Dive Brief:
- Four Wisconsin dairy farm workers have been charged with animal abuse in a case that scandalized Nestle's DiGiorno frozen-pizza brand.
- Activists had secretly videotaped the workers at a dairy that provided cheese to DiGiorno. That videotape, which showed horrific abuse of animals, was released to news media in December.
- Nestle cut ties to the dairy immediately after the release of the video. Neither Nestle nor the owner of the dairy, Wiese Brothers’ Farm, have been charged.
Dive Insight:
We've seen the video. We've seen a lot of these things. They're all disturbing. But there was something particularly nightmarish about this one.
It wasn't that the animals suffered — although they did. They suffered terribly. What disturbs us most about this particular video is the alleged abusers. They appear to be — lost. There's a strange, rhythmic, dissociative nature to the way they beat, drag, and kick the animals.
We've written before about the cost to the souls of those who produce animal proteins on our behalf. Few videos so hauntingly portray what such work does to people.
No doubt there are thousands of people who were gladdened to hear that the people in that video now face prison. No doubt there is a sense of justice in this. We do not, and cannot, share such feelings.
Because at the core of the problem with animals in the food chain is that somehow we have lost our sense of compassion. And the answer is not — and cannot be — to lose compassion for the humans who have lost their souls in the work we have asked them to do.
