A Union County grand jury has decided the owner of a Union County dairy farm caught in an abuse scandal should not face criminal charges.
...on the tape {from an undercover investigation by Mercy for Animals,) Conklin is shown kicking a cow that is lying down.Interestingly enough, AETA has been dragged into this whole mess even though it's a case where animal abuse was probably committed by another employee facing charges.
{County Prosecutor David} Phillips said the portion of the tape shown publicly was spliced together and that Conklin's behavior was taken out of context. The Union County sheriff's office said it had four veterinarians with experience in large-animal care review the tape.
"In context, Mr. Conklin's actions were entirely appropriate," Phillips wrote in a news release this morning. "The veterinarians told law enforcement that cows who remain down are at risk of injury or death. A cow's muscles may atrophy. Once that happens, the cow may never get up and may suffer or die."
The criminal investigation isn't over, however. Phillips said threats of violence and murder made by animal-rights activists against the Conklins are still under review and information may be forwarded to the U.S. Attorney's Office for possible charges under the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.
1 comment:
My feeling with Conklin or rather dairy as a whole is that if this industry requires (as standard practice) the kicking of downed cows in order to "save" them... Maybe we shouldn't be forcing them to have babies (that we steal the milk from) in the first place.
At times I wonder if livestock vets said it was "good practice" to cut of the left leg of pigs, or break the right knee-cap of cows (all for "productivity") - Would consumers simply turn a blind eye yet again, because of what "experts" say?
Ugh! I wish people would just do their own thinking as to what's "appropriate" or not!
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