Swarming flies. Cows trudging through knee-deep manure. Lame legs, an overgrown hoof, blood oozing from a nose. Bones protruding from emaciated bodies. There’s no denying that the picture painted in a recently released video from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was a grim one.
“PETA received a tip from someone with knowledge of the conditions for the animals and of the animals. Then we went and took a look for ourselves at the farm,” said Dan Paden, evidence analysis manager for PETA. “That shocking footage of the emaciated, lame cows trudging through their own manure was what resulted.”
The setting for this horrifying scene was Osborne Farms, a small dairy producer in the Stamey Cove area of Clyde that milks somewhere between 25 and 30 cows. According to Paden, the anonymous tip came from someone who lives locally, and the tipster, along with the PETA staffer who shot the video, gained legal access to the farm and captured evidence of what they found.
They shipped the results out to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Haywood County Animal Control, who all came out the next day to conduct inspections. The farm received six violations from DENR, cumulatively carrying a potential fine of $25,000 per day.
But none of the three organizations found any evidence of animal cruelty or of milk contamination.
