On Sunday, October 21, three women were charged with a grand theft felony each for attempting to rescue a dying calf found in a pile of dead cows on at Ray-Mar Ranches, a factory farm in Oakdale, California which supplies calves to Harris Ranch, and beef to companies like Costco and In-N-Out Burger. Despite the calf left for dead in a pile of cows meant to be discarded, providing no economic value as the pile is not intended for use in the production of animal products, the women were charged with grand theft felonies. Under California’s Penal Code, grand theft is defined as property valued at $950 or greater or any type of farm animal no matter the estimated economic value.
“They saw this calf was dying and they didn’t do anything, rather, they were very interested in criminalizing us. The workers came to take away the calf. I don’t know anything that happened to the calf after that.”
—Priya Sawhney, Direct Action Everywhere“They saw this calf was dying and they didn’t do anything, rather, they were very interested in criminalizing us. The workers came to take away the calf. I don’t know anything that happened to the calf after that,” Priya Sawhney, one of the women arrested, told us in an interview. “The officers spent a good ten minutes scrolling through a list, it looked like they were going to settle on petty theft, but they changed the charge to grand theft.”
The three animal rights activists with the animal rights organization Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) were video documenting conditions on the farm after participating in a protest vigil outside the farm property to highlight the abuses of the industry. A previous investigation uncovered the ranch exploiting a loophole in existing California animal welfare legislation to keep calves and cows in small, confined wooden hatches.
In 2008, California voters passed Proposition 2 with 63 percent in favor. The legislation was aimed at prohibiting the confinement of farm animals in spaces where they cannot stand up, turn around, or extend their limbs. The California Dairy industry was exempted from the legislation.
Despite the ban imposed on calves used for veal, a 2016 investigation conducted by Direct Action Everywhere, found the confinement crates were still being used. A June 2016 study conducted by the Dairy Industry found that 7 percent of calves die while being raised within the industry, most often due to diarrhea or pneumonia.
During the video documenting, the three women found the crates still in use and came across a graveyard pit where discarded dead cows were kept. In one of the graveyards, they discovered a baby calf still alive and were arrested as they attempted to rescue the calf away from the property.
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