Speechless & Shocked: Animal Outlook’s Investigator Response to Injustice to Cows

When I worked at Martin Farms as an undercover investigator for Animal Outlook, witnessing gentle mother cows being beaten and abused, I told myself over and over: I can do this. I can bear witness; it will all be worth it in the end. It will all be worth it because their stories would be told to thousands of people, and the cruel, heinous acts they endured would be punished justly in a court of law.

I can’t accurately describe the amount of anger I felt when I saw the results of months of waiting for charges to be filed in a case where I witnessed a manager shoot a cow in the head unsuccessfully–then casually reload while she sadly writhed in agony on the ground in the rain–before finally shooting her again to end her misery.

My heart dropped when I saw the decision last week from the Pennsylvania State Police and District Attorney: No cruelty charges filed.

At Martin Farms, I listened to the bellows of calves being dehorned with a hot iron burned into their skull after being torn from their mothers’ sides. I saw a manager shackle a cow by her ankles and hang her upside down from a tractor as he stabbed a long metal rod into her stomach. I saw sick cows dragged by their hips with hip clamps attached to tractors. I witnessed these innocent, gentle cows go through torture so that corporations can turn a profit. And the people with the power to prosecute these acts looked at everything I captured on hidden camera and somehow did not see cruelty.

I’m shocked, speechless and saddened. Cruelty like what I witnessed on Martin Farms happens on factory farms across the country, yet all too often this violence to billions of cows, pigs and birds is kept hidden, overlooked, and in this case, swept under the rug by law enforcement when it’s exposed to the world.

But I’m not stopping — and neither should you.

I didn’t endure this experience to back down now. I — and Animal Outlook — will keep standing up for cows and all farmed animals. Please support our fight for truth and justice. Our shared mission to disrupt industrial animal agriculture and inspire compassion is crucial now more than ever. And given these difficult times, your support has never been more vital to our ability to keep moving forward with our important work.

Your generous donations are what keep investigators like me in the field, exposing the truth and seeking justice for farmed animals. 

I know you share my outrage at the injustice of law enforcement’s decision, but we won’t be discouraged–or stopped. Thank you for always standing beside me.

To make your donation today, please visit animaloutlook.org/donate.

In solidarity,

“Sam” – Undercover Investigator

Animal Outlook