Behind the Label: An Investigation into Italy’s Buffalo Mozzarella Industry where buffaloes are subjected to harsh conditions, restrictive confinement and cruelty

Exposing the animals within Our Food Systems

Buffalo cow looks out from a pen at an intensive buffalo dairy farm. 

Her muzzle is tightly fitted with a spiked anti-suckling device to restrict her from suckling 

from other buffalo cows

our investigation uncovered evidence of the following:

 Unlike female calves, his ear remains untagged as he will be killed within days, likely without being registered. Pierri Buffalo Dairy Farm, 

• Animal suffering: Buffaloes are subjected to harsh conditions, including restrictive confinement and poorly regulated farming practices. The animals are treated as production machines and display unnatural behaviours, far from the idyllic pasture-based lives suggested by advertising.

Excrement coats the legs of water buffalo cows standing on a floor thickly covered with waste at an intensive buffalo dairy farm. Cooperativa Ponte Sant’Antonio, San Tammaro, Caserta, Italy, 2024. 

  Photo: Raffaele Petralla / We Animals

• Environmental damage: Nitrate pollution from buffalo waste has severely impacted local water systems in Campania, affecting biodiversity and local communities’ health. Several farms also resort to illegal practices, including improper sewage disposal in waterways, exacerbating the region’s environmental decline.
• Misleading marketing: Brands like Garofalo and La Marchesa continue to use the “Made in Italy” narrative, invoking images of pristine landscapes and happy buffaloes while ignoring the grim realities behind their production. The advertising often masks these issues and paints an unrealistic picture of animal welfare and sustainability.
• Economic challenges: Amidst global demand, farmers struggle with falling milk prices—mainly due to corporate pressure and the rise of large-scale industrial production—placing local communities under financial strain and impacting the quality of the mozzarella they produce.

 Raffaele Petralla / We Animals

Videographer: Arianna Fraccon    Written by: We Animals

www.weanimals.org

Video: 57 honden gered uit een Zuid-Koreaanse 'dog meat farm' hebben nu een gouden mandje in de VS

Bericht van de Humane Society International http://www.hsi.org/ :

We found the little puppy in a filth-encrusted cage, exposed to the brutal winter weather. But despite the terrible conditions she had endured, Elly was remarkably friendly and curious. Our team immediately fell in love with her.

Elly is one of 57 dogs HSI recently rescued from a South Korean dog meat farm.

 

We brought Elly and the others back to the United States, where they are receiving the care and attention they so desperately need. When she arrived at the San Francisco SPCA, Elly climbed right onto her doggie bed and started playing with the toys in her kennel.

She is having a wonderful time meeting new friends and learning how to be a dog!

Here's a description of the scene from our Animal Rescue Team of the farm Elly came from:

The barns are dark and cold… The cages don’t appear to have been cleaned for years. The dogs were being fed on animal carcasses - often with the entire carcass being just tossed to them. They circle endlessly. As you walk down the aisles, you see eyes peering out from the darkness and then the dogs slowly approach the front of their cages.  

This is the terrible industry we are trying to stop. These 57 dogs are now safe, but millions more are still suffering, hungry and scared. 

HSI is working with dog meat farmers to transition to more humane ways of making a living. This is the second time that a farmer has cooperated with us by agreeing to permanently shut down his dog meat farm and shift to crop-based farming.

Our goal is to help build a foundation of local and national support for ending the dog meat trade in South Korea.