HIDDEN CAMERA EXPOSES PERMANENT TORTURE OF BABY CALVES IN TIGHT CRATES AT CANADIAN FARM - And the sadistic treatment they receive from the site's workers

A new undercover investigation by Mercy For Animals Canada at a Delimax-affiliated veal factory farm in Pont Rouge, Quebec, reveals baby calves crammed into crates barely larger than their own bodies, punched and kicked by workers, and left to suffer without proper veterinary care.

The footage shows baby calves, just weeks old, being kicked, punched, slapped and yelled at by barn employees. They are housed in crates so narrow they can’t turn around or lie down comfortably. Many are tethered by chains around their necks.


Mercy for Animals Canada is calling on the government to ban veal crates following an undercover investigation at a Quebec farm that revealed calves being kicked, punched and confined to tiny wooden crates for the entirety of their short lives.

 

Footage from the undercover investigation, which was shot by Mercy For Animals Canada and detailed in a CTV W5 report this weekend, has prompted the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to launch an investigation.

 

The hidden camera footage was shot over an eight-week period earlier this year at a Delimax Veal-affiliated factory farm in Pont-Rouge, Quebec, Canada. Delimax is one of the largest veal producers in North America.

 

"Their short lives are filled with fear, violence, and prolonged suffering", Mercy For Animals Canada's Krista Osborne said during a news conference on Monday. 

Photo:  Deprived of its mother, calf suckles the edge of a bucket

 

The hidden camera footage was shown to Fabien Fontaine, a member of the Quebec Veal Association and the owner of Delimax Veal.

 

Delimax delivers the calves to the Pont Rouge barn and picks them up to bring them to the slaughter house. Delimax drivers also deliver the milk by-products to the barn to feed the calves.  Fontaine pointed out that Delimax does not own the Pont Rouge operation.  He also noted that the future for milk-fed veal calves in Quebec will soon be much more humane.

Photo - Nobody has the right to cause deliberate suffering to other creatures

 

Fontaine took W5 on a tour of a Delimax veal operation near Drummonville. There, calves are raised in group pens allowing them to mingle with each other and giving them a little more room to move around.  He said that this new system will be the norm for the Quebec veal industry by 2018. 

 

There are 120 veal operations in Quebec that use wooden crates, about 75 per cent of all the barns in the province. 

 



Mercy For Animals Canada is calling on law officials to file animal cruelty charges against the Pont Rouge farm managers and employees.

 

Osborne said beating and neglecting animals is in violation of the Criminal Code of Canada.

 

"Unfortunately most of the veal sold in Canada comes from factory farms that condemn calves to filthy wooden crates like these," Osborne said.

Photo - People are making money by torturing thousands of defenseless baby calves - and doing it with impunity.  This animal's face reveals pure horror and despair.

 

Osborne:  "These playful and social animals spend nearly their entire lives in the dark. They never see the sun, they never breathe fresh air, they never feel the grass beneath their feet."

 

Veal crates are banned in Australia, New Zealand, the European Union and in eight U.S. states. The organization is calling on the Canadian government to also ban the practice.

 

"In a civilized society, it is our moral obligation to protect all animals, including veal calves, from needless suffering and violence," Osborne said.  She added that the animal cruelty laws in Canada are "few and far between."  "The only times these matters are investigated is when a complaint is filed, which again is very rare," she said.

 

Mercy For Animals Canada is also calling on the Retail Council of Canada to push the government for tougher legislation regarding factory farms.


Photo:  We are all responsible for this cruelty. Please contact your government authorities to ban this practice of crating animals in Canada.

 

"Every time (our investigators) visit a factory farm, they witness egregious cruelty," Osborne said. "This leads us to believe that this type of cruelty runs rampant throughout the entire factory farming industry."

 

Following a Mercy For Animals Canada investigation at a Manitoba pig factory farm last year, the Retail Council of Canada committed to ending the extreme confinement of pregnant pigs in gestation crates.

 

The organization is now calling on that group, which represents all major grocery chains, to prohibit veal crates in its member grocers' supply chains – a policy that's already supported by Costco, Metro, Sobeys and Loblaws.

 

Source

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/cruelty-probe-at-quebec-farm-prompts-calls-for-ban-on-veal-crates-1.1785457

 
Photos - CTV and Mercy for Animals Canada

Huffington Post - Slide show - This is how veal is made in Canada
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/04/21/how-is-veal-made-canada-video_n_5187218.html
 

MERCY FOR ANIMALS CANADA

http://www.mercyforanimals.ca/

 

Mercy for Animals - Crated Cruelty 

3 minute video

http://www.cratedcruelty.ca/

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Sample letter (from Mercy for Animals) you can send to the proper authorities, which could include your member of Parliament.

Dear Retail Council of Canada:

I was shocked and horrified by the animal abuse recently documented on hidden camera by Mercy For Animals Canada at Délimax - a veal supplier to many major grocery retailers in Canada.

I am disgusted to see how baby calves are ripped away from their mothers and locked alone in feces-covered wooden crates or chained by the neck for their entire lives. In such intensive and unrelenting confinement, these social and gentle animals are unable to even turn around, lie down comfortably, walk, run, play, or do anything that makes life worth living.

Recognizing their inherent cruelty, eight U.S. states, Australia, New Zealand, and the entire European Union have banned veal crates.

It's time for the Retail Council of Canada to take a stand against egregious animal abuse by adopting a policy against confining calves in veal crates.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

 

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PLEASE CONSIDER BECOMING VEGETARIAN

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