Cruelty and Neglect Uncovered on US Calf Rearing Farm
Animal Equality today released a shocking undercover investigation revealing cruelty and neglect at Summit Calf Ranch in Nebraska, USA. The calf rearing farm is owned by Tuls Dairy, which supply Bel Brands USA – the producers of popular products such as Babybel, Boursin and The Laughing Cow.
The footage reveals the prolonged suffering of vulnerable calves, aged between one day and five months old, confined in pens alone and freezing to death in temperatures that dropped to -28°C with wind chill overnight. This repeated exposure to extremely cold temperatures resulted in frozen limbs and in several calves, the painful separation of the hoof from the leg. Many calves died in agony and their bodies were piled up in the snow.
The horrifying scenes also included:
- Workers shoving, jabbing and hitting calves with sticks and rods as the manager’s dog bit the backs of their legs
- Calves’ horn buds being removed (known as ‘disbudding’) using hot irons
- Calves dying of scours and pneumonia after being left outdoors in freezing temperatures
- Sick and injured cows left to suffer without receiving veterinary care
- Hernia repair, banding (castration) and other painful procedures carried out without any pain relief
- Ill newborn calves were left surrounded by dead bodies in an area referred to as the ‘hospital’, yet they received no veterinary care. Left to suffer for days, many of these injured babies eventually died in agony.
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