Breaking: cruelty and suffering in live export exposed again!

Investigation into calf export from Ireland to Europe and beyond

Once again, RTE Investigates has exposed immense cruelty and suffering in the live export industry, for male dairy calves in particular, in their latest exposé Live Exports: On The Hoof. This time they dig deeper than veal farms in the Netherlands and Spain. From abuse at assembly centres in Ireland to unweaned calves flown to Libya. Many calves are exported to Hungary, Romania and Croatia, where they can be shipped off to countries like Israel, Libya and Lebanon. In fact, we discovered that unweaned calves have been exported directly to Libya from Ireland earlier this year. They travelled by truck to Belgium, then continued the journey by plane. Deplorable. And many male dairy calves that manage to escape export as young calves to veal farms find themselves being shipped off to Israel or Morocco when weaned, a fate worse than veal!

A new investigation has uncovered terrible abuse of unweaned calves at a prominent assembly center, this time in Ireland. Undercover footage shows workers abusing very young calves, hitting them with sticks and paddles, throwing them down ramps, dragging them by their ears and tail, stomach tubing weaker calves and injecting them with an unknown substance. A large pile of dead calves in varying stages of decay was discovered behind a building in the yard, lying in puddles of water with evidence of pecking by crows and rat damage.

An assembly centre is where calves purchased at marts around the country are gathered for export to Europe, a gruelling journey where they will have to endure at least 30 hours with no feed whilst dealing with the stress and discomfort of long distance transport. They are licenced by the Department of Agriculture, in this supposedly highly regulated industry…

Lifting calf by his tail                                                        Calf being kicked out of the truck

In March 2024, EFI joined Eyes on Animals, Dier&Recht and L214 trailing several transport trucks full of tiny calves from Ireland to veal farms in the Netherlands and Poland. We were shown undercover footage from the assembly centre, showing violent treatment of young and vulnerable animals.

Violations

The following violations were identified:

  • At an assembly center calves are repeatedly hit on their faces and backs with paddles and sticks; at one point a pitchfork was seen to be used.
  • Employees drag calves by their ears and tails, they are pushed and thrown down a ramp when unloading from a truck.
  • A large pile of dead calves in varying stages of decay is discovered behind a building in the yard, lying in puddles of water with evidence of pecking by crows and rat damage.
  • The unweaned calves are transported by ferry from Rosslare to control posts in Cherbourg, crammed into trucks 300 at a time. During the journey, the hungry calves, still completely dependent on milk for all their nutritional needs, do not receive any milk for more than 30 hours.
  • Several trucks have insufficient water systems or water systems that are not suitable for the calves, because the young animals do not understand how they work. So calves are dehydrated as well as starving.
  • Calves were trailed to a second control post, in Belgium, where they were just given electrolytes to keep them going for the rest of the long journey to Poland.
Calf dragged by his tail and ear

These violations are nothing new. Year after year we have gathered evidence and exposed the cruelty and suffering. RTE Investigates exposed the abuse last year. Yet nothing is ever done.

Award winning exposure

After the RTE exposure last year in it’s award winning programme Dairy’s Dirty Secret, there was a lot of faux outrage and surprise by the industry and government officials, but we have been highlighting these issues for years and nothing changes. Young calves are still being offloaded at the earliest opportunity and subjected to immense suffering. Since milk quotas were abolished in 2015, Ireland’s dairy industry has boomed, with nobody giving a thought to the inevitable increase in the number of unwanted male calves this would bring; except the exporters, ferry companies and veal farmers who are making a roaring trade at the expense of the health and welfare of these very young and vulnerable animals.

There were promises to investigate the abuse exposed at the marts but a year later it’s still under investigation apparently…Well there are going to be a lot of red faces around after this second exposure of cruelty and abuse.

Legal and illegal cruelty

The industry subjects the vulnerable calves to both legal and illegal cruelty. Dairy calves are removed from their mothers immediately after birth, so we can take all the milk. The calves are dragged and pushed around from birth. They can go to a mart at just 10 days old, where they spend all day in a cold pen with no food and often no water. Then they are loaded in truck with other calves and taken to an assembly centre, where our investigation highlighted they are subjected to abuse and rough treatment. From the footage seen it appears the calves recevied no milk until the following morning. This is a question we have asked mart managers and not been given an answer.

