First-Ever Prosecution for Livestock Abuse: Dairy Cows Abuse in Shimane

An employee was prosecuted on July 13th after a video of him kicking a dairy cow went viral in social media on June 10th 2023. The Animal Rights Center pressed two charges per the Animal Protection Law; one is against this employee based on the Article 44 Clause 2 and the other is based on the Article 48 Clause 2 against Ohdahara Farm. Though the charge against the farm has been dropped, the Animal Rights Center considers the persecution was fair. This is because many abuse cases against livestock were almost always dismissed no matter how horrendous the cases had been. For instance, 35 pigs were starved to death in one farm in Ehime prefecture, and yet, the charge was dropped. When we tried to press charges when chickens were boiled alive, the case was never charged. 

The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) issued a notice as to how livestock animals must be slaughtered on January 21st 2021. In this notice, it clearly states that the police may press charges should animal abuse cases be observed. Despite this, abuse cases where 160,000 chickens were starved to death, chickens got thrown from the second floor, or abandoned to death were never prosecuted. 

We believe the reason behind this is that livestock animals are not as valued as other animals.  There’s a misperception that these abuse cases cannot be prevented since they’re farm animals. However, we finally recognize animal welfare is indeed an important matter and therefore livestock animals are worth protecting. 

The Animal Protection Law is the only way we can protect animals including livestocks. Abuse is, and should be, punished irrespective of type of animals. To that end, Ohdahara Farm should be subject to Article 48 in the same law. 

People in agriculture must be aware that any acts that can cause agony to animals may be regarded as inflicting cruelty on animals“without due cause”as stated by the law. 

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The chart below presents how the Animal Rights Center presents the differences to educate producers in the agriculture field and our government about cruelty to animals“without due cause.”