We are live with breaking news, disturbing news, we’ve got to warn you. This is, I have no words to be honest with you. Another shocker, a shocking new animal cruelty scandal has erupted involving milk suppliers to Fairlife, a billion dollar milk brand owned by Coca-Cola, sparking calls for a boycott.

 

Animal Recovery Mission, Arm, has released gut wrenching footage from two Arizona dairy farms supplying milk to Fairlife. A six month Arm investigation found egregious and frequent animal cruelty with animals being hit, animals being dragged, animals being whipped, animals being shot, animals being shoved, animals being force-fed, and animals being chained at two Arizona farms. The video is gut-wrenching.

 

I’m actually trying to process it as a human being. I can just say that watching this video made me cry and it made me embarrassed to be a member of the human race. We are here with Kudo, the founder of Animal Recovery Mission, who has made it his life work to expose animal cruelty.

 

Kudo, first of all, kudos on this investigation. Tell us, we don’t want to get into the names of the farms and the names of the families. It’s Fairlife, it’s Coca-Cola, we’re going to read their statements in a second, but just tell us the first farm, which is the video that we saw there.

 

Describe what you found and how you found it. Yeah, well, we’ve done undercover investigations on Coca-Cola on Fairlife since 2019. This is actually our seventh and eighth case.

 

But this is a new plant for Coca-Cola in the greater Arizona area, in the Phoenix zone of the state. We wanted to see if the crimes were as upper level as they were in Texas and in Indiana and other parts of the country. A lot of stipulations have been in place since our 2019 investigation to make animal cruelty within the Fairlife and Coca-Cola corporations, quote-unquote, impossible.

 

Okay, I can’t hear you. We can’t hear you. We can’t hear you.

 

You’re breaking up. Actually affected probably the animals they’re supplying animals were worse crimes we found in 2019. Yeah, well, I’m so sorry to tell you this.

 

We’re having trouble- And that $35 million were invested by Coke and Fairlife to, quote-unquote, bury the lives of the dairy cows within their supplying dairies. The cruelty was eight of 10, out of one in 10. We’re seeing felony, we’re talking- Okay.

 

At that particular farm. Yeah. We’re having trouble hearing you, by the way.

 

I want to go to Shannon Keith. Shannon Blair. Shannon, you’ve been following this for a long time.

 

What was your emotional reaction to the footage as it came up? Shane, I can barely watch this footage. I’ve been to so many places of violence and slaughterhouses, and when I first saw this, I couldn’t get through it. I had a physical reaction and was being vocal because it was… They just pulled a fully conscious female cow over an eight-foot concrete wall by a chain around her neck.

 

This is really difficult for anyone who has any type of feelings for other individuals to watch. It’s sickening. And you have a son.

 

What was his reaction? I know we’re going to hear from him later. So we have, like you said, we’ve been following this for a long time, for over five years now. When this first was released in 2019, we were horrified.

 

We had found out a few years earlier about the inherent cruelty of the dairy industry, but what we saw in the 2019 investigations was above that inherent cruelty. It was above and beyond anything that I could have possibly imagined. And now seeing this after what we had seen in the past, and then Coca-Cola saying that they were going to make sure that nothing like this had ever happened again, and they’ve put $40 million now since 2019 into animal welfare standards.

 

So now to see these investigations come out of 2024 investigations, I can’t even believe it. I mean, this is a huge corporation. They say that they have audits happening constantly, third-party audits and their own audits.

 

And I mean, how could this happen? My son was horrified. He’s been speaking out against it since it happened. Everywhere we go, we’ve been telling people about it.

 

Okay. I think we have Kudo back. I want to read some of the statements that Fairlife has made.

 

We invite them on at any time to respond, but let’s talk about the history of this and their responses. So first of all, there was an investigation, an undercover investigation conducted by you Kudo in 2019. It was released in 2019.

 

And at that time, they said they were going to change. And then subsequently Coca-Cola bought Fairlife completely. So now Fairlife is completely owned by Coca-Cola.

 

Correct me if I’m any mistakes. This is the statement that Fairlife gave in response to this most recent undercover investigation of yours. Let me read it and then hopefully get your response.

 

Fairlife’s response, we have zero tolerance for animal abuse and the supplier has suspended delivery of milk from these facilities. Fairlife does not own farms or cows and requires suppliers to follow stringent animal welfare standards. Your response to that.

