Erik van der Walle from Baarle-Nassau admits that the animals on a veal farm belonging to his family were ‘perhaps a bit too rough’. The reason is the images that action group Ongehoord made at the Kempense Exportstal in Merksplas in Belgium. That company belongs to the Brabant family. Secret recordings show calves being beaten with a stick, kicked and dragged by their ears and tail.
Onheard has filmed at the Kempense Exportstal, but also at other companies. Erik van der Walle speaks of ‘cutting and pasting’ and says that secret filming took place much longer than the organization says.
Erik van der Walle is the son of Ben van der Walle, who owned several cattle farms in Belgium and Brabant. Part of it has been sold. Some businesses are still owned by the family. Erik’s sister Tanja van der Walle made the news in 2021 with her plan for a mega stable. She wanted to build a new stable just across the border, next to one of her father’s Dutch stables.
Secretly filmed for months
Van der Walle is not happy with the images who made Unheard of. It shows how calves are beaten with a stick, kicked and dragged by their ears and tail.
“I’m also shocked when I see that,” says Van der Walle to Omroep Brabant. He admits that at times the animals were ‘perhaps a little too rough’. “I’m not proud of this.”
Ongehoord says he filmed for a week and a half with a secretly placed camera, but according to Van der Walle that period was much longer. “When I see the images, this happened in two to three months. They all took small pieces out of it and stuck them together. It is cut-and-paste work,” says the farmer.
‘Father whining at the company’
The fact that the images are now in the news means a lot to him. Also because Ongehoord has posted a photo of his father Ben and his villa in Baarle-Nassau on its website. “My father doesn’t work here. He hasn’t seen a calf in five years. He sits here crying on the farm,” says Erik van der Walle.
The farmer also claims to have very good contacts with animal organizations. It is unknown whether the Belgian authorities, like the Dutch, will also intervene in his company. He does not know whether Van der Walle will take steps against Ongehoord. According to him, the action group broke in to install the cameras.
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