Removing ban 'a step backwards'
Animal rights organization, SAFE says the government needs to maintain the ban on live exports.
John Darroch, from Farmwatch, told Dairy News that pictures of the calves in crates was taken last season and the other footage this season. They had difficulty filming some of the calves being thrown onto trucks and he personally saw at least eight instances of this happening but they were impossible to film.
"I can now confidently say that the rough handling of bobby calves onto trucks is widespread," he says.
Darroch says they took their footage from the side of the road and at times feared for their own safety had farmers caught them doing this. A couple of times farmers challenged what they were doing but didn't realise they were animal rights people.
Darroch says he's worked on a dairy farm and he has met other farmers keen to show him how well they look after their animals.
"We're not out there to demonise farmers and the dairy industry. I think there are some widespread issues that need to be tackled but certainly I haven't got anything against farmers as whole. In fact I have massive sympathy for them for what they are going through with low milk prices and the stress this involves," he says.
Darroch says he wants to scotch one suggestion that farmers didn't know about the ways the calves were being thrown onto trucks. He says most of the crates the bobby calves were held in were clearly visible from the farmhouse.
