The NVWA has shut down the Dane cattle trade in Oudemolen. The government has banned this company from transporting cattle for the time being, because secret recordings by animal protection organization Ongehoord show that cows are mistreated there before they are transported.
The images show how the cows are driven into a truck with electric shock devices and forks. Several people are working to get the sick and weakened animals on transport as quickly as possible.
Dane is a collection center where cattle are transported, mainly to slaughterhouses. According to the NVWA, the films made in Oudemolen are “a direct reason to suspend the recognition of this company”. The NVWA had been monitoring this company for some time and placed it under stricter supervision.
No one at the company would comment. “We’ll see, the authorities will come then”, is the only thing an employee wants to say about the shutdown of the company and the abuse of the animals.
The NVWA already viewed the images before publication and calls them ‘shocking and completely unacceptable’. “The people shown in these images clearly do not fulfill their duty to treat and transport animals with respect. It is clear that the animals in these images are absolutely not worthy of transport, but in fact need care.”
Animal welfare organization House of Animals reports this week that it will report animal abuse and violation of rules from the European Transport Regulation in response to the images.
Onheard registered in four transport centers in the Netherlands and Belgium, as she describes it herself. “Mother cows that could no longer walk, were sick, lame or terrified. Even calves barely two weeks old are not treated gently. They are beaten, kicked and pushed up with sticks and stun guns.”
According to a spokesperson for Ongehoord, sick animals are not allowed on transport at all. “We have seen animals in Belgium that came from Oudemolen. They were simply put on transport there with open wounds and bumps. For a farmer, this means that he receives some money for slaughter instead of costs for a veterinarian. And the chance is nil.”
Pitchfork
Unheard goes on to talk about pushing and pulling on the ears and muzzle of seriously ill cows, dragging a seriously ill animal by the tail and legs, electric shocks in seriously ill cows, dragging animals with ropes, a hip clamp and jabbing with a pitchfork.
Ongehoord has also requested documents from which, according to a spokesman, it appears that regulators in Belgium and the Netherlands issued export certificates for sick, injured, lame or heavily pregnant cattle, which according to the rules were no longer allowed to be transported.
The NVWA sees confirmation of its view that “things are going seriously wrong at a number of collection centers”. That is why rules and supervision have been further tightened. It conducts ‘risk-oriented’ supervision: certain collection centers are inspected more often. But the NVWA “cannot be everywhere at all times to intervene. The sector has its own responsibility to treat and protect animals well.”