Sick baby calves at Grimmius Cattle Company in Hanford, California, were filmed being thrown to the ground and shot in the head, according to footage released by the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE). Kings County District Attorney Sarah Hacker and the California Attorney General have the power to open a full, independent investigation. They should do it now.

Grimmius is the biggest calf-raising operation in the state. Every year it takes in hundreds of thousands of newborn calves from dairies across California. According to DxE, one of those dairies is Valadao Dairy, owned by the family of Congressman David Valadao. The group's videos show workers pushing calves off a trailer while it was still moving and handling young animals roughly by their ears and tails. The calves are kept in individual crates so cramped they can hardly turn around. DxE argues this breaks a California law that requires confined animals to have room to exercise.

When a DxE attorney brought the footage to local authorities, the District Attorney's office dismissed the complaint, saying the ranch follows industry standards. But Dr. Temple Grandin, one of the country's best-known animal welfare experts, reviewed the same video and said, "Pushing calves out of moving trailers is abuse. Throwing calves is abuse," according to DxE.

An "industry standard" should never be a shield for cruelty. Newborn calves cannot speak up for themselves. They deserve a real look from investigators who answer to the public, not to the businesses being investigated.

Sign the petition to urge District Attorney Hacker and the California Attorney General to reopen this case and fully investigate Grimmius Cattle Company before more calves suffer.