Ohio dairy farmworker charged with animal cruelty after advocacy group releases undercover video

Following Illinois-based animal advocacy group Mercy for Animals' release of undercover video it says documents numerous instances of animal abuse at an Ohio dairy farm, a farm worker has been charged with 12 counts of animal cruelty.

Billy Joe Gregg Jr., 25, was fired from his job at Conklin Dairy Farms Inc. on Wednesday and arrested later the same day. He was arraigned Thursday and remains jailed following his court appearance. A judge set his bond at $100,000. He is due back in court in June, at which time he will enter a plea.

An investigation into the alleged cruelty at the Plain City farm, including viewing of about 20 hours of footage provided by Mercy for Animals, is ongoing and may result in additional charges, the local sheriff's department told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Mercy for Animals video (which is available for viewing on the group's website, but is not for the faint of heart) depicts a calf being thrown to the ground before a worker stomps on its head and adult cows being beaten with crowbars, poked sharply with pitchforks and punched in the udders, among other things. The group says the video was shot between April 28 and May 23. 

Each animal cruelty charge against Gregg could carry a penalty of 90 days in jail and a $750 fine. Chief Deputy Tom Morgan told the Associated Press that the video seems to show three to four workers participating in acts of alleged animal cruelty and "we have to identify who all is involved."

In a statement released Wednesday, the Conklin dairy company insisted that it did not condone cruelty to its cows, adding that it has "launched [an] internal investigation into this matter and will be conducting interviews with everyone on our farm who works with our animals."

In a further statement Thursday, it again condemned the acts caught on Mercy for Animals' video, but added that the footage is missing context that would demonstrate that its facility is operated in a responsible way, according to the Associated Press.

One of the men shown in the video appears to be farm owner Gary Conklin himself, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The Dispatch also noted that the farm had been inspected three times in the last year. Though the inspections were intended simply to gauge the facility's cleanliness, Ohio Department of Agriculture spokesperson Cindy Kalis said that telltale signs of animal abuse would have been noted during the inspections. None were found, she said.

The farm's statements condemning animal cruelty rang hollow for at least one animal advocate, Farm Sanctuary co-founder and president Gene Baur, who released his own statement Wednesday. In it, he commented that the Conklin company "asserts that its farm operates according to high standards, but the video shows that they operate by a different set of standards than most Americans. The cruelty and violent behavior that is now common on farms where animals are seen as commodities is outside the boundaries of acceptable conduct in our society."

Mercy for Animals released a similarly grisly video depicting unwanted live chicks being thrown into a grinder at an Iowa chicken facility last year. At that time, the group's executive director, Nathan Runkle, argued that laws mandating the humane treatment of farm animals should be addressed on a federal level rather than being regulated by individual states, which it largely is at present. 

With the release of the recent dairy farm video footage, Runkle reiterated his support for tougher regulations relating to farm animal treatment, saying in a statement that "stronger and stricter state and federal laws to prevent and discourage farmers from abusing and beating animals" are required.

Even before news broke of the cruelty investigation at the Conklin facility, farm-animal welfare was something of a hot topic in Ohio, where a coalition called Ohioans for Humane Farms is pushing for humane reforms and increased oversight of the state's livestock board. It hopes to place a measure that would address farm animal treatment on the state's ballot in November.

In his statement Wednesday, Farm Sanctuary's Baur called the proposed ballot measure "a positive step in the right direction for Ohioans who feel justifiably outraged by the abuse at Conklin Dairy Farms."

RELATED NEWS ABOUT FARM ANIMALS:
Egg-farm video is latest salvo in Humane Society's campaign (April 2010 story by P.J. Huffstutter)
Vermont slaughterhouse closed amid animal cruelty allegations

-- Lindsay Barnett

Top photo: In a screen grab from the Mercy for Animals video, a calf is thrown to the ground before a worker whose face is not shown stomps on its head. Credit: Mercy for Animals

Middle photo: Billy Joe Gregg Jr. in a photo released by the Union County Sheriff's Office. Credit: Associated Press

Bottom photo: Chicks are moved on a conveyor belt in a screen grab from Mercy for Animals' Iowa chicken video released in 2009. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[amanda]

I hate that man. I hope God dos not have mercy on his soul... If you listen to the thing he says in that video. How could someone birth such a monster?