 

Again, they say they have suspended delivery of milk from these facilities. Your response, Kudo. Well, that’s a pretty weak response from Fairlife.

 

Suspending doesn’t terminate, right? So they are planning on going back to that supplier. I would say very quickly. They possibly already have.

 

They’re being very, very careful with their language because now they know they are abusers and have gone into an industry that is cruelty by nature. There’s no possible way to have, unfortunately, a cow dairy producing humane certified milk. It’s just an impossibility.

 

They now know that and they also now know that the animal recovery mission has their number, right? We know how to get undercover now in any of their facilities at any time. So they know that we are going to hammer them on a yearly basis and expose them. And whatever they do, whatever new policy they put in place for animal welfare, it’s not going to work.

 

And I think we showed that within this Arizona investigation. So I want to read a little bit more. And again, Fairlife is invited on at any time.

 

We would love to get their response, further response. We would love to talk to representatives from Coca-Cola and we want to really show what their response to this situation is. So let me read a couple more statements that I got right off the Fairlife website.

 

Here is the one that’s been quoted most. We believe in better care for animals. Caring for animals is a top priority at Fairlife.

 

It all begins with strong relationships with supplying farms. Our robust animal welfare programme is led by a full on-staff veterinarian and combines industry-leading standards with regular audits, strong oversight, and the expertise of a third-party animal advisory council consisting of leading experts in the dairy industry. Let’s go continue.

 

It doesn’t end there. Animal Welfare Advisory Council. Fairlife’s Animal Welfare Advisory Council consists of six of the top experts in the dairy and animal health industry.

 

Together, this group works with Fairlife to review ongoing animal welfare programmes and guide advancement and improvement to our animal welfare programme based on new research and learnings. Industry-leading animal welfare standards. Our goal is that all cows and calves are provided with the best care possible.

 

As a dairy processor that doesn’t own farms or cows, we rely on the partnership of industry experts, advisors, and our network of supplying farms to help us achieve this goal. We are committed to continuously evaluating our animal welfare programme. That is their statement.

 

Now, what I would like to do is play the video of your undercover investigation with sound. That’s the statement of Fairlife. Here is the undercover investigation that you did, what, 2024, just a few months ago.

 

By the way, those statements remain on their website right now. Okay. Top managers are using heavy machinery and electrocuting sick and in-labour mothers.

 

In the milking parlour, mothers are beaten and whipped into the milking parlours. As punishment, their tails are snapped and broken in half. Fairlife calves are beaten, punched, dragged, whipped, then violently thrown into animal transports.

 

In record numbers, dairy cows and cows are dying from abuse and neglect. So, let’s go to Shannon first. You saw the statements from Fairlife, and again, we invite Fairlife and Coca-Cola on anytime, and then there’s the video.

 

What do you make of the discrepancy? I mean, it’s a complete, it’s fraudulent. It’s a complete act. Nothing about it is real.

 

They have to know because the dairy industry is inherently cruel, and then this is happening during every single investigation. So, it’s obviously not isolated, and it’s just laughable. The fact that they can feel okay with the name of the company and then putting those statements on the website, and like you said, they’re still up there.

 

It’s unreal. They have no shame, and the fact that the mainstream media is not covering this is really, really disturbing. Yeah, we’re getting a lot of comments, but as outraged as people are, Shannon, this remains perhaps the most successful milk company in the United States, according to a food dive.

 

In 2024, Fairlife was the leading white milk brand in the United States, and they’re apparently planning on opening a $650 million facility. Coca-Cola is expected to open a $650 million facility in New York that will serve as Fairlife’s flagship northeast location. So, they’re not backing down and saying, yeah, dairy is inherently cruel.

 

We’re going to switch to plant-based, which could be done, and that’s the obvious solution, whereas dairy is inherently cruel because you have to separate the mother and the baby, and they don’t want to be separated, and whereas this is a dairy product, wherefore do the same exact thing with plant-based milk, soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, almond milk, oat milk, the many, many milks that exist today. There has been so much outrage from people around the world over this latest scandal, is what I’d have to call it. Let’s play some clips that are on social media.

 

This is CSI actress Lena Esko reacting. In 2019, Animal Recovery Mission exposed Fairlife, owned by Coca-Cola, for their horrific animal abuse. Fairlife promised change.

 

They lied. Arm just went undercover again, this time at dairy farms in Phoenix, Arizona, where milk is produced for Fairlife and Coca-Cola. Not only has nothing improved, but the torture has gotten worse.

