Death threats and violence against Fair Oaks Farms family and employees after animal abuse video

 

by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

It has been a difficult and alarming week behind the scenes at Fair Oaks Farms, one of the largest dairy producers in the United States. Troy McCloskey, son of company co-founder Dr. Mike McCloskey, told Animal Issues Reporter that family members and farm employees have been the targets of death threats, verbal abuse, and violence following the recent release of an undercover video by Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) that showed some of the northwest Indiana megafarm’s workers viciously attacking young calves.

“I work in the marketing department,” said McCloskey during a telephone interview with AIR on Sunday. “And I run the home delivery service, Fair Oaks Farms Fresh Delivery.

“I started up the milkman service for local homes and a couple of businesses here about three years ago when I came home from college. I got in to work last Wednesday when the video was released, and the first thing I saw was my secretary in tears. So I made a suggestion that we should help. Me and my brothers and sister and also my mom [Sue McCloske] have been running the phone here for the past couple of days. My secretary and the other employees… they don’t deserve what was being said to them. It’s a rough time for a lot of our employees, getting a lot of hate.”

He added that public reaction to the ARM video has taken an emotional toll on him as well: “I had to take a break the other morning coming from work. I could barely breathe. The anxiety of answering the phones was intense.”

Callers have been voicing opinions about the horrific video scenes of Fair Oaks Farms workers “slapping, kicking, punching, pushing, throwing and slamming calves,” as described on the ARM Facebook page. “Calves were stabbed and beaten with steel rebars, hit in the mouth and face with hard plastic milking bottles, kneed in the spine, burned in the face with hot branding irons, subjected to extreme temperatures, provided with improper nutrition, and denied medical attention. This resulted in extreme pain and suffering by the calves, and in some cases permanent injury and even death.”

McCloskey said, “The calls [about the video] are fine with us as long as they’re willing to listen and not be too abusive to us.” But many of the calls have been hostile. “This is my sixth phone call since 10 a.m.,” he counted, referring to the conversation with AIR, “so thirty minutes so far, and this is only the second nice one.”

Cancelations due to security concerns

McCloskey has halted his milk delivery service for the coming week because of death threats and verbal abuse on the phone and also on the streets. There were “two instances of someone trying to run my van off the road,” he said. “So for the safety of my drivers I have to suspend my service for this week until hopefully things calm down.”

The company also postponed its annual “Dog-A-Palooza” that had been scheduled for Saturday. The charitable event typically features dog performances, competitions, and a 2K Dog walk, with proceeds going to animal rescue groups.

“We take safety paramount above all else,” McCloskey explained, “so canceling that event was more for the safety reason than anything else. But we do have extra security on staff in case any radical activists were to show up and do anything crazy.”

Rumors of animal advocates planning a protest on Saturday also prompted the cancellation, he said, but the protest did not occur.

Protests and boycotts

A third reason for canceling Dog-A-Palooza was that some vendors pulled out of the event. “They didn’t want to be associated with the farm at this time,” said McCloskey. “We understand. They need to do what’s best for their businesses.”

Certain grocery stores and other retail vendors including Jewel-Osco, Tony’s Fresh Market, Pete’s Fresh Market, Strack & Van Til and Family Express have taken lactose-free “fairlife” milk and other Fair Oaks Farms products off their shelves in response to consumer outrage over the alleged animal abuse, according to news media such as Northwest Indiana Times.

Animal advocates called for protests and boycotting of Fair Oaks products as well as of the Coca-Cola Company, a partner and investor in the fairlife brand.

Fair Oaks Farms, located about halfway between Chicago and Indianapolis, is the flagship in a co-op of more than two dozen local farms that provide milk for the nationally distributed fairlife brand.

“Please call Fair Oaks Farms headquarters in Chicago,” urged Robert Grillo, director of Free From Harm, on his Facebook page. “Tell them that in light of the recent investigation at their farms, they need to shut down. There is no saving face by firing a few workers and using them as their scapegoats. This investigation reveals their business is morally bankrupt. Call 855-LIVEFAIR.”

