Eat Less and Better!
The first thing you can do to help farm animals is not support factory farms by buying the produce. Find out where your food comes from and how it was produced. We need better labelling to inform consumers what systems animals are raised in but as a general guide opt for organic where possible – welfare standards are stricter, flock and herd sizes are smaller, and slower growing breeds are used. Or look for free range. Pigs and poultry are the most intensively farmed animals in the world and any produce in supermarkets here is likely to be from a factory farm. If the label doesn’t say outdoor reared, free range or organic the animal will have been reared intensively. It’s very difficult to find high welfare pork products in supermarkets – try your local farmers market, independent butcher, or look online as some farms have a delivery service or there may be a free range farm local to you that sells directly from the farm. Avoid farmed fish altogether. Ask questions about dairy – are the male calves exported, do the cows spend most of the year outside or are they indoors? Some dairy farms keep the cows indooors all year round. It’s worth doing a bit of research to ensure you aren’t inadvertently supporting the live export industry.
The most important thing you can do, and the easiest thing, is to cut down on the consumption of meat, dairy and fish, or leave off the plate altogether. It is better for our health, for our environment and for the animals of course if we eat less animal produce. Have a few plant based days during the week, mix up dairy with non dairy alternatives. This website is great for easy to follow recipes https://theflexitarian.co.uk/2013/06/the-flexitarian-pantry/ Remember eat less and better!
Brittany Ferries
Brittany Ferries stopped transporting live farm animals from the UK 30 years ago because of the cruelty and suffering involved. We were therefore shocked to find out that they made the decision to start carrying livestock trucks on their Rosslare to Cherbourg route, and will be carrying unweaned calves!
We have previously communicated our concerns around the export of unweaned calves to senior management at Brittany Ferries after we heard a rumour in 2023 that they may resume involvement in this cruel and outdated trade. Not only that, we sent them the audit report by the European Commission that concluded these journeys breach legislation because calves are not being fed after the maximum 19 hour limit. It’s really surprising that a company that prides itself on it’s animal welfare policy has done an about turn and involved the company in a trade that likely breaches EU law. They cannot claim they don’t know about these issues! We immediately joined forces with a number of NGOs and wrote an open letter to Brittany Ferries asking them to reconsider this shameful decision. No response was received so a follow up follow up letter was sent 4 months later. Still no response has been received.
It is rather ironic that the company’s latest marketing campaign promises customers they can ‘set sail for unforgettable adventures in France.’ They certainly will not forget the haunting cries of tiny calves, bawling with hunger as they will already have gone without feed for many hours before the ferry journey from Rosslare even begins.
Please contact Brittany Ferries and tell them you will not be supporting their business and will tell friends and family what they are doing. They advertise themselves as ethical, moral and sustainable. There is nothing ethical about keeping two week old calves trapped in a crowded truck for 30 hours. There is nothing moral about starving an unweaned calf for 30 hours. The current dairy system that they are propping up by giving an outlet for farmers to offload their male calves is not sustainable.
Email: customer.services@brittanyferries.com and reservations@brittanyferries.ie
CEO Christopher Mathieu: Christophe.Mathieu@brittany-ferries.fr
Chairman Jean-Marc Roué: jeanmarc.roue@brittany-ferries.fr
Rodolphe Saadé Chairman and CEO of CMA CGM Group (partners with BF) rodolphe.saade@cma-cgm.com
Irish Ferries
Irish Ferries has been profiting from cruelty and suffering for decades. In 2019 we submitted a petition with over 90,000 signatures. We have sent them reports from investigations, detailing how long these vulnerable animals go without feed, we have sent them the report from the audit by the EU Commission stating these journeys are not in line with legislation and we have sent them the studies that show how the health and welfare of the calves is negatively impacted during these long journeys. We have sent letters and complaints but the only response we have ever received simply stated that the Department of Agriculture has responsibility over the trucks and they have washed their hands of any responsibility. They advertise pet friendly cabins, so passengers dogs can travel in comfort whilst calves are literally starving below.
Please also contact Irish Ferries and tell them you will not be supporting their business and will tell friends and family what they are doing, as above.
Email: info@icg.ie
CEO Eamonn Rothwell: eamonn.rothwell@icg.ie
Managing Director Andrew Sheen: andrew.sheen@irishferries.com
Pig campaign
Please sign and share our petition calling on Minister Heydon to enforce EC Pig Directive 2008/120. Pigs are routinely subjected to mutilations at days old, they are not provided with adequate enrichment and many farms are overcrowded. As a first step we want the law to be enacted on, as a bare minimum.
https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/enforce-the-ec-pig-directive-2008-120-and-more
The best thing you can do for pigs is don’t eat the produce! But if you do eat pork please look for a free range farm. There is a list on the pig page on the website or do an internet search to find a farm or supplier near you. Many deliver. It’s very unlikely you will find free range produce in the supermarket.
Live Export – What can I do to help?
Write to your local TDs and MEPs
If you would like to take action against live export please contact your local TDs, Irish MEPs, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.
You can find your local TDs by visiting the Oireachtas website, and for an up-to-date list of MEPs visit the European Parliament website.
Here are some important points about transporting animals that you might want to include in your letter:
- Sea journeys have a detrimental impact on animal health and welfare, and it’s common for the animals to become sick, suffer from leg injuries or die from respiratory illness. Temperature and humidity increase as the journey continues, and rising levels of ammonia can cause corneal ulcers leading to blindness. Ringworms is rife. And animals can get sea sick in the same way we can.
- Countries outside the EU like Israel, Algeria, Morocco and Lebanon have little in the way of animal welfare legislation and are known to practice inhumane slaughter practices that cause immense suffering. Facilities, training and education is poor and there is no vet present in the slaughterhouse. It’s not just a question of non stun slaughter, these animals are subjected to what is tantamount to torture.
- Israel is in a state of conflict and we should not be shipping cattle into war zones.
- Unweaned calves cannot be fed during the long ferry journey to France and investigations have shown they are deprived of feed for around 30 hours. These calves can be as young as 15 days old, this is completely inhumane and in breach of legislation, as confimed by the European Commission following an audit conducted in 2022.
- Unweaned calves do not have fully developed immune systems and they cannot regulate their body temperature making them prone to illnesses like pneumonia. There have been three recent studies organised by Teagasc that conclude calves suffer from dehydration, low energy, muscle fatigue and hypoglycaemia
- Once animals leave Ireland the Department has no control over what happens to them. They may be vet checked and healthy when they leave but the Department does not monitor or report on illness, injury or mortality and has no idea what state the animals are in by the time they reach their destination. Animals exported outside the EU are no longer protected by any legislation.
- Live export does not stimulate price or competition – there is no correlation between live export volumes and beef prices. The value of live export is a fraction of the value of the whole agri-food export industry. The only people who benefit are the exporters and the handful of farmers who supply them.
- Only around 10% of calves are exported, showing that the dairy industry is not dependent on live export as the industry, lobby groups and Irish authorities would have us believe.