 

Please go to animalrecoverymission.org and sign the petition. Call and email the sheriff’s office and Fairlife and demand justice now. So that last shot, Richard, you’re saying that they dragged a cow over a fence by the neck.

 

Describe that, because that was one of the ones that really just shook me to my core. Yeah, that was about an hour and a half worth of torture on that mother she was in labour in the milking parlour, and she couldn’t walk because she was giving birth. They wanted her out of the milking parlour, so they dragged her across a slick floor by the neck, they chained her by the neck, and then elevated her by the neck over an eight-foot wall.

 

They tortured her for about an hour after that, and then they shot her inhumanely in the back of the neck a few times and just let her lay. It took her a few hours, actually, to die, but that’s very common in your Fairlife and Coca-Cola supplying dairies. It’s what we saw in that facility time and time again, almost on a daily basis.

 

It’s just how they treated their animals. It’s almost like policy at the Fairlife supplying dairies at this point. You know, the comments are people just expressing outrage, people who are watching this show on Facebook.

 

I wonder if there’s any perception, I mean, if the brand is growing, is that their criteria? Again, Coca-Cola and Fairlife on any time. I am emotionally devastated by having to edit this video. I don’t even know how you edited the whole thing.

 

I had to just take your clips, and my dogs, because I didn’t have headsets on, were very agitated because they were hearing the moaning of the cows. I literally feel like I just can’t even process that this is happening for a second, a second once, a second once. What does that say about our culture? What does that say about humanity as a species? What does that say about our values? That this is the number one, according to Food Dive, 2014, it was the leading white milk brand in the US.

 

Now, I’m not the only one who’s had these reactions. We’re just going to play a couple of clips from social media stars, up-and-comers. We have an attorney.

 

She is Angela Kim, and she’s a social media attorney. She made this video and posted it. A new class action lawsuit was just filed against Coca-Cola for their brand Fairlife.

 

The allegations are again for false advertising, and they boil down to the same issue. So rule of thumb, if a company tells you something about the product, it really has to be true, especially if it’s a premium product that charges higher prices based on whatever they’re telling you. Fairlife markets, based on giving their cows a fair life, explicitly says in their materials that they take better care of the animals that provide us milk.

 

But this lawsuit is based on a 2024 investigation by ARM, Animal Recovery Mission, and the pictures made me cry. I won’t share them with you. They show horrifying abuse of cows that’s applied to Fairlife, frequent flogging, beating, being trampled to death, denial of veterinary care, newborn cows being left to die.

 

The allegations are that not only do they not provide a better life for their cows, they actually violate the industry standard of care, allegedly qualifying as even criminal animal cruelty. So class action settlements are not just about money. They also require the company to right whatever wrong was alleged in the first place, which means they either change their advertising promise, frankly they should change their name at this point, or improve their treatment of cows to a standard of care that is consistent with what they promised.

 

Seemingly has not happened here. I will keep you posted. All right.

 

Thank you, Angela Kim. That is just one. There were many, many examples of people talking about this, and she said it made her cry.

 

I just felt so disoriented. How can this be happening? Now, look, let me just say this. I have several of these.

 

I know exactly what’s happening inside my home when I walk out the door. I also have a Furbo, which is a great product that actually follows my dogs, and I can hear it too. If they bark, I hear it.

 

Now, these statements, this is what I want to get into. These statements that they spent something like $30 million, according to Food Dive, in its annual stewardship report released in April, Fairlife said it had invested, along with its suppliers, nearly $30 million in its animal welfare programme. Again, we showed the statements.

 

I want to be very fair and show exactly what Fairlife is saying and Coca-Cola is saying. It also noted that its supplier farms undergo regular third-party audits, ensuring the highest levels of animal care and the highest quality products, end quote, the highest level of animal care. And you have a video of a cow being dragged by the neck over a wall and tails being broken and floggings.

 

Now, this is a very cheap item. I have several of them. I can see, and there’s plenty of them where you can hear and everything else, okay? It doesn’t add up, $30 million, and that’s happening not once.

 

But, Kudo, are you saying that this was regular standard operating procedure, and was it just low-level employees? No, this was the right under the owners. The cameras that you held up, they had cameras throughout the dairy. They adhered to all of the policies put in place, forced by Coca-Cola and Fairlife.

