Our team follows a long-distance transport from the calf market in Château-Gontier, France, to three different farms and an assembly centre in Catalonia, Spain. At the market, some pens are so crowded that only a few calves can lie down and rest. The majority of the pens have straw bedding, but several have no bedding at all and the calves have to…

The Tierschutzbund Zürich and the Animal Welfare Foundation bring a charge against the control post in Soppe-le-Bas, France, for cruelty to animals. Last April we documented that two downer calves from Poland were loaded by force onto a livestock truck. The calves, which were only a few weeks old, were obviously unfit for transport. They should…

At midday, the calves from Poland and Lithuania are re-loaded at the control post in France. Instead of the mandatory 24 hours, the calves have only been rested for 18 hours. Our team observes that a calf falls down on the loading ramp, remains on the ground and is pulled back into the stable at its tail. Instead of being treated by a veterinarian,…

Our team drives to a control post in France, where unweaned calves are rested and fed on the way from Poland to Spain. In the late afternoon two transporters arrive at the stable, loaded with calves from Poland and Lithuania which are only two to three weeks old. Some still have the umbilical cord. The calves are mooing loudly and licking the metal…