“Ninety-five percent of those happen to be overseas, so we’re going to talk to them and that will be a big stick behind the door to making sure the Government and industries do something for those animals”.
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“The farming community these days has a pretty sophisticated understanding of what’s required around animal welfare”. They are just waste products to the industry and are treated accordingly.
“I don’t think this is widespread”, DairyNZ CEO Tim Mackle says.
“We are shocked and farmers are too”, he told AgriLand.
The Sunday footage shows New Zealand dairy calves left for dead and hurled on to trucks in Waikato. “Farmers don’t see what goes on when calves leave their farm and we need to be holding the transport operators and processing plants to account to ensure bad practices get stamped out of our industry”.
Secretly-filmed footage, showing cruel treatment of calves on dairy farms and by transport companies and slaughterhouse workers, sparked an outcry when it screened on TV One’s Sunday programme.
The Ministry for Primary Industries said that it had been provided with the footage in September and had immediately started an investigation.
“They allowed the slaughtermen to continue abusing those animals”.
The association’s members were licensed by MPI and were regularly audited by the ministry, he said.
According to Newstalk ZB, Federated Farmers dairy section chair Andrew Hoggard says the actions [of those in the video] were those of a few, and most farmers don’t behave that way.
“I’ve seen the footage and I find some parts of it disturbing and I recognise that people who’ve watched the footage will find it disturbing”, Mr Stone said.
Dairy giant Fonterra said it was taking immediate steps to deal with unacceptable mistreatment of animals.
Fonterra says the footage is upsetting and it shares SAFE’s concerns.
“While bobby calves will always be part of the dairy industry, they must be treated with care and respect”.
The way the rules were written gave the impression farmers cared only about keeping it out of sight, he said.
“As a co-operative we take a hard line on animal welfare”.
The company said strong action would be taken if any Fonterra people were involved.
Executive director Hans Kriek said he even made a complaint to MPI about the site where the footage was filmed.
“Anybody seeing this type of abuse would be appalled”. The investigation reveals inherent …New Zealand dairy industry reputation in tatters after revelations of shocking animal abuse.
Animal welfare officers reviewed it and immediately began an investigation, he said.
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The MPI said it could not comment on the specifics of the investigation as it may prejudice its outcome, saying that it must build a robust case before proceeding with any enforcement action, and that it has a strong record of successful prosecutions.
