Victory! New Hope for Bobby Calves

Last month Animals Australia supporters were outraged to learn that during the development of new government transport standards, the dairy industry refused to agree with other participants (including transporters, animal welfare scientists, government officers and animal welfare groups such as RSPCA Australia and Animals Australia) on measures designed to reduce the suffering of bobby calves.

Dairy Australia refused to agree to a limit on the time these young unweaned calves could be denied milk — thereby allowing them to be held at abattoirs overnight without being fed. Similarly, Dairy Australia’s unwillingness to agree to imposing a limit on the distance bobby calves can be transported — despite the fact that thousands of fragile calves die on trucks each year — had led to new government draft standards being manifestly inadequate.

After being inundated with thousands of emails from concerned Animals Australia supporters, the Primary Industries Standing Committee (PISC) has acknowledged “that more decisive, quicker action was appropriate and necessary”. As a result, bobby calf welfare is now firmly back on the table and Animals Australia will be working in coming months to ensure a better deal for bobby calves.

Never doubt the importance of sending a letter or an email expressing your concern about the treatment of animals!

Animals Australia was overwhelmed by the response to this campaign. Many thousands of emails sent to government ministers resulted in this unprecedented ‘change of heart’ and an acknowledgement that bobby calf welfare needs to be immediately readdressed.

Animals Australia’s campaign also led many people to contact our office, mortified to learn for the first time that as part of the dairy industry’s ‘normal operations’, cows give birth to a calf each year to maximise their milk production, and that as a result, every year almost 1 million baby calves are discarded and slaughtered before they are even one week old.

This is the tragic reality of the dairy industry, and one that Dairy Australia would prefer that an unsuspecting community remain unaware of. It is also why more and more people are turning to the many dairy alternatives which are high in calcium such as soy, rice & oat-based milks, non dairy yoghurts, ice creams and more.

 

See also:1 Million Bobby Calves Need Your Help!Shade for Calves in SheppartonOpinion: Sucked In: It's udderly ridiculousFonterra intensive dairy farming in China criticisedFact Sheet: Dairy Cows

Few people realise that the dairy industry is responsible for massive animal suffering and the continual premature and distressing separation of days-old calves from their mothers. Find out more...