SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Southern California prosecutors have filed animal cruelty charges against the owner and seven employees at a livestock auction house after undercover video taken by an animal rights group showed workers kicking, hitting and throwing the animals as they are readied for sale.
Video taken by the Los Angeles-based Mercy for Animals and provided to The Associated Press on Tuesday shows workers at Ontario Livestock Sales in Ontario, Calif., stomping on pigs, hitting emus and carrying baby goats by the neck and legs.
San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Reza Daghbandan says a total of 21 misdemeanor charges were filed against eight individuals.
Owner Horacio Santorsola says he and his employees did nothing wrong.
The video was taken using a buttonhole camera over a period of seven weeks earlier this year.
