<div><strong>Help Dairy Farm Whistleblower Recover Financial Losses</strong>
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<div><strong>and Fight Back Against Former Employer</strong>
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<div>Cesar Alonso tried to stop the violent treatment of cows at vet-owned Cedar Valley Farms. This is the same farm that made national news when <a href="https://vimeo.com/642534539" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">undercover footage</a> surfaced showing emaciated and limping cows, cows being beaten, kicked, and cows being shot and left to slowly die.
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<div>Cesar Alonso came to Canada from Mexico in 2016 in search of work to help him live a better life. Upon arrival, he gained employment at <a href="https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/peta-calling-to-shut-down-cedar-valley-farms-after-cow-abused/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cedar Valley Farms</a>, an Abbotsford dairy farm. Like many new immigrants, Alonso had the goal of obtaining permanent residency in Canada. This process would require him to remain gainfully employed and pay the thousands of dollars needed for processing the application.
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<div><strong>Alonso witnessed many horrific acts of violence and neglect on the dairy farm.</strong>
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<div>He alerted management on multiple occasions about these incidents, which included mother cows being viciously beaten repeatedly. On one occasion, he saw a cow get shot in the head eight times before she finally died. Another time, he saw a coworker attempt to kill a cow by shooting her in the head, but she didn’t die. The worker continued to dispose of her by lifting her with a bobcat loader and dumping her in a feed bunker with other dead animals while she was still alive. Alonso asked the owners why they didn’t kill them with lethal injection and they replied that it was too expensive. In response to his abuse reports, the farm’s owners told Alonso they’d speak with the aggressors in question but nothing changed. Months later on national news, we saw the kind of shocking abuse Alonso had tried to prevent.
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<div><strong>For years, Alonso did what he could to make a positive impact on the farm.</strong>
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<div>After witnessing newborn calves killed in front of their mothers, Alonso started acting on his own. He would take as many baby calves as he could into his own home until he could get them into a sanctuary. In the span of four years, he saved approximately twenty calves who are now living out their natural lives on sanctuaries around B.C.
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<div><strong>Alonso was fired without any reason or severance.</strong>
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<div>Not only was he wrongfully dismissed, the farm went so far as to wrongfully put on his migrant worker record that he had quit his job. (Alonso has evidence he was, in fact, fired). Alonso was also informed that his permanent residency application had been canceled. When he requested the $2,500 he’d given them to cover fees related to the permanent residency application process, they refused. For this reason, Alonso is now involved in a wrongful termination lawsuit with Cedar Valley Farms to recover his financial losses. This has been incredibly stressful for him, and it is still unresolved.
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<div><strong>After being fired, Alonso appeared in a </strong><a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-farm-has-dairy-licence-suspended-amid-animal-cruelty-allegations-1.5653275" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>CTV news story</strong></a><strong> documenting the atrocities at Cedar Valley Farms – despite the fact that this would most likely ruin his chances of getting a favorable settlement from his former employer. Sharing the animal cruelty he witnessed was more important than his own livelihood.</strong>
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<div>Many of the incidents Alonso had been reporting to his former farm bosses were caught on <a href="https://vimeo.com/642534539" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hidden camera footage</a> and later shared on news channels, including <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-farm-has-dairy-licence-suspended-amid-animal-cruelty-allegations-1.5653275" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CTV News</a>. The video footage showed workers repeatedly beating cows in the face, dragging lame cows using heavy machinery, and shooting cows in the head multiple times until they finally died. Alonso’s news appearances were fundamental to more people becoming aware of the atrocities at this farm.
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<div><strong>Now it’s our turn to help Alonso.</strong>
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<div>We’re raising funds to help him pay his legal fees, and to help defend him from any further financial harm. This compassionate individual is at a breaking point, financially and emotionally. He has no support network and deserves help for all the risks he’s taken for animals. We want him to feel supported as he heads to court to share everything he experienced on the farm and to try to get his hard-earned money back.
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<div>Our goal is to empower heroes like Alonso and show others like him that they have our support. This is the time to send a message to all whistleblowers that they will not be bullied into silence. They are doing the right thing, and this amazing community will support them. Alonso helped so many animals…now it’s his turn to accept our help.
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<div><strong>More information about Alonso’s former employer:</strong>
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<div>Cedar Valley Farms is owned by Dr. Rich Vanderwal, a vet who has been connected to other incidents of egregious animal cruelty that have been major news stories and shocked the public.
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<div>Vanderwal was the active veterinarian at Chilliwack Cattle Sales in 2014 when <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/chilliwack-cattle-sales-to-fire-8-workers-caught-on-tape-abusing-cows-1.2670098" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">similar footage of abuse</a> led to six men being charged with animal cruelty and the owners being hit with a $300,000 fine. One of the men was later re-hired by Vanderwal and documented abusing animals again in 2021. Dr. Vanderwal was also an animal welfare consultant for the Abbotsford Police Department amid <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfs97ZaQdPc&amp;t=3s&amp;ab_channel=BanFurFarmsBC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animal-abuse protests at Excelsior Hog Farm in 2019</a> and told police that welfare conditions were being met.
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<div>This post was written by a group of concerned citizens who became aware of Alonso’s desperate situation. Alonso is an extremely humble individual and was reluctant to accept our help or anyone’s money. Out of desperation, he accepted our suggestion of the GoFundMe and is extremely grateful for every single dollar that is donated.
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Help Animal Cruelty Whistleblower In Legal Battle

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