Tuesday, Sept
26,
2017
Local News
One More Sentenced
Talbot gets 35 days in jail for nefarious
role in dairy cow abuse
By
Staff/voice file photo

Jeff
Kooyman | Voice file photos 2014.

uesday morning, Johnathan Talbot, a former worker at Chilliwack Cattle
Sales, Canada's largest dairy farm, was sentenced to 35 days in jail for his
part in the sickening abuse of cows at the farm. He was also banned from
owning or caring for any larger animals such as pigs, cows and horses for 2
years.
Kristina Hiddema, Mercy
For Animals (MFA) vice president in Canada, an international farmed animal
protection organization said abuse is common in the dairy industry.
"Today's sentencing sends a strong message to Canada's dairy industry:
Cruelty to cows will not be tolerated," said Hiddema. "But the best way to
address animal cruelty is to prevent it. We're asking all Canadian provinces
to create a united front against the rampant animal abuse in the dairy
industry. Extreme cruelty and neglect will continue to go unchecked on
Canada's farms until the Dairy Code of Practice is given the force of law in
every province."
Talbot's sentencing follows a hidden-camera exposé by MFA.
According
to MFA, their undercover investigation recorded on video, showed workers
viciously kicking, punching cows as well as beating them with chains, metal
pipes, canes, and rakes. They also partook in gleefully poking and squeezing
festering wounds of cows suffering from oozing infections and gruesome
injuries.
In a release Tuesday, MFA said that Talbot is the fifth worker to receive a
jail sentence for the animal abuse revealed through MFA's groundbreaking
investigation. Earlier this year four other Chilliwack Cattle Sales workers
were sentenced to a combined 147 days in jail.
These unprecedented
sentences are the first time in Canadian history that former factory farm
workers were sentenced to jail for malicious animal abuse exposed through an
undercover investigation by an animal protection organization.
Last December, in
another historic victory for animals, Chilliwack Cattle Sales and its owner
Wesley Kooyman were convicted of animal cruelty and ordered to pay fines
totaling almost $350,000. One more worker, Brad Genereaux, has a pending
case and he is due in court on October 4, 2017.
According to the cruelty that was exposed by MFA footage, BC agricultural
minister Norm Letnick amended the BC Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to
incorporate the Dairy Code of Practice.
MFA is calling on all provinces to incorporate the Dairy Code of Practice
into their animal cruelty legislation. Giving the Dairy Code of Practice the
force of law will require the dairy industry to follow basic minimum
standards for animal welfare and help prevent many of the worst abuses
documented at Chilliwack Cattle Sales.
MFA told The Voice on Tuesday that they are also waiting on the
outcome of a sentencing appeal for two former workers through which the
Crown is seeking harsher penalties than the sentences issued by Honorable
Justice Gary Cohen. Those defendants are cross-appealing.
To view the undercover video that led to today's sentencing, visit Canada
Dairy Mercy For
Animals website
here.

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