with K in Newfoundland.
Boycott
Where does this farm sell their dairy products? I think everybody should boycott the stores that buy their milk and put them ,Conklin Dairy farm, out of business. They could never be punished enough for the terrible acts inflicted on the cows.
Boycott DAIRY
Unfortunately, acts of this cruelty are not uncommon in the dairy industry. Even if the boycott were successful, and this company were driven under, animal abuse would continue in dairy farms, not to mention slaughterhouses and other animal farms. The best way to prevent the suffering and death of animals is to forgo all products produced by them (don't worry, it's not nearly as difficult as it sounds :) Believe me, you'll be doing thousands of animals an incredible service.
Kelsey
"The world is vegan , if you want it!"
- Gary Francione
Disgusting case of cruelty...
This is sickening. This is demonic. This is gross.
Here again, we see the need for legal protections against things like hate and animal cruelty . These individuals should get 5 years for an act of cruelty and 5 years for assault on a defenseless animal. It's people like this that society does not need. I cannot think, except for assault on a human or murder , what crimes are worse than those they committed.
To all those libertarian types who are against hate and animal cruelty legislation, sorry, but hate and brutality are not rights. They are crimes. The government has not only the right, but also the duty, to intervene and protect society from evil people like this.
Who are these "farmers?"
You give the names of everyone except for the supposed "farmers" on tour with you. Who are these "farmers?" Without that information, your last paragraph is pointless, because you lack credibility.
Tough now???
Would love 10 minutes alone with them !!!!!!! would skin the bastards alive & watch them scream.......... I would enjoy that to the extreme. Would they be big tough men then???? lol Think not.
I find
your post at least as disturbing, if not more so than the original story.
Seek help.
Don't need help thanks
Be that as it may. It's a waste of time & money to put people like that in jail. They can NEVER be rehabilitated. Pain is the only thing they understand & love to dish out. People like that will only evolve over time. Start with helpless animals & move up to people !! I'm sure you don't have a problem with that? What law will stop that from happening? NO damn law. Remember that the next time a serial killer is loose in your town !!!! Ask yourself what animal he was torturing & if you paid for his rehabilitation at some point over the years....lol
I don't
deny that some psychopaths begin by torturing animals . And you're right, no law is going to stop a psychopath from doing his thing. But once he does his thing, or tries to, he'll go to jail. Everyone has to weigh every illegal action they ever take over the consequences associated with it. If a serial killer breaks into my house he'll have to deal with the fact that he'll be shot, and if he survives he'll go to jail.
On a side note my taxes pay for a lot of things I don't support . They also pay for a lot of things that I do. I'll write letters to my congressmen and state legislators to change what can be changed but sometimes there's not a lot that can be done.
What those guys did was already against the law
They should, and are, be(ing) punished for their crimes. These crimes are poor arguments for new laws , though. The crimes are being used as arguments for new laws.
This is an Appeal to Emotion, a logical fallacy.
The Democratic National Committee approves of this website.
I agree
Appeal to Emotion is a logical fallacy.
But there is less logic in the motivation for reform here and more principle, sentiment, and plain being nice.
The law in question seems to be a new law. I think that if there is no other way to get all the farmers to be professional, maybe some more laws are the answer. Or punishments with more deterrent force. It's really just a lack of professionalism, even if one is cold to the aninmals plight, and want to be all logical about it.
More laws.
I suppose they could make it 5 crimes to stab a cow. Would that be enough?
The Democratic National Committee approves of this website.
I don't know
But this article differentiates.
I don't like that our laws are so complicated either, but we are not enlightened enough to without them, society has not evolved the trustworthy judges and educated electorate we would need to simplify them, and the makers are still resolved to leaving us to our own devices, so what do you do?
My point was that more laws don't help.
One law , stating (simplified for argument's sake): "Stab a cow, go to jail for X number of months," should be sufficient. Case in point: This story. Dickhead stabbed a cow and went to jail. He gets an individual charge for each instance of hurting those animals and a sentence for each charge.
Done and done.
This OP wants a host of new laws to further punish that guy? I don't see the point.
The Democratic National Committee approves of this website.