 

But it just goes to show you that in the dairy industry, in the dairy environment, in a farm-like setting, in a dairy, cruelty is just everywhere, and it is impossible to steer away from it. Part of the problem is, with those cameras, the same people that were doing the abusing on a felony level, killing the animals inhumanely, were the same ones that were monitoring those camera systems, right? They were the people that were conducting the training for the new higher, lower-tier dairy worker. So, I will say that whatever Fairlife and Coca-Cola do for the future, it will not change the abuse in any of their supplying dairies, and I will put anything I have on that statement, that whatever dairy that the Animal Recovery Mission goes undercover in the future at Fairlife, and we’re going to do it again, and I know the Fairlife and Coca-Cola attorneys are watching this, but we have your number.

 

So, we’ll be back, and the same type of is going to be shown again, over and over and over. Why? Well, because it’s the dairy industry. Right.

 

That’s your prediction, and I would invite anybody from Coca-Cola and Fairlife, I would love to dialogue with you. Is there a win-win out of this situation, when we’re in the 21st century, and we have soy milk, oat milk, almond milk, rice milk, hemp milk, cashew milk, all of these different kinds of milks, what is stopping, and by the way, zero-cholesterol milks, when they’re plant-based, what is stopping a transition to something, if indeed, Rich Kudo is correct, and again, those are his allegations, and we would invite you on any time, if indeed, his allegations are correct, that there’s basically no nice way to, on a large scale, take milk from mother cows and feed that to people while removing the calves, because otherwise they would drink the milk that nature intended for them. If there’s no nice way to do that, why do it? Why not switch? It’s the 21st century.

 

This is a question that I put out to whoever is watching this from the industry. We invite anybody from the industry on any time. We would love to dialogue with you, and again, we are showing the statements that you have issued publicly and that are still on your website, so I see that we have a young social media influencer who’s known as Vegan Evan, the son of Shannon Blair here.

 

Hi, Vegan Evan. Hello. I just want to get your emotional reaction as, how old are you now? I’m 14.

 

Okay, and come up and speak up, please, my dear. What was your emotional reaction to seeing the video? I mean, I’ve seen plenty of videos of footage from the dairy industry, which is always cruel. The dairy industry is inherently cruel, and this just being a step further, while they have so many statements about how great their care for these animals is, it’s very appalling and disturbing, and these animals, they want to have a happy life just like we do.

 

They want to be safe, not abused and tortured and having their babies ripped away from them, and it’s just so gross when you think about it. We’re not made to be drinking another species milk made for their babies. As infants, we’re supposed to drink our mother’s milk, just like every other mammal.

 

These mother cows have to carry their babies for about nine months, about the same as a human, and when they give birth, pretty much right away, the baby is taken away from them, just so humans can steal the milk, and when they can’t make milk anymore or not as much that’s not as profitable, they’re discarded like trash, and they’re treated as commodities when they’re sentient beings. Coca-Cola, as far as I see it, does not belong in the dairy industry, and if they do feel like they belong in the dairy industry, they need to transition to plant-based milks and alternatives. Very well said from a 14-year-old who sounds like you could be running for public office, and I know there have been protests outside Fair Life headquarters.

 

I want to play some clips of Vegan Evan speaking there, as well as his mother. You guys, this was not so long ago. This was very recent when Vegan Evan spoke, and I believe this was Chicago, and it needs to stop, especially under Coca-Cola.

 

Coca-Cola has no business in the dairy industry. Coca-Cola makes great drinks that taste great, that don’t require a race to exist. This is awful.

 

This is unnecessary. It’s violent. It’s cruel, and we need Coca-Cola to cut ties with the dairy industry or switch to plant-based milks, because that’s what the future is.

 

It’s their bodies! Their lives! Their babies! They don’t want to live! Just like us! They want to be free! Just like us! They don’t want to be physically impregnated! Just like us! They don’t want to have their babies ripped away from them! Just like us! The babies don’t want to be ripped away from their mothers! Just like us! Within seconds of birth, they do not want to be ripped away from their mothers! Just like us! So, Richard, you were there at that protest, as well. Did you get the sense that it was having any impact? Did any executives see this coming in and out? I saw the big Fair Life sign there. Yeah, I think the Fair Life executives now are just burying their heads, locking themselves in closets, when something like this transpires.

