14 DAY TRIAL // Last Friday, an animal rights activist by the name Taylor Radig was arrested and charged with animal cruelty. The Colorado woman did not mistreat any animals herself. However, she had proof of abuse and failed to inform authorities in time.
Information shared with the public says that Taylor Radig is a member of green group Compassion Over Killing.
This past summer, she worked at a farm owned and operated by Quanah Cattle Company. The woman took the job to be able to document how workers at that facility treated cattle, especially newborn calves.
During the few months she was a Quanah Cattle Company farm employee, she managed to film workers abusing animals and treating them in an inhumane manner.
For some reason, the animal rights activist did not show authorities this footage as soon as she obtained it. On the contrary, the woman reported the abuses only after she had quit her job at the farm.
According to Huffington Post, local authorities were quick to accuse the woman of negligence, and arrested her.
“Radig's failure to report the alleged abuse of animals in a timely manner adheres to the definition of acting with negligence and substantiates the charges Animal Cruelty,” says Weld County Sheriff John Cooke.
Taylor's Radig colleagues at Compassion Over Killing maintain that authorities had no business arresting the woman and charging her with animal cruelty.
“The Weld County Sheriff’s Office has chosen to retaliate against the individual who witnessed, documented and reported the callous mistreatment of newborn calves,” Erica Meier, the group's executive director, argues.
“Merely witnessing others abusing animals is not a crime, and our investigator (Radig) was working cooperatively with local authorities on this case prior to this baseless accusation,” she added.
Together with other members of Compassion Over Killing, Erica Meier hopes that the charges filed against Taylor Radig will soon be dropped.
More so given the fact that, thanks to the undercover footage she obtained, three farm workers who are in fact guilty of animal abuse are now being investigated for their treatment of calves.