Protesters demand charges after footage shows animal cruelty at Ceres calf ranch
Animal rights activists protested outside the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday, urging the DA to press charges against a calf ranch in Ceres for alleged animal cruelty.
Last month, drone footage captured by Bay Area-based Direct Action Everywhere activists in February showed workers at Agresti Calf Ranch kicking a calf in the face, yanking a cow’s tail and pulling the nose of a cow forcefully with pliers. One video showed a calf being disbudded with hot irons before collapsing. It appeared that no anesthetics were given to the calf beforehand, per industry standards.
Though one worker was fired, the activists want the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office to prosecute Agresti Calf Ranch for allegedly violating California’s animal cruelty statute.
A day after the videos were captured, Direct Action Everywhere attorney Jon Frohnmayer made a report to the Stanislaus County district attorney, sheriff and the Animal Services Agency.
According to a letter delivered to the District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday morning, the Stanislaus Animal Services referred the matter to the Sheriff’s Investigations Division “after determining it involved potential criminal conduct.”
The letter calls for an update on an investigation, confirmation of an on-site inspection of the calf ranch and consideration for appropriate enforcement action.
On Tuesday, District Attorney Jeff Laugero told The Bee that his office has not received anything from the Sheriff’s Office for review.
Terry Seese, the chief of the DA’s Bureau of Investigation, met with the activists Wednesday and told them the Sheriff’s Office is investigating the matter and the DA’s Office does not want to step on investigators’ toes.
“It’s really frustrating because we have obviously been emailing the Sheriff’s Office the entire time since February as well, and that hasn’t gone anywhere,” said Cassie King, one of the activists.
The Bee asked the Sheriff’s Office if the matter is being investigated. “We don’t have any response at this time,” Sgt. Nathan Crain replied in an email.
Carla Cabral, one of the activists, described it as a game of “hot potato” between agencies about whose jurisdiction it is to investigate. Cabral is facing charges by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office for allegedly taking a pair of sick baby goats from a dairy in Stratford.
“We’re asking the people who claim to represent justice to do their job,” Cabral said. “I’m angry because the law is supposed to mean something.”
After meeting with Seese, the activists protested outside the DA’s office building, holding a green and yellow banner that read “Factory Farms Are Not Above the Law.” The 10 protestors chanted, “Jeff Laugero, do your job.”
Lewis Bernier, the drone pilot with Direct Action Everywhere, said his heart started racing once he saw what the drone was capturing.
“In that moment, all I wanted to do was get out of my car, leave the drone in the air, and run up and stop these people from doing this horrible, brutal treatment of these calves that are completely defenseless,” he said.
In his 10 years of animal cruelty reporting, Bernier said he has never seen law enforcement take his reports seriously. But after seeing what he saw at Agresti, he thought this time they would.
After getting the footage, Bernier called his attorney, rushed home, edited the clips and sent out the video the next morning to the district attorney, sheriff and the Animal Services. It wasn’t until weeks later that he got a response saying it had been passed on to the County Milk Inspectors Board.
He has not yet been contacted by anyone regarding his footage.
The Agresti Calf Ranch is operated by the owners of Double D Dairy. In an email to the Los Angeles Times, who broke the story in May, Double D Dairy owner Dominic Assali said, “Animal welfare and safety are incredibly important to us, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for any mistreatment. We’ll always take immediate, thorough action to address any operational issues, as we have in this instance.”