On her Facebook page Jody Wiederkehr of Chicago Alliance for Animals asked followers to sign an ARM petition that states, “Make your voice heard! Let Coca-Cola know that you don’t support animal abuse by asking your local retailer to drop fairlife milk products.”

Grillo and Weiderkehr helped organize a demonstration outside the company’s Chicago headquarters on Monday.

They and many other animal advocates promote a switch to vegan (or plant-based) foods as a solution to what they describe as the chronic and systemic abuse of farmed animals, as evidenced by dozens of undercover videos made over the years by other animal advocacy groups such as Mercy for Animals, Compassion Over Killing, The Humane Society of the United States, and PETA.

New measures to prevent animal abuse

McCloskey pointed to steps Fair Oaks is taking to protect the tens of thousands of animals on its premises from further abuse: “We’re going to be implementing surveillance cameras, and have a live feed to our tourist center, so that when people visit they can watch the live feeds as well. It will be costly, but it’ll keep everyone on their toes and make sure that no one even has a thought of doing something like this again.”

For more details about the planned changes, he directs concerned consumers to the videos and the written statements his father has posted on the company’s website and social media.

In those statements Dr. Mike McCloskey, a veterinarian and a member of Pres. Donald J. Trump’s Agricultural Advisory Committee announced, “Fair Oaks Farms is taking full responsibility for actions depicted in recent videos. We find them disturbing, upsetting and unacceptable. We know we need to do better to earn back your trust.”

Dr. McCloskey said that the workers who were identified as abusing the calves were fired, and that the company is cooperating with law enforcement in an ongoing investigation of possible crimes revealed by the ARM video.

He added that Fair Oaks Farms will hire an independent auditor to “perform frequent, random, and unannounced audits” of animal welfare at the farm, the results of which will be posted on the farm’s website. Also he said there will be “a full-time animal welfare specialist to manage, advise and elevate our practices top to bottom.”

On Monday a statement from the Newton County Sheriff’s Department announced misdemeanor charges for “beating of an invertebrate animal” against three individuals connected to the videos that appeared to document animal cruelty at Fair Oaks Farms. Names of those charged have not yet been released.

Additional allegations by ARM

Animal Recovery Mission also alleges that its undercover investigator “captured footage of drug use and illegal marijuana cultivation by Fair Oaks employees and supervisors,” and that ARM “has confirmed that male calves from Fair Oaks Farms are in fact transported to veal farms (Midwest Veal and Calf Start), despite the corporation’s claims that it does not send its male calves to veal farms.” Many consider the standard practices involved in raising calves for veal to be cruel.

Mike McCloskey responded that the plant in question is actually not marijuana but an invasive weed species. Due to miscommunication with farm managers, he was unaware that calves were being sold to veal producers, but those sales have now stopped, he said.

‘Cow comfort and safety’

Looking toward the future, Troy McCloskey vows to improve the welfare of cows at Fair Oaks Farm.

“Paramount is cow comfort and safety,” he told AIR. “We’re going to do right by the cows on the farm and make sure we do better. We believe in our values and we believe in the farm, so we’re just going to stand strong and keep marching forward. We’ll do everything right and correct the mistakes and be a better farm for the cows.”

He said that coping with the fallout after release of the video has been getting easier every day. “We have a lot of support coming in and we really feel that. We appreciate everyone who has reached out to talk to us, to hear our side of the story.”

McCloskey invited the public to continue coming to the Fair Oaks Farms facility, parts of which have been open to the public for several years, hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly, including busloads of schoolchildren on field trips, at what the company website terms “the largest agritourism destination in the Midwest.”

‘Dairy Disney’

Some observers call the public portion of the farm “Dairy Disney,” citing its amusement park-like atmosphere of cheery music, cartoon characters, interactive games, upbeat educational exhibits explaining animal husbandry methods, restaurants, a gift shop,a  gas station with a deli, a dog park, and a Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel. Individual ticket prices for admission and tours of the farm range from $20 to $60.