 

When we go public with another investigation, their policy now is to not comment. And in part, what that’s doing is lessening the negative press on their new label, Fair Life Milk. But they’re just not coming out of their buildings.

 

And they’re hoping and praying that this subsides very, very quickly and things go back to normal. And that is the problem. I mean, part of the reason why some of the larger networks haven’t run negative stories, well, the truth behind the Fair Life scandal is because Coca-Cola is the sixth largest corporation on planet Earth.

 

They spend a lot on advertising, and they’re using that and putting it over some of the larger networks, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox News. But I have to jump in here and say, this is your opinion. I was in the mainstream media for many years.

 

And I agree, advertiser-based media, advertised-based media, anybody who’s on a major network, all you have to do is see the commercials to understand that ultimately, the commercials keep the lights on. But we certainly can’t make accusations against specific networks. So I’m gonna stop you right there.

 

But I wanna get back to what Shannon Blair said. And you also attended that demonstration. So let’s hear you and the speech you gave, and then talk a little bit about what you observed and what the reaction has been in your opinion.

 

I have three children, three beautiful babies who are my entire world. My oldest is here with me today. I could never imagine having my babies ripped away from me and not being able to do anything about it.

 

I’ve been to so many dairy farms. They’re the worst places on this planet. Female animals are held captive against their will and forcibly impregnated over and over again.

 

Each time they carry their baby for nine months, just like a human female. The day that their precious baby is born, he or she is violently ripped away from their mother so that we can steal her breast milk. The dairy industry is inherently cruel.

 

The dairy industry rips babies away from their mothers and steals their breast milk. That is what it is. But what we’ve seen in these three undercover investigations is far beyond that inherent cruelty.

 

This is the most horrific abuse in the history of the dairy industry caught on film in the United States. They’re all connected to Coca-Cola’s unfair life plan. This is so shameful, and we cannot let them get away with this again.

 

Wow. Wow. Again, I invite any industry executive, whether it’s the suppliers, whether it’s Coca-Cola, whether it’s Fair Life, I invite you on.

 

I want to dialogue with you because anything I could do, anything I could do as a human being to not have to go through just what I went through watching this and just watching it to upload it so that we could show clips. I’m shaken. I am shaken today.

 

I’ve been a reporter for more than 30 years. I’ve covered some of the most horrific crimes in the last 30 plus years. I’m shaken.

 

I’ve cried. And I don’t, I’m beyond just, it’s not anger. It’s just, what is a human being? What is humanity? Why? Why? Why? Why? Is there anything worth this? Anything? Anything? If there’s anything worth this, please let me know because I can’t imagine what could be worth this.

 

So I think I’m not the only one having a shaken reaction to these videos. You’ve heard from Shannon Blair. You’ve heard from the attorney, Angela Kim.

 

You’ve heard from the CSI actress, and she’s been in a lot of other films, Lena Esco. And Switch for Good is also a very, very active organisation that has come out with statements about this. And I’m looking for their statement that we might be able to play that because here it is.

 

They also actually issued a trigger warning on this video. Hey, everyone. We have something really important that we want to talk to you about today, but I have to give you a trigger warning ahead of time as it’s disturbing to watch.

 

Last month, Animal Recovery Mission exposed horrific animal cruelty and environmental violations at two major suppliers of Coca-Cola’s Fairlife milk outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Cows were kicked, whipped, dying of dehydration in 135 degree heat and left to die in horrendous conditions. Milk is cruel to cows and it is cruel to the human body.

 

Despite Fairlife and Coca-Cola’s claims of humane sourcing, Animal Recovery Mission’s investigation proves the corporation’s complicity in severe abuse. Please support Switch for Good’s ongoing efforts to wean the world off dairy for the cows, for human health, for the planet, and for food justice. This is why we do what we do at Switch for Good.

 

That last kind shot, I don’t know who that was, but that wasn’t part of the undercover video. So where do we go from here? There’s a number of developments that I’d like to discuss. And one of them is the class action lawsuit.

 

And as I understand it, not being a lawyer, at this point it is a proposed class action lawsuit. So it was filed in connection with the release of this undercover video. And it says here, a class action complaint for damages, restitution, and injunctive relief for violation of breach of express warrants, false advertising, unfair competition, consumer legal remedies act, and unjust enrichment, et cetera.

