Media Releases

Animal Cruelty Complaints Filed After Cow Punched and Jabbed at Livestock Auction

TRURO, NS—National animal law organization Animal Justice has filed animal cruelty complaints with the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after a Halifax resident documented a disturbing animal cruelty incident at Atlantic Stockyards, a livestock auction in Truro where cows are auctioned off to bidders and then trucked away.

Footage shows a cow at Atlantic Stockyards being aggressively jabbed with a cane in her sensitive underside, punched in her engorged udder, and shoved multiple times with a metal gate, all while workers yelled at the distressed animal.

The witness, a member of Nova Scotia Farm Animal Save who has asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said: “The cow was terrified, trying to escape her fate. I felt sickened watching how the indifferent workers responded to her fear with violence and by yelling at her. If people had seen what I’ve seen, they’d think twice about supporting this barbaric industry, which treats animals like mere pieces of property.”

Lawyer Anna Pippus, director of farmed animal advocacy for Animal Justice, said: “Violence against cows is just as wrong as violence against dogs and cats, and it’s just as illegal. Yet, in auction houses, factory farms, and slaughterhouses across the country every day we see incidents of violence against farmed animals by workers desensitized to their suffering. Whether the victim is human, dog, or cow, law enforcement needs to crack down on heartless cruelty.

“We also invite more bystanders to document and report these on-going acts of animal abuse. Animals cannot report cruelty on their own, so they need our help.”

Nova Scotia law prohibits abusing animals. Federal law prohibits beating animals or otherwise causing them undue suffering during transportation. National codes of practice, which establish comprehensive guidelines for the treatment of farmed animals, provide that “animals should always be handled with care and in a calm, easy manner,” and specifically advises against yelling at cows.

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The video footage can be seen here.

For more information, contact:

Anna Pippus
Director of Farmed Animal Advocacy
[email protected]