Response to Idaho Dairy Video
October 10, 2012 – The Animal Agriculture Alliance has long condemned the mistreatment of animals raised for food and works to promote science-based animal care guidelines. The disturbing images released today by an extreme vegan organization do not accurately reflect the animal care and handling practices currently in place on America’s farms.
“Farmers and ranchers have an ethical commitment to their animals and they take that commitment seriously,” Alliance President and CEO Kay Johnson Smith said. “This video does not accurately represent the animal care practices in place across the dairy industry.”
The Alliance believes that the severest penalties allowed by law should be imposed on all parties found to be involved in animal abuse. It is critical that everyone in animal agriculture – farmers, ranchers, processors, and government inspectors – do the right thing. Concerns of animal mistreatment should be immediately reported and addressed. In this incident, authorities in Idaho have charged at least three individuals with animal cruelty.
In response to the video, Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, said:
“On a national level, many farms have adopted the National Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) Program’s animal care standards. Those standards disavow malicious striking or dragging animals. Responsible animal stewardship is a good thing for people and cows, and the FARM program, developed by NMPF, is designed to promote the best practices in animal care that consumers have come to expect from the dairy sector.”
Ensuring proper animal well-being is the top priority of farmers and ranchers across all sectors of animal agriculture. Management practices during every step of the production process, from farm to processing, are selected with animal well-being, food safety, and product quality in mind. The Alliance encourages consumers to get the facts about how their food is produced – and not from organizations like MFA that seek to discredit farmers and ranchers while promoting an extreme vegan lifestyle.
MFA Executive Director Nathan Runkle stated at a 2011 animal rights conference that “the lifeblood of Mercy For Animals is our undercover investigations of animal agriculture”. At the same conference, another speaker indicated that farmers who did not join ranks with animal rights extremists would be targeted for “undercover” investigations.
If you would like to learn more about how today’s pork producers use tradition and technology to care for their animals, visit the Alliance’s Youtube channel to watch a collection of videos, including farm tours and interviews with the people who help put food on your table. For more information about farmers’ and ranchers’ commitment to animal care and to learn more about the real motives of animal rights extremist organizations, visit www.animalagalliance.org.
About the Alliance:
The Animal Agriculture Alliance is an industry-united, nonprofit organization that helps bridge the communication gap between farm and fork. We connect key food industry stakeholders to arm them with responses to emerging issues. We engage food chain influencers and promote consumer choice by helping them better understand modern animal agriculture. We protect by exposing those who threaten our nation’s food security with damaging misinformation. Find the Alliance on Facebook and Twitter.
Category: Press Releases
Tag: Dairy, Mercy for Animals, Undercover Videos,