SACRAMENTO (Nov. 8, 2024) — Activists with In Defense of Animals and Free from Harm confronted top officials at a high-profile California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Cattle Health Advisory Task Force Meeting on Thursday, demanding an end to policies prioritizing profits over public health, the environment, and animal protection. 

Activists raised the alarm about the ongoing, devastating multi-state H5N1 bird flu outbreak that has now infected 473 dairy herds. California has seen 160 of these outbreaks in the last 30 days alone, while ranchers have been catastrophically failing to contain biohazard, dumping carcasses of infected dairy cows on the roadside. 

The meeting, held at the California Farm Bureau headquarters, featured top officials, including representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones. Activists challenged the panel, demanding answers, and began a chant heard at other speakouts nationwide, “Stop the bird flu bailouts, fund a plant-based food system!,” before being asked to leave the premises.

Lia Wilbourn, Farmed Animals Campaigner for In Defense of Animals said, “We have been forced to take our message directly to the California Farm Bureau headquarters in Sacramento because of the bird flu crisis. This virus is being exacerbated by animal farming, now killing mother dairy cows across California, epitomizing how destructive and unsustainable this industry is. Animal agribusiness breeds superbugs by forcing animals to endure crushing confinement in their own waste and overusing antibiotics. We are cruelly killing billions of animals for food products that nutrition experts have concluded we do not need. Meanwhile, animal farming spreads zoonotic diseases that pose a grave likelihood of a pandemic worse than Covid, ravages the environment, hurts and kills animals, and fuels the climate crisis — all for billions in profits that taxpayers are subsidizing. We urgently need to transition to a slaughter-free, plant-based food system.”

The urgency of these calls is underscored by the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC)  confirmation of 46 human bird flu cases in the U.S. this year, 21 of which occurred in California. Six of these cases were contracted by Washington state poultry farm workers, with over half of all cases linked to dairy cows. In Missouri, one concerning human case emerged without any known animal contact.

As of November 8, 2024, California now has 259 infected dairy herds. Infectious disease experts have long warned that bird flu could trigger the next pandemic, with mortality rates as high as 50%. In June 2024, the former CDC director sounded the alarm stating that a pandemic from bird flu is “a question of when.” In a September 2024 document, the CDFA noted that most infected livestock and dairy cattle fully recover from an HPAI infection within a few weeks, but now they are dying and bird flu continues to spread.

On October 30, the USDA also reported the first case of bird flu in a pig kept at a backyard farm in Oregon, marking the first time it’s jumped to this species.

This disruption comes as the USDA prepares to begin nationwide raw milk testing of dairy herds for the bird flu virus, a measure that infectious disease experts, veterinarians, and advocacy organizations have advocated for months.

“CDFA leadership is putting corporate profits over public health, animals and the planet. I applaud activists for confronting them and USDA officials at the Nov 7th Cattle Health meeting to urge them to change course, from this disastrous policy of bailing out the bird flu spreading dairy industry at any cost, to transitioning to a humane, sustainable — and safe — slaughter-free, plant-based food system,” said Robert Grillo of Free from Harm.

Members of the public have flooded the CDC and USDA with over 7,700 emails calling for them to act urgently. In Defense of Animals and Free from Harm have staged other disruptions of animal agribusiness conferences this year in San Francisco and Sacramento to demand a transition to a plant-based food system and continue to lead the charge for change, urging a swift shift away from dangerous and outdated animal  farming practices to prevent a looming pandemic and safeguard the future for animals, people, and the environment.

The organizations also condemn the use of Ventilation Shutdown and Ventilation Shutdown Plus, which have slowly and inhumanely killed over 100 million birds and 250,000 pigs in recent years. 

Sign now to call for mandatory bird flu testing of dairy cows.

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Contact:

Lia Wilbourn, In Defense of Animals: lia@idausa.org (707) 776-6828
Robert Grillo, Free from Harm: robert@freefromharm.org (773) 329-7977

Images (CC BY-SA): https://bit.ly/CAFarmBureauDisruption

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization based in California with over 250,000 supporters and a 41-year history of fighting for animals, people, and the environment through education and campaigns, as well as hands-on rescue facilities in India, South Korea, rural Mississippi, and central California. https://idausa.org/farmedanimals

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