Nestle has cut ties with Wiese Brothers Farm in Greenleaf, Wis. because of animal abuse.
A video by Mercy for Animals, an animal’s rights group showed cows being beaten, stabbed, and dragged by a tractor.
CNN reported that the Weise farm supplies milk to Foremost Farm, which in turn uses the milk to make cheese for Nestle. The cheese is used in DiGiorno Pizza.
Deborah Cross, spokeswoman for Nestle, said the company was deeply troubled by the actions of the employees in the video and will not accept any cheese made by the Wisconsin farms milk. “We have advised Foremost Farms that we will not accept any cheese made with milk from the Wiese Brothers’ Farm.”
Mark Wiese and his brother own the farm and he was not aware of the abuse until November when he received an e-mail that contained the video according to the Associated Press.
The animals in the video were animals that had trouble moving. The video was recorded by an undercover activist in October and November.
The Wiese Brother’s Farm gave a statement concerning the actions of its employees, “We are shocked and saddened to see a few of our employees not following our farm's policies for proper animal care." Two of the employees in the video were fired.
Foremost Farm stopped buying milk from the farm and even sent an independent auditor to investigate the farm, “While they noted a few areas for improvement, their overall analysis indicated our animals are clean, well cared for and treated appropriately by employees."
UPI noted that the animal rights group wants local police to charge the employees in the video with animal cruelty. The Wiese are willing to cooperate with a police investigation.
Warning: The video below is very graphic and contains explicit language and animal abuse.
Video courtesy of YouTube.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