[Vicky]

They can't put that creep away long enough, along with anyone else who was engaged in that conduct. I watched the video yesterday. The callousness and sadistic behavior exhibited on the four minutes (out of twenty hours) that I saw was simply reprehensible. There are no words for the anger and sickness I felt after watching their actions.

One more reason why people should spend a little more time finding out what their food dollars are supporting.

[ss]

I couldn't watch the video, but I've seen other's like it. I agree with Vicky, unless you raise and kill an animal yourself you are complicit.

[karen kirsch]

Billy Joe is a thug of the worst kind. Protests are being planned in Ohio, but the Farm Bureau and the Milk Producers and other agribusiness organizations are actually defending this piece of crap! Security around the pseudo-family farm has been increased as well. Animal welfare groups and responsible farmers as well are demanding the maximum penalty for this creep and hope to shut down Conklin Farms. I hope they are successful!

[PetVet]

Yet another private sector expose of sadistic treatment of farm animals. Industry insists it can self-regulate for food safety and animal welfare but is proven incapable of even modest complience with national standards. Why is it that our taxpayer-funded regulatory agencies USDA and FDA are so impotent in this regard? I am sure the industry reaction will be to blame a "bad apple" but how many bad apples can their possibly be - there's another heartbreaking video every few weeks. In this case, the farm owner decried the cruelty to the press and is then shown himself kicking cows. This industry and the federal agencies that are supposed to regulate have NO CREDIBILITY.

[Samantha]

I don't understand why there haven't been more arrests, there were clearly others in the video besides this monster.

[bob Frank]

I have a question. Why do these people who claim to be against animal cruelty, go immediately to the authorities once the FIRST case of abuse is recorded? Aren't they an accomplice to the abuse after that?

[Columbus ohio guy]

This video is so staged the cows have no signs of abuse before this under cover video! Watch it again but this time look for signs (big knots or scare tissue)and you will see that the guy is looking to the to the guy taking the video.

[Jacqueline]

This is good news! I hope the charges go through and amount to some jail time for this guy. I hope others can learn to have more compassion for animals.

[nj]

Words cant describe how upset and sad this story and the video make me. I can't imagine the kind of person you must have to be to be able to do that sort of thing to a defenseless animal. I could hardly watch the video as my eyes swelled up with tears. I have never seen anything so upsetting. Im just...at a loss for words. What can we do to help???

[Kate]

What a sick human being. He ought to rot in jail for life for doing that. Those people absolutely disgust me.

[Kat]

There are no words for such a mess of a man. Filth.

[Linda Gilliam]

I am a humane law enforcement officer in Ohio and for 7 years now I have never come across such demented acts in all this time. I'm glad they have him in jail and Ohio does have a bill in the Senate to be passed making penalties a felony in the fifth degree. He will get what's coming to him.

[humanity is dead]

This is one of the most sickening things I have ever seen. I am just lost and don't know what to think. I just wished I could be there on that farm and could help those poor animals somehow. They should get life sentences for something like that, no mercy for such monsters.

[Moxie Maria]

To those who claim that this is staged, could you explain to me how they're not actually hurting the animals in the footage?? Are you saying that they abused animals to make a point about animal abuse?

I'm sure the cows were in on the act the whole time...

[Michelle]

I must say, if you are consuming animal products, you are creating these circumstances for these defenseless creatures. We must they endure this to merely satisfy human's desire for a nursing mother's milk. Shameful. Please go Vegan today.

[Linda]

I've not watched this video yet but I've seen many other videos of deliberate animal cruelty similar to it. There is definitely something wrong with men who feel a need to abuse animals like this who can't possibly defend themselves. Does a man really feel a need to stomp on the head of a terrified baby animal? Or all the other abuses to the calves and cows? Not a normal man. Men like these most likely abuse the women and children in their lives, too, if they have any. Abuse like this at this dairy farm is the reason I became vegan. It happens every single day all over our country and we need to have federal felonies for those who commit these atrocities to animals. I'm sick of these horrible people getting away with this.

[tracey weir]

The only thing more disgusting than the freakshow sight of Billy Joe Gregg Jr. beating on these animals are the non-exsitent laws to help prevent and punish such acts. This pathetic man probably goes home every night - kicks his dog, punches his wife and slaps his kids in the face - after a day of torturing cows - yet sees nothing more than 90 days in jail - maximum?!