Deceased calf removed from the pen

What are the issues here? Unweaned calves at such a young age do not have a functioning immune system and are exposed to all kinds of pathogens at the mart, the assembly centre, the control post and the destination farm. They are vulnerable to illnesses like pneumonia and we have seen evidence of calves dying at every stage of the export journey. Those in favour of the trade argue volumes are negligible, because a dead calf is not worth anything. That may be so, but one death is one too many.

These young calves are dependent on milk and it’s not possible to feed them in the truck. This means that, when you factor in loading times, travel to the port, the 18 hour ferry journey, transport to the conrol centre and unloading and waiting time there, the calves are deprived of food for 30 hours and more. Not only is this despicably cruel, it is in breach of EC Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during long distance transport. Protection? What protection do these calves have? They are subjected to thirst, starvation, exhaustion and abuse. They are not protected on the farm, they are not protected at the mart, they are not protected at the assembly centre, nor during the long ferry journey or at the other control posts they stop at. They face abuse at every step of the way. We also discovered during this investigation that a truck full of calves going to Poland stopped at a control post in Belgium for 24 hours and were only given electolytes, not milk replacer. This is not food!

So far this year over 160,000 unweaned calves under 6 weeks old have been exported, the bulk going to the Netherlands. The majority of these calves end up in veal farms owned by the VanDrie Group, a family business that has been the driving force behind imports from Ireland for years and earns billions from the trade in calf slaughterhouses. Calves that survive the transport face a hideous existence, packed together in crowded pens on hard slatted flooring, no grass or hay, never outside, and they are sent to slaughter within a year. This is why Dier & Recht is taking legal action against them.

You can read the full report here: Investigation into the welfare of Irish unweaned calves during export 2024

Large pile of deceased calves before their long journey has even begun

A fate worse than veal

Last year EFI exposed that many dairy bulls that escape veal farms endure something far worse: Irish dairy bulls – a fate worse than veal 

Thousands are exported to other member states like Spain, Hungary and Romania to be fattened and shipped off to Libya or Lebanon at a few months old, or they are exported directly from Ireland once weaned to countries including most recently Morocco and Israel. NGO Israel Against Live Shipments regularly observes young Irish dairy bulls arriving at Haifa port from Romania and Croatia, as recently as 22nd September. EFI has seen video footage clearly showing Irish ear tags. There has been a substantial increase in unweaned dairy calf export to Romania and Hungary this year, but that is not their final destination.

Dairy bulls are exported in their thousands as tiny calves to veal farms in the Netherlands. Others are exported to other member states where they are fattened and exported on to North Africa and the Middle East. Other male dairy calves that escape this and are reared in Ireland find themselves being shipped off as weanlings, or they are transported by truck to ports in Europe and are shipped off from there.

Abuse at marts and assembly centres, prolonged starvation, horrendously long journeys, inhumane veal farms, and export to third countries with appalling animal welfare standards –  this is the life of an Irish male dairy calf. We have been highlighting this cruelty and suffering for years. Now RTE Investigates has exposed the industry for what it is, yet again, and the industry is pretending to be shocked and horrified, yet again. More faux outrage. No action. It’s time the sector took responsibility for these animals instead of off loading them without a care for their wellbeing.

Year after year, young calves suffer during long journeys from Ireland to Dutch veal farms and beyond. Year after year legislation breaches are ignored. Whether it be physical abuse by workers at the assembly stations in Ireland or the control posts in Cherbourg, or the prolonged starvation of these tiny animals dependent on milk and not being fed.

There is a kinder way to do dairy but nothing will ever change while the Irish authorities not only allow but actually fight for this cruelty to continue.

We are very grateful to Fran McNulty and his team at Prime Time for covering this despicable cruelty once again. You can view the prgramme here: RTE Investiagtes: Live Exports On the Hoof

 

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