Meredith et al.: 10 Days to Emaciated

Who: Ayrshire Farm

Owner - Sandy Lerner

Large Livestock Manager - Crystal Ritenour

Assistant Large Livestock Manager - Scottie Smith

Farm Manager - Chris Damewood

What: Animal abuse, willful neglect, inhumane treatment, not providing sufficient food, water, shelter, and necessary medical care

Where: Upperville, VA - Loudoun County Virginia

When: Ongoing

Why: laziness, ego, pride, sadistic

How: Horrific animal husbandry practices. Encouraging illness by not preventing issues and preventing wellness by not treating animals.

Here is an example of willful neglect at Ayrshire Farm. These pictures are of the same pig over the course of 10 days. Crystal Ritenour was made aware prior to June 6th various pigs were not doing well and showing symptoms of internal/external parasites and various other issues (coccidian for example). I had been letting her know for MONTHS these issues existed and steps needed to be taken immediately to stop the transmition and spread of disease (treatment/quarantine).

Crystal Ritenour dismissed my concerns. She refused to take action. This is the result. On June 6th I was getting ready to go out of town to visit my grandparents in PA. I let her know before I left pigs needed immediate veterinary attention and medication (NOT organic medication - read medication that is proof positive, not organic home brew of turpentine/flaxseed oil). I took a picture.

During my trip I reminded her of this (all through text messages showing she was made aware and her ongoing dismissal of my reminders to monitor/medicate pigs). I returned on Wednesday June 11, 2014 to unmedicated pigs. Asked her who was being medicated (the pig in this example was not medicated during any of these pictures...not even on 6/16) and if she was just going to let these pigs die? I'd seen her refuse to medicate pigs before and finally cave days before death. That's not good enough. This pig and several others needed immediate medical intervention. I took another picture.

These pigs continued to decline in condition and were noticeably worse. You would have to be completely idiotic and/or sadistic to not see this was the case. When Crystal Ritenour came to work on Monday June 16th I told her these pigs needed medical attention or they would die. They were not magically getting better but getting worse. She denied medical care. I left the barn and went straight to HR. Crystal was already in HR when I knocked on the door. I said I would come back. A hour or so later I was told to stop working. Soon after I met with Alex Bryan the Chief Financial Advisor and Carol Zarda of "HR" (previously Sandy Lerners personal assistant) and was terminated effective immediately and given 30 days to move off the Farm.

Pigs in this condition are of NO CONCERN for Ayrshire Farm. While they have the "certified humane" label and were able to keep the label do to a close friendship with the founder of Humane Farm Animal Care, you can see the label is a joke, Ayrshire Farm is a farce and a fraud. This is what goes on behind the scenes at Ayrshire Farm. Sandy Lerner is a nationally recognized advocate of humane farming and animal welfare, yet this is what INTENTIONALLY occurs on her Farm. They go as far as to terminate the individual who advocates for the pigs care in lieu of an absolute dead beat animal abuser.

This is disgusting and is only made worse by Loudoun County's refusal to press criminal charges, and the Commonwealth of Virginias abandonment of the criminal case against Crystal Ritenour by refusing to prosecute the case (I was led to believe until 10 minutes before the trial the state would be prosecuting). None of this is a coincidence. Sandy Lerner is a wealthy woman. Her influence is vast and her pockets are deep. She tosses money around and in turn people pledge their allegiance. Unfortunately their loyalty to her equals condoning and forgiving severe animal abuse.

The treatment of the pigs at Ayrshire Farm is inhumane for countless reasons. This is just one example.

June 6, 2014