Activist Group Releases More Undercover Video Showing Animal Abuse At Fair Oaks Farms

AJ Garcia is director of investigations at the Miami-based activist group Animal Recovery Mission. (Drew Daudelin/WFYI)

The Miami-based activist group Animal Recovery Mission on Wednesday announced a new undercover video showing animal abuse at a Fair Oaks Farms location.

This is the second video released by the group, known as ARM, in recent weeks. The videos show animal abuse and neglect at two different Fair Oaks locations in Indiana, captured by undercover workers.

ARM’s Director of Investigations AJ Garcia says ARM is cooperating with police and the USDA, but has not given them all of their footage. He says releasing footage of an ongoing investigation would put their undercover investigators' lives in danger.

"This is a part of a much bigger ongoing investigation," Garcia says. "And we decided to roll this out in stages, so that the media had time, and the people and Fair Oaks Farms had time to reply."

Garcia says undercover workers spent months capturing footage in multiple locations to counter the argument that these are isolated incidents.

“There's hundreds, if not thousands of dairy farms all across the United States, right? So we need to show that the cruelty happens everywhere, not just at this one location,” Garcia says.

About 50 people gathered Wednesday in downtown Indianapolis, to protest Fair Oaks Farms and the broader dairy industry. (Drew Daudelin/WFYI)
 

Fair Oaks in a statement last week said it fired the workers seen in ARM’s first video before the footage was released, and the company says an internal investigation is underway. Fair Oaks has not responded to a request for comment on the latest video.

About 50 people gathered outside ARM's Wednesday press conference to protest Fair Oaks and the broader dairy industry.

"This investigation is really important," says Sky Dawson, who joined the protest. "Fair Oaks has always been a part of trying to spread this humane myth, when they're really just a glorified factory farm. And these videos coming out are just proving that they've lied to the public, just like the whole dairy industry has."

A California citizen yesterday filed a lawsuit against Fairlife, a milk brand with products distributed through a partnership between Fair Oaks Farms and The Coca-Cola Company. The lawsuit alleges that marketing for Fairlife, which promises "exceptional care" for its cows, is misleading to consumers.

Fairlife recently announced it has discontinued the use of milk from Fair Oaks Farms.