Current Press Releases

Farm Sanctuary Offers $2,000 Reward for Information on Illegal Dumping of Dead Calves in San Joaquin County

Leading Farm Animal Protection Organization Pursues Arrest of Perpetrators in Unlawful Dairy Calf Disposal Case

ORLAND, Calif. – February 9, 2009 – Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, announced today that it is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible for illegally dumping approximately 30 dead dairy calves in San Joaquin County in late January. According to Detective Levine with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, this type of illegal activity has increased recently, resulting in the local animal control’s discovery of nearly 50 lifeless calves unlawfully discarded in the county over the past two months. Farm Sanctuary will be posting reward signs in and around San Joaquin County, urging anyone with information on this case to contact the sheriff’s office in the hopes of bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“The callous dumping of these newborn calves in the dark of night, an act likely carried out by perpetrators looking to avoid rendering fees, is in no way acceptable or excusable,” said Farm Sanctuary National Shelter Director Susie Coston. “Farm Sanctuary has been documenting the ill treatment of male dairy calves for more than 20 years and practices like we’ve recently seen in San Joaquin County shed light on much bigger welfare problems involving the dairy industry at large – an industry which has long treated bull calves with disregard and disposed of them through the cheapest, and often cruelest, means possible simply because they had the misfortune of being born male. We are committed to stopping such abuse in its tracks.”

Farm Sanctuary’s Orland, Calif. shelter – located in the middle of dairy country – has a long history of caring for abused and neglected calves. Since 1993, the organization’s west coast sanctuary has taken in more than 100 cattle, approximately 75 of them under the age of one year. Whether abandoned at stockyards or discovered alive on rendering trucks or dairy farm dead piles, the majority of these young animals were male dairy breeds deemed unprofitable by the farms from which they originated. Farm Sanctuary has also obtained investigative footage showing the reality faced by calves discarded by the Calif. dairy industry. This footage can be found in the video “Behind the Mustache: Farm Sanctuary Investigates the Dairy Industry” at farmsanctuary.org.

Anyone with information about the recent calf dumping incident should contact the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at 209-468-5045 or tipline@sjgov.org.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.