 

And this is a quote from within that lawsuit, which runs many, many, many, many pages. It says, animal care and sustainability marketing scheme and practise are based on materially face false misleading, untrue, and or unjust claims and omissions. Video evidence from multiple undercover investigations conducted by Animal Recovery Mission arm reveals systemic widespread egregious animal cruelty, cruel standard practises, extreme neglect, including at the hands of an awareness and with the awareness of management.

 

So tell us about this proposed lawsuit, Kudo, where does it stand? And it’s filing in conjunction with the release of your undercover video. Yeah, well, that was filed, I believe the day that we exposed and had our press conference in Phoenix. So we’re at the beginning stages of this lawsuit.

 

It took a while for this to be put together by a host of incredible attorneys, some of the better attorneys in the country, working side by side with the best animal welfare attorneys. But everyone needs to understand that there are a host of lawsuits other than this class action that have just been filed and that are being filed within the incoming weeks. And I don’t want to give Coca-Cola too great of a heads up on that.

 

So I can’t go into detail. But things are coming down the pipeline legally for them that hopefully are going to hurt this company and force them to recognise and admit to their shortcomings and what really goes on behind closed doors because they haven’t done that yet. So what I find interesting about all this is that this isn’t the first class action suit.

 

Now, when you did your 2019 investigation, there was a class action suit that was filed that ultimately resulted, I believe in 2022, in a $21 million settlement. Can you tell me elaborate on that? So there’s already $21 million that has been paid reportedly as part of a settlement that emanated from your previous investigation released in 2019. And now there’s a new proposed class action suit.

 

And the reason I say proposed is that an attorney told me until the courts take it to a certain level, it’s a proposed class action. So tell us about that, the previous one. Yeah, well, Coca-Cola did have to pay out $21 million from the first class action lawsuit stemming from our investigation in 2019.

 

But they also had to adhere in that lawsuit, overseen and signed off by a judge to a lot of changes in their policies. And some of them you’ve already gone over cameras, you know, in their supplying barns and new veterinary care, so on and so forth. Also, they cannot harvest dairy, their product from a dairy farm that’s cruel to their animals.

 

That is specifically said in the first class action. So they violated, right now they have violated their class action lawsuit from 2019. That right now is being looked over by a judge, I believe out of Illinois and or Michigan.

 

So that’s an open investigation right now. And Fairlife and Coca-Cola could be looking at a huge number in fines from that alone. Okay, thank you, Kudo.

 

And again, that’s Kudo’s explanation. I will continue to invite Coca-Cola and Fairlife officials, anybody connected with the industry on at any time to further elaborate. Although we have placed on camera a lot of your statements from your website that are up there right now.

 

I got these the night before. Okay, so these haven’t been taken down. These are up there right now.

 

We believe in better care for animals. So if we took you at your word, then if you believe in better care for animals, what would be the ultimate way to ensuring better care for animals while obviously not using them? And in today’s 21st century, we have plant-based milks. Ultimately, this is a consumer issue.

 

Is it not, Shannon Blair? It is. And Jane, earlier, you said, what does this say about our culture? What does this say about us? And I think that for a second, but then I think about how manipulative this is with just the name Fairlife. And it does show that the consumers, they want to do better.

 

So this name pulls at their heartstrings. But once people really see the inherent cruelty in this industry, and they’re going to, because we have the power of social media and we have the truth on our side, people are going to wake up to the reality of the situation that there is no right way to do the wrong thing. Coca-Cola, like vegan Evan, my son said, needs to stop telling people that there’s a right way to do the wrong thing by having their hands in this industry.

 

And it is a consumer issue. We all need to realise that it’s not just Fairlife. It’s the dairy industry and it’s all animal ag.

 

There’s no good way to do something to an animal that doesn’t have to be done to them when it causes them any type of suffering. We don’t need to be using them. And when we do, it’s hurting all of us in addition to what it’s doing to them and their children.

 

It’s affecting our health. It’s affecting the planet that we all share. I just had two babies in the last three years.

 

And so when the first investigation came out in 2019, I, like I said earlier, had just recently learned about the atrocities of the dairy industry in general. Then seeing that and having a child, it affected me very much emotionally because I can’t imagine having my child ripped away from me. Then since that investigation, now I’ve had two more and now I see this.

 

And I just look around and I see all these mothers. Everyone is either a mother or there’s someone’s child and they had a mother. So it’s something that I think once you understand and once, I mean, most people I think still don’t even understand that this is another species lactation and it’s not meant for us.

