"Shipping calves" is a term the Irish agricultural industry uses to describe the male offspring of dairy cows. These cows are forced to procreate simply to keep their supply of milk flowing. Their male calves are useless to the dairy industry, and are therefore often shipped to other countries to be reared for slaughter, after which they will become the veal in restaurants and supermarkets. This chain of events is heartbreaking enough in and of itself. But
recently released footage, taken and later published by animal welfare organizations
Eyes on Animals,
L214, and
Ethical Farming Ireland, showed that the calves' journey is almost as bad as their deadly destination.
Sign the petition now and demand that the European Union (EU) ban all veal transports immediately!The footage shows calves, just weeks old, that had been ripped from their mothers in Ireland and forced to make the harrowing journey to France.
The babies are beaten with sticks, kicked, and one can be seen left unable to stand. This calf is dragged away - an Eyes on Animals observer later revealed that he was killed. This footage is not only heartbreaking - it points to a larger problem. In 2019 alone, about 198,000 calves were exported from Ireland.
If this footage depicts the abuse of just one of these transports, how many other calves are being subjected to cruelty with no witnesses?This is, of course, not the first instance of calf abuse that animal welfare advocates have uncovered when investigating the veal transport industry. Legally, these young animals cannot be transported for more than 18 hours without long breaks for rest and feeding. But the long journey from Ireland to France, about 23 hours including boat and truck rides, has been tracked many times with no breaks for these exhausted babies. When they do arrive at their destination, the calves are desperate for milk.
Advocates describe the arrival as "brutal" - calves scramble to feeders, taking long drinks, which in turn frustrates their handlers who beat and shove them, sometimes causing the already weakened animals to collapse.This cannot be allowed to go on. Shipping baby animals across long distances for slaughter is bad enough. Abusing and torturing them along the way is unforgivably cruel. Please sign the petition - the EU must ban all veal transports!