Mercy For Animals Hidden-Camera Video Exposes Baby Calves Being Beaten and Left to Languish in Filthy Crates – Group Calls on Retail Council of Canada to Ban Veal Crates
PONT-ROUGE, QC, Dec. 16, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Shocking video footage secretly recorded by Mercy For Animals at a Delimax veal factory farm in Pont-Rouge, Quebec, has resulted in animal cruelty charges against Éric Dame, a former employee at the facility. Dame has been charged with two counts of violating the Quebec provincial Animal Health Protection Act, and could face up to $37,000 in fines.
The graphic undercover video at Delimax—a major veal supplier in Canada—exposed workers kicking, punching, and beating baby calves, baby calves chained by the neck and locked inside narrow crates so small they couldn't walk, turn around, or lie down comfortably, and animals suffering from open wounds without proper veterinary care.
Following the investigation, Mercy For Animals immediately submitted a detailed legal complaint to the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the agency responsible for enforcing animal welfare laws, calling for animal cruelty charges to be filed against the company for its violations of both provincial and federal law. Mercy For Animals praises the SPCA for taking swift and decisive action in this important case.
Mercy For Animals is now renewing its call to the Retail Council of Canada, which represents all of the major grocery chains in the country, to prohibit the cruel confinement of calves in restrictive veal crates in all of its member grocers' supply chains—a policy already supported by Costco, Metro, Loblaw and Sobeys. Following a Mercy For Animals investigation at a pig factory farm, the Retail Council of Canada committed to ending the extreme confinement of pregnant pigs in gestation crates. Mercy For Animals is urging the Retail Council of Canada to give the same consideration to calves raised for veal.
"These animal cruelty charges should serve as a wake-up call to the veal industry that animal abuse will not be tolerated in Canada," said Krista Osborne, Mercy For Animals' managing director, Canada. "The short lives of calves locked in veal crates are filled with misery, violence, and deprivation. It's time for the Retail Council of Canada to take a stand against this blatant animal abuse by ending the use of inherently cruel veal crates in all of its member supply chains."
To view the undercover video, visit CratedCruelty.ca.
SOURCE: Mercy For Animals Canada
Krista Osborne,(416) 666-3093, [email protected]
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