If seeing BJ Loser sticking a pitchfork in a cow sickens us, then it's time we told our politicians, very clearly, this is not acceptable and laws need to be in place so our enforcement officers can do their jobs. Otherwise, freaks like this ugly excuse for a human being, will continue to do the same thing, over and over again.

[Arthur Stephens]

If this was staged I want to see the Cow's SAG Cards

[Pete]

Bob Frank wrote: "I have a question. Why do these people who claim to be against animal cruelty, go immediately to the authorities once the FIRST case of abuse is recorded? Aren't they an accomplice to the abuse after that?"

I see this ? asked by, evidently, dense people far too often. The Conklins are a wealthy and influential family in the area. It takes more than one or two documented instances of abuse to overcome the inertia and "good old boy" factors that would have ultimately led to this whole thing being swept under the rug.

This is not like child abuse, where one incident would prompt a full-blown investigation. It is necessary to gather extensive evidence in order to establish a pattern of abuse. How long did it take to capture the owner in an act of abuse? How much more evidence was required to prevent this from being portrayed as an aberration caused by one "bad apple" named Billy Joe?
In fact, Gary Concklin attempted to portray it that way right from the start. Fortunately, the videographer had the evidence to put the lie to that claim. There are 20 hours of video. Unfortunately, he had to restrain what I'm sure was his natural urge to pitchfork that hick, despite the abuse that necessarily, but temporarily went unpunished.

Hopefully, the volume of evidence will overcome the inevitable attempts by Conklin to make Billy Joe the fall guy and return to "business as usual". Unfortunately, more animals were abused in the necessary evil of that process. Think of them as "collateral damage" in the effort to shut down this horror farm once and for all.

[reply to Columbus ohio guy]

You don't have to show signs of being abused to be a victim of abuse.

[fanfinds]

To Columbus Ohio Guy: If you can actually state that this video is staged, after watching what he has done to these poor animals, grabbing a cow with metal pinchers to its delicate nose then bashing it over the head, kicking and punching calves in the head, or bending its legs over its head while beating it, twisting their tails til they break, stomping on the calves heads and stabbing them with pitchforks is staged - you're a complete idiot!! Do you think this is normal behavior for a cow? Do you think they're not feeling pain? Do you think this is an act for the sake of making a video and is humorous? If you can make even entertain that ridiculous thought, then you need help, and are no better than the guy doing the horrible acts of cruelty seen! You need to spend less time in the movie theatres and get some reality.

[L.A. Voter]

Doesn't it seem odd that there are eighteen comments here, and none of them mention the chilling sight of women tossing live baby chicks into a grinder?

I'm as horrified as everyone else about this man who one commenter accurately describes as "filth." But it could at least be argued that what he was doing was outside his job description (notwithstanding the fact that apparently farm owner Gary Conklin was happy to watch him and pay him for torturing animals). But these women aren't acting out. They are perfectly calmly and contentedly throwing live baby animals into a grinder AS their job. Frankly, that's as least as evil and degenerate as torturing animals for fun. And I'm sure each one of these women thinks of herself as a perfectly nice, normal person.

[Concerned Agriculturalist]

I have lived on a production agriculture farm my entire life, and I can assure all of you that the food you are consuming is safe, wholesome, and healthy. In addition, all the animals on my farm, and farms across the country are well cared for. Yes, it is true that the farmer is in the business of agriculture to make money, therefore he treats his animals with respect and puts their health first.. Because a healthy and happy animal is a productive animal.

It is unfortunate that events such as this take place in our industry, just as there will always be political scandals, people who neglect their children/pets, and crime. This employee clearly had a lapse in judgement in the treatment of these cattle, and actions were taken accordingly by the farm and the state to make sure he is punished.

When purchasing your food and fiber, please remember that farmers DO CARE about making sure you are not only getting a safe product on your plate, but that we do our best to make sure that instances such as this DO NOT take place and continue to keep the health and safety of our animals a priority.

