Animal rights activists charged criminally for taking goats from Kings County dairy
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Four activists charged with grand theft of livestock, conspiracy and trespassing.
- Veterinarian found goats with pneumonia and conjunctivitis after removal.
- DA/sheriff found no mistreatment; sheriff noted carcasses under manure but cited guidance.
Members of an animal rights activist group are facing up to six and a half years in prison for “rescuing” two baby goats from a Kings County dairy.
The activists, who are part of Direct Action Everywhere, say they were rescuing a pair of baby goats that they allege were in immediate need of medical attention. The action happened at Vera Dairy in Stratford on May 27.
Law enforcement and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office see the four activists’ actions as criminal.
District Attorney Sarah M. Hacker recently charged Carla Cabral, Sally Zito, Tajnder Uppal and Joseph Allman with grand theft of livestock, conspiracy to commit a crime and trespassing. The defendants are expected to be arraigned April 3 in Kings County Superior Court.
If convicted on all charges, the activists each face up to six and a half years in prison. It’s a hefty price to pay for taking a goat off the farm, but one that Cabral is willing to pay.
“Of course I don’t want to go to prison,” she said. “But if it opens the consumers’ eyes and gets people interested in questioning the system that allows this kind of cruelty to happen than it will be worth it.”
Cabral, a former research scientist from Oakland, feared that the sick animals would end up in a mass grave of dead animals that the activists documented on the farm property.
“I wish people could smell what it was like to be near that mass grave so they would realize we are not exaggerating,” she said. “Those were horrible conditions.”
After the goats were removed from the dairy, they were examined by a veterinarian and found to have pneumonia and conjunctivitis. They were treated and are doing fine, Cabral said.
Officials with Vera Dairy could not be reached for comment Friday, but the goat milk processor who receives their milk issued a statement. The Stratford dairy, along with more than two dozen others, supplies goat milk to Turlock-based Meyenberg Goat Milk, the number one goat milk brand in the U.S.
Meyenberg customer relations representative Ellen Campbell said in a statement that the company was also alarmed to hear about the “upsetting allegations of animal mistreatment,” adding that it does not own Vera.
“However, we do buy milk from Vera Farm. We have followed up with on-site visits and have found no evidence to support the claims being made against Vera Farm,” according to the statement.
Campbell went on to say that Meyenberg only buys milk from farmers who meet “Certified Humane” standards – an independent, third-party certification that involves inspection and monitoring by Humane Farm Animal Care, the leading non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of farm animals in food production.
“Vera Farm was re-certified in October 2025,” the statement said.
Direct Action Everywhere spokesperson Cassie King disputed that Vera is being run humanely or meeting the “Certified Humane” standard.
She said the organization found evidence that sick animals were not separated from healthy animals and workers regularly dumped dead goats into a pile on the farm, a practice that was cited by the Regional Water Quality Control Board in 2021.
“That practice is still going on today,” King said.
Although the state has amended the rules for composting a limited number of dead livestock animals on the farm, that law did not take effect until Jan. 1.
King said investigators found the mass grave of goats on the farm last year.
Investigations by the Kings County Sheriff’s Office and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office found no evidence that animals were being mistreated or that dead animals were disposed of in an open pit.
The investigation’s findings were in a letter from the district attorney to the dairy farm’s owner and obtained by Direct Action Everywhere.
In the letter, a sheriff’s investigator did find goat carcasses covered under piles of manure, but he said the practice aligns with “evolving state guidance.”
Overall, the District Attorney’s Office concluded that the “complaints were unfounded and there was evidence of criminal activity was identified.”
Cabral said she still believes she did the right thing in taking the goats, even if it makes going to prison.
“We owe it to all animals to bring this to light and for people to begin questioning the system that allows this kind of cruelty to happen,” Cabral said.
This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
