A dairy worker who was caught in an undercover investigation beating and jabbing cows with metal rods and sentenced to jail is now working for another dairy, according to animal rights group Mercy For Animals.
Mercy For Animals caught Brad Genereux, a worker at Canada’s largest dairy factory farm, conducting a dozen of violent acts. Those acts, caught in a secret camera left by the group, documented Genereux beating a cow with a cane, jabbing a cow in the face with a metal rake and punching a cow in her sensitive and engorged udder.
Genereux was working for Chilliwack Cattle Sales at the time. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail by the Chilliwack Provincial Law Court after pleading guilty to two counts of animal cruelty earlier this year.
Genereux is also prohibited from having custody or care of large animals, such as pigs, cows, and horses, for 18 months. He is the sixth Chilliwack worker to receive a jail sentence for the animal abuse revealed through Mercy For Animals’ groundbreaking investigation.
In a release, Mercy For Animals officials say they were shocked to hear the court made an exception to the terms of Genereux’s probation to permit him to work at Cederwal Farms, a dairy in Abbotsford, where his job duties are believed to include custody of cows.
This striking exemption puts animals in harm’s way,” the organization says. “Genereux’s employment at Cederwal Farms belittles today’s convictions for egregious and malicious animal cruelty and shows the low regard Cederwal Farms has for animal welfare.”
Genereux and six other Chilliwack Cattle Sales workers have been sentenced to a combined:
227 days in jail 5,203 days of probation (prohibition on care or custody of large animals)
Additionally, the company and one of its owners, Wesley Kooyman, were convicted of animal cruelty and fined approximately $350,000. Kooyman was sentenced to 365 days of probation.
These landmark sentences mark the first time in Canadian history that factory farm workers have been sentenced to jail for malicious animal abuse exposed through an undercover investigation by an animal protection organization. It’s also the first time the owner of a Canadian factory farm has been held responsible for animal cruelty committed by his employees and revealed through a hidden camera exposé.
The animal cruelty convictions of seven workers and one owner at Canada’s largest dairy puts the country’s factory farmers on notice: Abuse an animal, go to jail,” said Krista Hiddema, Mercy For Animals’ vice president for Canada. “The dairy industry has proved itself incapable of protecting animals from even the most sadistic cruelty. Until the Dairy Code of Practice is given the force of law in every province, cruelty and neglect will run rampant in Canada’s dairy farms.”
