Animal Rights
Richard "Kudo" Couto of Animal Recovery Mission on Undercover Investigations, Illegal Slaughter, and the Largest Dairy Raid in History | Ep 012 | SoFlo Vegans Podcast
SoFlo Vegans social media coordinator Alba Mendez sits down with Richard "Kudo" Couto, founder of Animal Recovery Mission (ARM), for an unflinching look inside undercover investigations of illegal slaughterhouses, religious animal sacrifice, and the largest dairy-industry investigation in history -- plus the story of Freedom's Flight, the rescued grandson of Secretariat.
Topics Covered
- How a volunteer visit to the South Florida SPCA horse rescue led Kudo into an investigation of the C9 Basin, a lawless zone of illegal slaughterhouses, animal fighting, and religious animal sacrifice
- The mechanics and stated purpose of Santeria and Palo Mayombe animal sacrifice, and ARM's push through the Animal Legal Defense Fund to bring the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court
- ARM's role helping create Florida's Horse Protection Act, the strongest animal cruelty law of its kind in the country, carrying one to five years in prison and a $3,500 fine for horse slaughter
- The largest tactical animal-cruelty raid in U.S. history: over 75 illegal slaughterhouses and roughly 700 illegal structures shut down in the C9 Basin within two months of ARM's founding
- ARM's 2018 undercover investigation of four Okeechobee, Florida dairies, including large operations like Larson Dairy and a Dean Foods supplier, exposing that calves are separated from their mothers immediately at birth
- Why Kudo considers the dairy industry the most brutal on earth due to prolonged, long-term torture rather than a comparatively quicker slaughter process
- How ARM trains investigators pulled from the U.S. military and law enforcement directly on-site at ARM Sanctuary using live rescued animals rather than staged props
- The story of Freedom's Flight, a racehorse grandson of Secretariat rescued from an illegal slaughterhouse operator, and what his high-profile bloodline revealed about the fate awaiting animals without a name or lineage
About the Guest
Richard "Kudo" Couto is the founder of Animal Recovery Mission (ARM), a nonprofit known for undercover investigations of illegal slaughterhouses, religious animal sacrifice, and factory farm dairies, and for operating ARM Sanctuary in South Florida.
On this episode
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