[Atolerant1]

Concerned Agriculturalist: I think you just gave me the biggest snowjob I've ever had. It's sad that you feel you have to defend the industry, but it has fallen on deaf ears. This kind of abuse happens more then just this one instance and has been going on for a very long time by many people. I know as I have seen it for at least 20 years of my life, some first hand. Anyone that makes these animals into a commodity does not have respect or love for their animals in the first place as they wouldn't be doing it to them. They would just let the animals live out their life in peace, not making them work. It's all about making money. I'm sure there are a very few individuals that do treat their animals half way decent. As for our food being healthy....I have to laugh. It's getting worse and worse. We have mad cow's disease, salmonella scares constantly, just to mention a few. Get your head out of the sand and quit expecting us to put ours there. These people are sick, they should spend the rest of their lives in jail and someone should do to them what they did to those animals if anyone doesn't think it was that big of a deal. Laws or not, this should not be allowed to happen. We shouldn't need to have laws in order to stop this kind of thing....it's just common sense that any kind of physical abuse is wrong. And it shouldn't matter as to what species....we all experience pain in the same way. As one other person said...anyone who condones this in any way is just as sick as the people doing it.

[Debra]

He needs to go to prison--imagine what he's like around chldren?

[jb]

Anyone watch Food Inc? It is a documentary on our food sources here in the US. Another eye opener. This year I have my own garden and am looking for small organic farmers for my meat supply. Most people have a little room to grow something for themselves. I look at it as taking away business from corporate farms that treat people and animals as nothing more than a bottom line.

[Ninette Jones]

These despicable cruel acts are commonly perpetuated by humans and an industry that reduces sentient creatures to property-- humans are the only animal on the planet capable of such cruelty and disregard for the meek and innocent lives of animals before them. This is why I am vegan -- I will not buy any dairy ever, or eat carcass ever again... May the cows and calves on this farm be rescued, and not have to endure one more day of violence at the hands of the human animal who is capable of such extreme acts of cruelty.

[Jessica S]

Unfortunately this video is not an exception to the rule, but animal abuse in meat and dairy facilities is more common than we are expected to believe. This one man is the fall guy so that the industry can act like its taking responsibility for abuse.

As far as the comments below of anger directed towards this particular man: this man has been put into a work environment where he is expected to harden empathetic feelings towards the animals. This is obviously an angry man, who is expressing resentment for the kind of work he has to do and the environment. It is not uncommon for otherwise compassionate people to become aggressive while working in factory farms. If you buy milk and eggs (and meat) you are paying people to do this kind of work.

[Leonard Brodt]

Go to google and type in ANIMAL ABUSE ON FARMS and click on the search engine that reads A SHOCKING LOOK INSIDE CHINESE FUR FARMS and watch what they do to animals if you can stand it.Worse than Billy Joe Gregg, I couldn't believe it.!Lenny909

[Vicki]

I think the owner of the farm should have known what kind of workers he was hiring. People who can hurt a animal like what I seen. Can easily do the same to other people. Would you want those farm workers who are incharge of taking care of those cows, and calfs, babysitting your children?..What kind of person can stab at a animal with a pitch fork, or hit a animal with a crow bar?..Is this the kind of people we have walking about freely?..That Dairy farm should be shut down.All the livestock,taken,and everyone who is Caught in the video,Put in Prison...Let the inmates take care of them.

[ash]

That is the worst thing ive seen on animal abuse. I just saw it today and its sick. All of those people should be thrown in jail and the animals need to be taken away and given to people who will treat them right. America needs to demand more laws from our politicians, demand action! this is not the first animal abuse video i have seen but it is the worst. and im scared to look for that chinese fur one. these animals didnt ask to be abused why are there people defending what they did to them? you are just as sick and twisted!

[Mara]

As always, the operators of these factory farms are shocked, just shocked when these things come to light.

[Rima Blond]

It is shocking to see how widespread this abuse is. There are so many undercover videos like yours available on a variety of websites, depicting similar farm animal abuses.

I applaud your efforts!

Rima B.

[Joyce M. Ikerd]

Hello,
I actually cried for these poor animals , being a animal lover of all kinds . This video was so sad, and heart breaking . I hope and pray something can be done about these people doing this and the terrible conditions in which the poor animals have to be in , this makes no sense at all . Very breaking .

[Wayne S.]

This made me sick, If anyone wants to do something to help you can search for the online petition and sign it.

[andrea]

stop u mental jerks killing our babies we love animals