Livestock company charged with animal abuse
ONTARIO, CA (BDCi) – The owner of an Ontario livestock auction house and seven of his employees face animal cruelty charges after an animal rights group captured video of workers kicking, tossing and beating the animals.
The hidden-camera video was shot and released by L.A.-based animal rights group Mercy for Animals on Wednesday (30), showing workers at Ontario Livestock Sales kicking and stomping on pigs to get them to move through a narrow passage, slinging a baby goat by the neck and hind legs, and beating emus in the face with a paddle.
An apparently sick sheep is dragged into a van to be slaughtered in one scene.
Prosecutors filed 21 misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty against owner Horacio Santorsola and seven employees. They face a maximum sentence of a year in county jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted
Santorsola, 73, says he and his employees did nothing wrong and said grabbing the animals the way they did is necessary because the animals are untamed.
He has run the family-owned-and-operated farm for the last 18 years and it has been in business since 1936.
The video was shot over a seven-week period from january to March.
The defendants are scheduled to appear in court on July 20th.
By: Diego Díaz
Source: KTLA
Photo: CBS
1 June 2012
11:30 a.m. P.D.T.