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Operation Rancho Garcia

As the third targeted property struck by Palm Beach County officials, SWAT, law enforcement agencies, and ARM, Rancho Garcia’s illegal animal slaughter business was brought down forever on October 13th, 2015, simultaneously with the Medina Farm and G.A Paso Fino Farm raids.

Throughout five months, ARM investigators conducted numerous undercover operations inside the illegal slaughter farm known as Rancho Garcia. On each occasion, ARM documented audio and video evidence of extremely violent illicit acts of animal cruelty and illegal animal slaughter on site.

The property and the animal slaughter business, “Rancho Garcia,” owned by Jorge Garcia, has the reputation of being an avid animal killer, including the illegal slaughter (and sales) of horses meat for human consumption done so for several decades.

Horse meat was given to ARM’s undercover investigators, by Rafael and Garcia on multiple occasions. Garcia also expressed an established knowledge of horse meat and even explained to investigators how to properly marinate and cook the horse meat. Garcia is a prominent horse killer and well-known supplier of horse meat in the Loxahatchee and surrounding areas and has ties to other farms in the Miami area who slaughter horses as well. The selling, butchering, storage, and even knowledge of selling horses for human consumption is a third-degree felony charge, legislation co-written by ARM. 

Click here to read about The Good Horse Slaughter ACT of 2010.

The animals on this property lived in deplorable structures and improper shelter. ARM investigators had never seen these animals fed or having food nor provided with clean water. The only food source they have available are intestines, blood, and carcasses of newly slaughtered animals. Pigs have even been documented by ARM to be eating off the bodies of hanging butchered animals, swarmed with flies, and are awaiting customer sales.

The property is extremely unsanitary as toxic waste, trash, animal remains, piles of entrails and bones of recently slaughtered animals, cover the entire grounds of Rancho Garcia, including the slaughter and packaging area, a significant violation of multiple health and safety compliance codes.

Streams of blood from slaughtered animals flowed into drains, which have been seriously potential hazards for contaminating the county’s water supply.

Animals kept on site were either slaughtered and sold for human consumption, sold for use in santeria and black magic rituals, or used for animal fighting purposes. Garcia also deals and operates a backyard, primitive puppy mill where dogs are locked in small cages with no water or food and left to sit in their excrements. In the past, Garcia had also stated to ARM investigators that he dumps massive amounts of dogs into the Okeechobee area.

During all of the undercover investigations, ARM personnel had captured footage of Garcia and his employee Rafael, brutally abusing, torturing, and slaughtering animals for customers purchasing them for human consumption.

ARM documented pigs shot with a small 22 caliber rifle then stabbed in the heart with a foot-long incredibly dull blade, while the animals were still alive and breathing. Pigs were propelled through the air then dragged to the butcher area, where they convulsed in agony and left to bleed out for several minutes before being boiled in hot water tubs, at times while still alive.

ARM investigators also captured shocking undercover footage of the butchers who would shoot the ducks from afar, barely stunning them. They would then pin the animals down by stepping on their head, wings, or body, crushing their bones while they struggled to free themselves until the butchers finally slit the birds’ throat. The butchers would then either kick the duck into a stream of blood, forcing the bird to drown in its own and other animal’s blood. At other times ARM, undercover investigators, documented the butchers shoving the birds into funnel-like structures. They would be trapped hanging upside down, exposing only its head, leaving them to bleed out and die, often taking it 20-30 minutes to die. The butchers also would use the ‘death trap coffin-like cylinders’ to urinate into, demonstrating filthy habits and a complete disregard of the animals even as they were dying.

In addition to the above atrocities, ARM captured Garcia on tape stating telling ARM investigators that he eats domestic cat meat, and explains the cat slaughter process, what part he eats and how he eats it.

Garcia and his guilty offenders face countless felony charges relating to animal cruelty. Also, they face compliance infractions, violations, operating and selling of un-inspected and unadulterated meat, and multiple felony charges to will updated in the future.