DFC Statement: "Animal abuse is never, never okay"

OTTAWA, June 9, 2014 /CNW/ - Dairy Farmers of Canada views any mistreatment of animals as completely unacceptable and executives voiced their concerns about activities that took place in British Columbia, which led to people facing charges for animal abuse on a dairy farm.

"I hate to see animals mistreated," said Wally Smith, DFC president. "I was very upset, disgusted and devastated upon hearing the news. This treatment of animals is intolerable, and not how most people care for their animals. I cannot begin to understand why some people would do this to animals.

Unfortunately, these individuals made bad choices or treat animals poorly and there are laws to deal with those cases. Animal abuse is never, never okay.

Canadian dairy farm families care for their animals 365 days a year. In all of this, I take some comfort that the authorities acted quickly in this situation. I hope farmers and Canadians in general take some comfort in this knowledge as well."

David Wiens, Vice-President and dairy farmer from Manitoba reacted with these words:

"News of animal abuse saddens me deeply. Such behaviour is reprehensible and unacceptable. We support the BC SPCA's action - we understand they are pressing charges, and have investigated the farm on Friday.

Caring for our animals is close to the heart of every dairy farmer I know. Animal health and welfare is a top priority for Canadian farmers. We work with veterinarians and nutritionists to provide the best conditions for our cows.

We are looking to continuously improve our animals' health and welfare. We strive to do this through funding dairy welfare research, adopting new technology that improve the lives of the animals, participating in educational sessions that focus on improving the well-being of our animals, as well as supporting the proAction Initiative, which includes a significant animal care module based on the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle, published in 2009. All this because animals deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

I want to mention that Canadian dairy farmers are very transparent about how we care for our animals and we participate in many efforts to show the public our farms."

SOURCE: Dairy Farmers of Canada (Corporate)

Adam Taylor, [phone] x 2768, 613-809-9139 (cell)