Exposed: Calves Burned, Cows Kicked at Publicly Funded Farm
Tokyo — New footage just obtained by PETA Asia reveals workers inside the publicly funded Ibaraki Prefectural Livestock Research Center twisting fiery irons into calves’ heads without pain relief, kicking and slapping cows, and prodding animals with metal tools. The facility—which conducts farm-related research and raises cows for dairy and Wagyu—spent over 900 million yen (US$6.9 million) in a year from taxpayers and public funding, according to the most recent data.
In response, PETA sent a complaint to the Minister and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, requesting that it cut off funding and that the Ibaraki Prefecture audit the use of funds towards animal cruelty.
Recorded over three months in 2022, the footage offers a never-before-seen look into Japanese dairy and Wagyu:
- Workers plunge a smoking iron into calves’ heads to remove horn tissue as they cry out, their eyes wide open in apparent terror and struggling under the weight of workers crushing their necks and faces. They appear to release feces. Multiple men sit on top of the suffering animals.
- Workers punch cows on the side of their bodies, kicking or slapping them on the head, and stomping on their legs and backs.
- Workers hit cows with wooden sticks on their sensitive udders and faces in an apparent attempt to make them move.
- Cows were forced to live in their own waste in paddocks during the day.
- Cows languish in the scorching heat, reaching 40°C, without access to shade.
“This facility is snatching up public funds and using them to beat cows and burn baby cows for dairy and Wagyu,” says PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker. “PETA Asia is calling on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to stop propping up this abusive facility with taxpayer money.”
The group notes that Article 2 of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals states that “no person shall destroy, injure, or inflict cruelty on animals without reason.” Article 7 of the same Act also states that the owner or possessor of an animal shall “endeavor to care [for them]” in a proper manner. In addition, based on Article 3 of the same Act, the government shall “endeavor to achieve dissemination and awareness raising with regard to the welfare and proper care of animals.” Nevertheless, the facility clearly violates Article 44, Paragraph 1 (“Crime of Injury to Animals”) or Article 44, Paragraph 2 (“Crime of Cruelty to Animals”).
Broadcast-quality footage is available upon request.
PETA Asia—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA Asia’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETAAsia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
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