Covert Investigation Exposes Sickening Animal Abuse At Veal Factory Farm In Quebec

Hidden-Camera Video Reveals Baby Calves Being Kicked, Beaten, and Left to Languish in Filthy Crates - Mercy For Animals Canada Calls on Retail Council of Canada to Ban Cruel Crates

PONT-ROUGE, Quebec, April 21, 2014 /CNW/ - Shocking hidden-camera video of workers kicking, punching, and beating baby calves, secretly recorded at one of the largest veal producers in North America, has been released by the animal protection organization Mercy For Animals Canada. The video shows baby calves chained by the neck and locked inside narrow crates so small they can't walk, turn around, or lie down comfortably, workers tormenting animals, and calves suffering from open wounds. A criminal animal cruelty investigation is now underway.

The disturbing undercover video, recorded at a Délimax Veal-affiliated factory farm in Pont-Rouge, Quebec, reveals:

• Calves crammed into feces-covered wooden boxes barely larger than their own bodies, often chained by the neck, unable to even turn around or lie down comfortably for their entire lives
• Workers violently kicking, punching, and throwing baby animals
• Animals painfully stuck in the wooden slats of their crates
• Sick and injured animals left to suffer and slowly die in their own filth without proper veterinary care

After viewing the undercover video, Dr. Mary Richardson, a veterinarian who chaired the Animal Welfare Committee for the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, stated: "The conditions that the calves live in are both physically and mentally abusive. No animal should be so physically limited in its movement." Confining calves to tiny veal crates is considered inherently so cruel the practice has been outlawed in eight U.S. states, Australia, New Zealand, and the entire European Union.

Following the investigation, Mercy For Animals Canada 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.

Mercy For Animals Canada is calling on the Retail Council of Canada, which represents all of the major grocery chains in the country, to implement a new policy that prohibits the cruel confinement of calves in restrictive veal crates in its member grocers' supply chains — a policy already supported by Costco, Metro, Sobeys and Loblaw. Last year, following a Mercy For Animals Canada investigation at a pig factory farm, the Retail Council of Canada committed to ending the extreme confinement of pregnant pigs in gestation crates. MFA Canada is now urging the Retail Council of Canada to give the same consideration to calves raised for veal.

"Science and common sense tell us that animals with legs should be given at least enough room to walk and exercise," said Twyla Francois, Mercy For Animals Canada's director of investigations. "The Canadian veal industry treats baby calves like mere meat-producing machines. Their short lives are filled with misery, violence, and deprivation. It's time for the Retail Council of Canada to take a stand against this horrific animal abuse by ending the use of inherently cruel veal crates in its member supply chains."

To view the undercover video, visit CratedCruelty.ca.

SOURCE: Mercy For Animals Canada

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