 

And when you put it all together, it becomes pretty simple. And I think Coca-Cola should just be smart and get out now because me as an activist, I’m not going to back down until everybody understands what dairy is. And I’m not going to stop asking stores to take Fair Life off their shelves.

 

And I’m not going to stop asking the mainstream media to talk about this. So they should just, they’re lucky. They don’t even own the farms.

 

They only own the plants. And like you said, they can just switch those over. It is an opportunity.

 

In every negative situation, maybe not all of them, but in a lot of negative situations, there is a way to extract victory from it. Nobody has anything personally against this company. It’s the videos.

 

It’s the videos of what we’re seeing here. And just as a member of the human race, I’m shaken. I can tell you, I’m not making it up.

 

I’ve seen a lot of horrible crime footage. I’ve actually seen dead people when I’ve covered murder cases as a beat reporter. But looking at that video, just really, it did something to me.

 

It just, I don’t have any words for it. Why? When there’s an alternative that doesn’t involve using cows at all, that it’s just tasty and has added benefit of being zero cholesterol. What’s it going to take? Now, back in 2019, Shannon, after the investigation that caused a lot of headlines, okay? That one caused more headlines than this one, which is an interesting phenomenon that I know you addressed, Kudo, but the story isn’t over yet.

 

So who knows, right? It’s just beginning. But you were so desperate to spread the word, you and your son and a group of friends went into a supermarket and you did an in-store protest outside the dairy aisle. And this went viral, not from the video you shot, but my understanding is there was another person, like a consumer, just looking at it and shooting it and sold it to some outlet that put it up and it got something like a million views.

 

But here- It got over 10 million views, actually. Wow, over 10 million views, this protest. So watch this protest.

 

Okay, so this is a demonstration of the dairy industry where female cows are forcibly impregnated. They carry a baby for nine months, just like a human female, and then today their precious baby’s born. They are ripped away from their mother.

 

Their mothers cry out for days, sometimes weeks. Please give me my baby back. No, no, no.

 

My baby. Somebody help. Please don’t take my baby.

 

So a recent undercover investigation came out from Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana. The brand Fair Life is one of their products, which is distributed by Coca-Cola. What happens to baby cows and mother cows on dairy farms every day? Mother cows are forcibly impregnated and they carry their babies for nine months, and when the baby is born, the baby is stolen from their mothers immediately.

 

And so we can take their dairy milk. We have some footage here for Fair Life Farm, and today we’re showing an undercover investigation of the abuse that these mother cows and baby cows endure on this dairy farm. Abuse is rampant on dairy farms.

 

This is not just one case. Wow, that got 10 million views, not from the angle that you were shooting and recording. And by the way, that’s on Unchained TV.

 

You can watch it, the whole thing. It goes on for quite a while. It’s fascinating.

 

But somebody else, a shopper, took the video and sold it to an outlet, and you had told me it got something like 10 million views. But I think it’s a sign of your desperation, and correct me if I’m wrong to get the word out. I mean, people don’t do that because it’s fun.

 

It’s done. It would strike me out of desperation to wake people up in some way, shape, or form. Can you tell me a little bit about your motives and how you felt and how the others felt reenacting what happens, in their opinion, in dairy? So that was just one of the many times that we did that demonstration.

 

And the reason that we were doing it, like you said, was to raise awareness about the inherent cruelty of the dairy industry, but also to show this above and beyond, which is why we had the props and the kicking was going on. And I think that you’re absolutely right. It was a complete attempt in desperation.

 

We’ll do anything that we can to get people to realise what’s happening. I’ve been to dairy farms all over the country now, from the east coast to the west coast, small, tiny farms that have only 10 female cows, where I’m from in upstate New York, to massive farms, ones that supplied or possibly still do to fair life. And the just seeing the hutches that exist, not an up-close view of the kicking and the punching and what we’ve seen in these undercover investigations, but just what it is.

 

It’s thousands of female animals being forcibly impregnated. The sperm is typically being brought from a different facility. So there’s just females on the property.

 

And when they’re born, that’s all they want is more females. So the males go somewhere else and the babies go in these hutches. And just that in itself, every single human being should have a problem with that.

 

And from my experience, they do once they see it. And that’s why these industries are so desperate to keep it hidden. And that’s why I’m so desperate to get the truth out is because I genuinely believe that most people are good.

