Wicklow Calf Company has issued a statement following the RTÉ Investigates programme, which aired on Monday (July 10).
The programme showed incidents of Irish dairy calves being mistreated at several marts around the country.
While the calf-export business was filmed, no incidents of mistreatment of calves were shown at the calf-export yard in Arklow.
However, the programme makers claimed that breaches of animal transport legislation had occured involving a sub-contracted truck which had left the site with calves.
Wicklow Calf Company
The lorry was secretly followed by RTÉ leaving Wicklow Calf Company’s yard and going to Spain.
The footage later showed the Irish calves arriving at the customer’s yard near Barcelona in Spain.
A statement from Wicklow Calf Company has said it “completely condemns the behaviour and violence towards calves as seen on RTÉ Investigates”.
“We are a family farm and business that takes animal welfare and safety very seriously and can assure you, the public, that all staff are trained to the highest standard when it comes to all animals in our care.
“The animals are treated with the same kindness and compassion throughout their stay in our facilities and sticks/prodders/physically abusing calves has been strictly forbidden on our farm for many, many years and this is monitored very closely by full CCTV in all our lairages.
“We also assure that we do not tolerate any mistreatment of our calves while they are being inter-community traded and this matter is already being internally investigated with the proper authorities, with every resource available.
“We deal very closely with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and highly certified veterinarians to ensure all rules and regulations are met,” the company said.
The animal transport rules and regulations relate to:
- Journey logs;
- Calf welfare;
- Transportation vehicle bedding;
- Appropriate space;
- Air conditioning units;
- Fresh water units in full working order.
The statement stressed that this is all checked before calves embark on their journey “out of our facilities and out of Ireland where their full journey can be tracked and temperature controlled via satellite.”
“We invited the journalists onto our premises during their investigation in the hope of showcasing the hard work and high standards set by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine before any calf is loaded onto the trucks but unfortunately, we feel the RTÉ show did not reflect this,” Wicklow Calf Company said.