Above, video from the ground showing the roundup at Ronald Greene’s place, shot from inside a vehicle driving past a parked provincial car with Ontario government logo on the door. (Colby Flewellyn video)
Farmers Forum staff
CARP — Video shared with Farmers Forum offers a fascinating glimpse into the logistical efforts of Ontario’s animal police as they prepared to round up and remove Charolais cattle at the Carp-area farm of a 70-year-old beef producer who was not charged with animal welfare-related offences.
Ground-level video and overhead drone footage briefly captured June 23 by local resident Colby Flewellyn — who says he stopped flying the drone when ordered by police — shows what appears to be a small convoy of vehicles at Ronald Greene’s farm. Assembled along a farm lane are two tractor-trailer cattle trucks, an RV camper, a full-size SUV, and at least five additional white hatchback cars or minivans. Also parked in a nearby field are two pickup trucks towing gooseneck horse trailers. A few individuals are visible on foot, some of them wearing neon yellow vests. Others ride horses.
Video taken from the ground shows six riders and horses circling around and attempting to direct a few cattle, including younger calves, which trot and run through the pasture.
Six of the crew on horseback (including two obscured behind trees at left and right) participate in the roundup at the beef farm of Ronald Greene, in this screen grab from the video.
Forty-five cattle were ultimately taken to a local sale barn for disposal but provincial animal welfare services (PAWS) officials reportedly abandoned this plan when it emerged that Greene had already sold the animals to a local cattle drover. So the cattle were returned to the countryside but to a different farm.
Greene was arrested days later after an allegation that he uttered threats, which prompted a police response that allegedly turned up an old .22 rifle that he says he purchased in 1975. The farmer has been sitting in Ottawa’s Innes Road jail since June 27. He turned 71 years old behind bars.
Above, drone footage of the scene at the Greene farm on June 23. (Colby Flewellyn video)