The “Dairy Adventure” features narrated bus tours ferrying passengers to certain parts of the facility to observe dozens of cows being milked on a slowly-revolving carousel, and calves housed in small outdoor pens with plastic huts for shelter. In the calving building, visitors watch selected cows labor and give birth behind a glass wall.

The “Pig Adventure” tours take visitors to see thousands of pigs in growth stages from infant to adult raised on a neighboring farm associated with Fair Oaks.

A Facebook post by animal advocacy group The Save Movement reads, “Fair Oaks Farms and fairlife Milk want you to believe that the horrific abuse of mothers and babies documented in last week’s undercover investigation was an aberration they knew nothing about. This is a lie. Their entire’agricultural Disneyland’ is based on abusing mothers and babies, and it takes a special kind of sick to turn the predations of a factory farm into a theme park.”

Shock waves through the animal agriculture industry

Fair Oaks Farms has been often cited as an innovator in the animal agriculture world, due to its self-proclaimed high standards of animal welfare, its promotion of transparency in large-scale food animal production facilities, and its sustainability efforts such as converting cow manure into natural gas to power farm vehicles.

In April Indiana governor Eric J. Holcombe appointed company co-founder Sue McCloskey, wife of Mike McCloskey, to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) Board of Directors, calling her a “key industry expert” who “knows firsthand the challenges and opportunities faced by Hoosier [Indianan] entrepreneurs and agriculture businesses.”

Due to Fair Oaks’ lustrous image, the ARM video sent shock rippling through the dairy and other animal use industries. Social media commenters’ reactions range from outrage about the abuse, to assurances that such mistreatment of farmed animals is rare, to some arguing that the footage must have been “staged” by “radical animal activists with vegan agendas.”

To counter such claims ARM released a 1.5-hour “extended cut” of additional video footage it said it obtained through its undercover investigator, who worked as an employee at the company last fall. Amidst the sickening scenes of workers’ cruelty (or one might go so far as to say sadism) toward the young, helpless animals, the video shows the ARM investigator attempting to report the abuses to supervisors and managers, who appear to take no action to address the problems.

Mike McCloskey has made no public attempt to label the videos as staged or fake.

His son Troy also acknowledged the company’s accountability for the abuses, and emphasized continuing efforts toward improvement.

In a post on his Fair Oaks Farms Fresh Delivery Facebook page, signing himself as “Troy the Milkman,” he wrote, “I write this with a deep sadness and shame in my heart. As many of you know Fair Oaks Farms was infiltrated by an activist organization who filmed undercover. During their time at the farm they witnessed and recorded some very sick individuals who did unspeakable things. Those despicable employees, however, were reported by coworkers at the time, and fired. Regardless of the outcome, we take full responsibility of these actions that took place on our farm. The farm underwent intensive retraining at the time and I can promise you that our beautiful bovines have been and will continue to be treated like queens.”

On his personal Facebook page, in response to critical comments, McCloskey pledged, “I will make it my life’s goal to never let this happen again, and have visited the farms every day since, helping employees care for our cows. In a large corporation you have to trust in employees and managers to do what you would do… but unfortunately that isn’t the case all the time… I understand your anger and frustration with us and I completely get it, but please understand this… those cows mean the world to me, my father, my family, and all the remaining employees… I encourage you to find some trust in your heart to let us keep doing what we love doing. Changes are already in place and plenty more to come, and we will do right by these cows.”

While talking with AIR, McCloskey issued an ongoing invitation to visitors: “All of our operations are normal as scheduled, so feel free to come down to the farm and take a tour and have some great food at the Farm House Restaurant and get some cheese to take home from the Cowfe. And don’t forget that ice cream from the gas station.”

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Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Credits include hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner), a teleplay for CBS-TV, a short story for The Bark magazine, and 17 novels for Avon, E.P. Dutton, Simon and Schuster, and other major publishers.

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press).

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