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Reporter- Hello and welcome to Radio Olinda 1, reporting live from

Slave Cattle
Photo Credit: Ricardo Funari/ Lineair/ Greenpeace https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/cattle-deforestation-amazon-brazil-beef-supermarket/

Brazil. Several police reports and the general public have accused cattle farm owners in the region of exploitation of their workers and mistreating them. This morning we have a cattle farm owner who is on the phone anonymously responding to these allegations. Thank you so much for coming on the show this morning could you explain to our listeners where these allegations are coming from?

 

Cattle Farm Owner- It’s ridiculous I really don’t see that what we have done is wrong in any capacity.

Reporter- How do you mean?

Cattle Farm Owner- I and my fellow cattle farmers have always treated my workers with the utmost dignity and respect. I provide them with accommodation, food and an excellent working environment. From the accommodation upkeep to the buying and cooking of the food, certain costs are incurred, and I naturally deduct whatever the cost of that is from each individual worker.

Reporter- So do you pay your workers at all?

Cattle Farm Owner- Well of course I pay them with the excellent food and accommodation I provide. They don’t need anything else- what more could you need than food and a roof over your heads.

Reporter- Well surely you pay yourself well enough to be able to buy certain extras and provision for your family?

Cattle Farm Owner- Well of course but my family have owned this farm for generations, I have worked hard all my life to keep it going. I see no need to give away the hard earned income that I deserve to keep for myself and my family.

Reporter- Coming back to the accommodation, some of the workers have stated that they were sometimes made to sleep on the floor in the barn with the cows. How do you respond to that?

Photo Credit: http://www.op.org/en/content/fr-xavier-plassat-op-dedicated-fighting-modern-day-slavery-amazon-rainforests-brazil

Cattle Farm Owner- Sometimes there is an overflow of accommodation and the people need to sleep somewhere do you expect me to kick them outside with even no roof on their heads?

Reporter- Well no, I’d expect you to provide another more appropriate area for your workers to sleep. If you are experiencing an overflow then you need to expand the living quarters to accommodate for the workers.

Cattle Farm Owner- I don’t have to sit here and listen to you lecturing me.

Reporter- Of course. Let me ask one more question. If the people buying your leather and milk refused to pay for it how would you respond?

Cattle Farm Owner- I see what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to make it appear as though I must treat others as I expect to be treated. What you don’t understand is that those cattle are my property. I own them and I can treat them however I like as long as they are fed and kept sheltered. The workers are equally my property, since when did it become necessary for me to be accountable for my actions to the things I own? Would you come into my house and ask me to explain why I kept my dog in a kennel or my goldfish in a fish tank under the stairs? I am responsible for my own actions and household and that is between me and God to judge. Besides every cattle farm owner I know treats their workers in exactly the same way, why am I being especially selected?

Reporter- Thank you so much for coming on this morning. And moving onto other news…

Gill Jaggers

Marketing Manager