Fair Oaks Farms released its own video response Wednesday following footage showing animal abuse at the company’s operation. In it, the company pledges to improve protections for animals.
Activist organization Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) put out a video recorded by an investigatorwith the group who went undercover as an employee at Fair Oaks Farms. The images captured show workers abusing calves and using illegal drugs while on the job.
In a video released by the company, co-founder Mike McCloskey shared his disappointment in failing to protect the animals on the farm that promotes sustainability.
“The way that I have to look at this is that as hard as we try, you can always end up with bad people in your organization,” said McCloskey in the video. “And this is what happened to us.”
To take preventative measures going forward, he says cameras will be installed in areas where employees and animals interact to monitor animal welfare. These videos will be seen by the public in a new exhibit on “The Dairy Adventure” tour in hopes of providing more transparency.
“I will have in that exhibit all the training, all the practices, but also I will have the screens that are showing the videos from these cameras with a trained individual within that exhibit,” says McCloskey.
Fair Oaks Farms is one of the largest dairy producers in the country with about 30,000 cows.