 

I think most people do love animals, but we’ve just been born into this world of normalised violence and we’re desensitised to a lot of it. But I don’t think most people are desensitised to the horrors of the dairy industry. They’re just not aware of them.

 

So yes, I’ll do anything I can to get the word out within my legal limits. Yeah. Ditto.

 

I mean, this is the role of journalists to get this information out. And as Kudo was mentioning, there’s a lot of pressure to look the other way. It’s too graphic.

 

So if you just write this and you write an article about it without showing it, it doesn’t have the impact. Because it was really, I had read a couple of articles and then it was when I looked at the video that I started having this emotional reaction that I literally was like, I’m embarrassed to be a member of the human race. That’s what occurred to me.

 

Shame for my species. Shame. And it just, it goes beyond anger.

 

It goes beyond, it’s just almost this existential sense of why have we created hell on earth for these animals? For what purpose? When there’s obvious alternatives and that are better for the environment, that are better for human health because heart disease is a leading killer and zero cholesterol products have health benefits. I just, when it doesn’t make any sense on any level except for profit, that’s when I say, wow, you know, our culture has crossed over into something that I don’t really recognise. It’s like, like I said, there’s really no words.

 

I will pray literally on my knees that Coca-Cola consider transitioning to plant-based. Give it a shot. Do one with oat milk.

 

Just see how it goes. Or soy milk or almond milk or whatever milk you want. Just see how it goes.

 

I’m going to get on my knees and pray for that. Pray. Because I don’t want to live in a world where this is somehow allowed to go on.

 

So final thoughts, kudos. What are your final thoughts? And again, kudos for your courageous, relentless work in this field. Thank you.

 

I think it’s important to know we are working with law enforcement. The sheriff’s office in that county in the greater Phoenix area has taken this case as well as the Arizona Department of Agriculture law enforcement division. So we are working with the head lieutenant there.

 

It’s important to know that this is a three minute video that was put out to the greater public. But I edited this video in which I sent another video to law enforcement, which was 14 hours long with edited, small edited clips of felony and misdemeanour animal cruelty only that violated state law. That type of footage, over 14 hours of it, it took me up to six months to edit that, is beyond anything I’ve ever edited before in any case globally.

 

Not just the dairy industry. So that’s the type of level of cruelty that we’re looking at here. We’re hoping for felony and misdemeanour arrests, not that it’s going to change much, but that it’s going to drive media, right? Because arrests drive media.

 

And that this will blow this case up globally for people to be educated on Fair Life, but not just Fair Life milk and Coca-Cola, but the dairy industry as well, because this is the face of the dairy industry, right? So we’re hoping that people are educated and see who Coca-Cola really is, who Fair Life really is, and what the dairy industry really is and make that transition for the first time in their lives possibly to go to the grocery store and for the first time buy that plant-based butter or yoghurt milk, that first oat milk or almond milk or mayonnaise. There are so many tastier products out there other than cow’s milk. And that is what’s sustaining this industry, right? People purchasing the product.

 

So not government, not the dairy industry, but we the people have the power to stop the cruelty. That’s it. It’s simple.

 

Yeah. Thank you for that. And Shannon, your final thoughts.

 

I’m just, well, I’m really grateful to Kudo and his team for doing these investigations because otherwise it just stays hidden completely. And I’m so grateful to you, Jane, for amplifying the situation. And my final thoughts, I just hope that everyone who’s watching will just do their best to get involved and boycott Fair Life, obviously, and all dairy.

 

I’ve been boycotting Coca-Cola and the Simply Juices and everything they make for years personally, because that’s what I feel like I want to do until they get out of the dairy business. But I hope that the average person will get upset about this and that they will not only do the avoiding of the dairy and the brand, but also ask their store managers to please take it off the shelves. Because if you go into a store all the time, you’re the one that they care about.

 

So you keep doing that. Enough people do that all over the place. Enough people make phone calls, write emails.

 

We’ll get it done. AnimalRecoveryMission.org is where there is a petition. If you want to sign it, AnimalRecoveryMission.org. I want to thank everybody for joining us for this podcast.

 

Please share it out if you’re watching on social media. And you can also share it out if you’re watching it on the Unshamed TV streaming network. Again, I invite Coca-Cola, Fair Life, any industry executive involved in this in any way, shape or form on to discuss.

 

I would love that. I would love to dialogue with you about a way forward that doesn’t involve animals. Thank you so much for joining us.

 

Thank you.