Petition delivery 
On Tuesday 9th July we held a protest outside Agriculture House and delivered a petition to Minister McConalogue, signed by nearly 7,000 mostly Irish citizens. Well, an assistant accepted it, and despite following up we have received no response from the Minister. The petition called for an end to export outside the EU, to countries with poor animal welfare standards, and it called for the age of calves to be raised to 8 weeks. Seven years ago I held my very first protest outside Agriculture House, and handed in a petition to Minister Creed. Seven years later nothing has changed and here we are again, delivering another petition.
The fabulous Pauline McLynn joined us, she is an amazing advocate for animals. My Lovely Horse Rescue was also there, demanding answers around the Shannonside horse scandal, and LittleHill Animal Rescue & Sanctuary came along to show support. There is too much cruelty in Ireland, across the board. Even a protected species like the Irish hare is subjected to cruelty and abuse. No animal is safe!
Continuous legislation breaches
in fact, if anything it’s got worse. Now we are shipping cattle to Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Israel, as well as Libya and Turkey. In fact. I recently discovered that a truck full of unweaned calves, under 6 weeks of age, were exported to Libya! They were probably slaughtered in the street for the Eid Al Adha festival. Possibly worse than that, earlier in the year two shipments of pregnant dairy cows were sent to Algeria. It’s truly abhorrent.
I’ve spent the past seven years, with my colleagues, researching, conducting investigations at marts and ports, monitoring loadings of cattle onto livestock vessels, documenting, exposing on social media, submitting endless freedom of information requests for documents, sending reports and writing endless emails and letters of complaint. Nobody in the DAFM listens, nothing is done.
I’ve sent Minister McConalogue video footage of hideous slaughterhouses in Lebanon and Jordan, where Irish cattle were found. The bulls were strung up by a hind leg and stabbed at repeatedley, or slaughtered in the street, typical of practices there. I’ve sent proof of the cruelty inflicted upon Irish cattle. Nothing is done.
I always get a blah blah copy and paste response. Blah blah strictly regulated industry. Blah blah essential outlet for cattle. Blah blah high high welfare standards. Blah blah BS…
The Shorthorn Express shipped 2,000 bulls from Greenore port to Israel in July, soon hitting force 6 winds which is a breach of our ‘strict legislation.’ It happens with almost every shipment and I’ve complained after almost every shipment. Nothing is done.
In June of this year, this very vessel came under fire in the mediterranean by Houthi rebels, as it neared Haifa port. It was transporting over 12,000 sheep from Portugal to Israel. Luckily they missed the mark and no animals or crew were injured. I informed the Minister. A joint letter was sent to Commissioner Kyriakides (with Compassion in World Farming, Eurogroup for Animals, Animals Australia and Animals International) asking for an immediate suspension of shipments to Israel. Minister McConalogue was sent a copy of the letter also, but nothing was done.
Not only are these animals and crew being put an unacceptable risk, it’s also very hot in Israel at this time of year. A department vet who accompanied a shipment to Egypt in August 2022, recommended that shipments should not be authorised in the summer months because it gets too hot inside the vessels. Minister McConalogue ignored the recommendation. Those young bulls on board the Shorthorn Express will have suffered from severe heat stress. As the journey goes on, temperature and humidity rise, ammonia levels rise. It can get so bad cattle can get corneal ulcers and go blind. We have seen the evidence. In fact documents show that during this shipment temperatures reached 32 degrees, with 84% humidity. Those bulls will have suffered appallingly. Several bulls also suffered from respiratory illness, the main cause of death during these journeys, and some slipped and injured themselves in the filthy pens. During a shipment to Israel in January the cattle were full of ringworm when they arrived, a highly contagious zoonoses. A colleague asked a vet they knew to view the footage and he said the ringworm was so advanced the cattle must have been infected when they were loaded in Ireland. I complained as the animals are meant to be inspected by a DAFM vet before loading. I got the usual blah blah response.
Permitting diseased animals to load vessels for export is a breach of legislation. Departing in high winds is a breach of legislation. Transporting animals in temperatures over 30 degrees is a breach of legislation. Transporting animals in a way likely to cause suffering and injury is a breach of legislation (and believe me these animals suffer, plus Israel is a country in conflict…) But it’s a highly regulated industry right?
I recently had a zoom call with a colleague from Animals Australia who has spent many years conducting investigations in the Middle East. She said there is a distinct difference between imported animals from Europe and the local animals. Local animals are used to the heat, the noise, the chaos, the dust and the smells and they are subdued. She said that imported animals are not. They are scared and stressed and they fight back. That is why they are hit over the head with poles, that is why they are stabbed in the spine, that is why they have their tendons slashed or are stabbed in the eye. The workers are afraid of them, they don’t know how to control them. They don’t have adequate training and have no proper facilities, there are no laws in place to protect the animals. There is blood everywhere, even in the street, men standing around smoking cigarettes, children hanging around watching, and so the cycle continues.
Evidence ignored
The Irish authorities know this. They have been sent evidence. They don’t care. Exporters say Irish cattle go to special slaughterhouses. They really do not. They are all in denial, or are outright lying, and I’m the one repeatedley accused of spreading misinformation.
I get vilified on social media. But I’m not making this up. I know all this from years of research. I know this from viewing hours of harrowing footage from investigations by other NGOs who have visited these places numerous times.
And so we get to unweaned calves. Sent on long journeys at 15 days old, starved for 30 hours or more. Dairy farmers and other supporters of the trade struggle with the maths so I’ll explain. Unweaned calves are dependent on milk for all their nutrition and they cannot be fed in a truck. They must be fed at least two hours before loading, as they need to rest. It takes around an hour to load 300 calves into each truck. It takes 2 – 4 hours to get to the port, and we’ve seen trucks arriving four hours before the ferry is due to depart. It takes 18 hours to get to Cherbourg and another hour and a half to disembark the ferry and get to the control post where the calves are unloaded so they can finally be fed. As around 2,000 calves arrive at the same time it can take over 8 hours for them all to get fed. That’s a 30 hour gap for some calves. It’s cruel and unlawful, which is why EFI has taken legal proceedings against the State.
I’m sure you all remember the RTE expose last year, where we saw calves being manhandled and abused at marts. They are noisy, stressful places and even without the abuse the calves are there all day in the cold with no feed and often no water or bedding. Then after their gruelling journey to France they get more violent treatment at the control post where they are supposed to be fed and rested, before being loaded back onto the trucks and off they go again. The majority go to hideous veal farms in the Netherlands but some go as far as Romania and Poland. We know that some of these calves get fattened and end up being shipped to Israel and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East. We have seen the evidence.
There was a lot of faux outrage after the Prime Time programme. What has changed? Nothing! It’s still under investigation apparently, a year later! Over 160,000 unweaned calves under 6 weeks of age have been exported this year. Over 160,000 tiny, vulnerable calves have been subjected to immense cruelty and suffering.
Nothing has been done. Nothing changes.
Well we’ve all had enough! It’s time we got a Minister for Animal Welfare who is NOT part of the department of agriculture! We demand change, this cruelty has to end. The animal welfare strategy is a farce and the DAFM is not fit for purpose. Time and time again cruelty and abuse is exposed and time and time again nothing changes, except the Ministers.
Enough is Enough!
Thank you everyone who signed and shared the petition, and a special big thank you to those of you who went out of your way to get actual written signatures, that really makes a difference.
And thank you all those who braved the appalling weather and came along to speak out for those with no voice!
We will not give up!
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