Update

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - A farmer from Albertinia, Loudien Salie, is livid after a number of his calves, destined for slaughter at the Riversdale abattoir, were according to him, unnecessarily euthanised by the Garden Route SPCA (GRSPCA) on Monday 31 August.

In a media statement by the GRSPCA, senior inspector Cheri Cooke said 56 starving and dying unweaned dairy calves were being kept in a cold and derelict abattoir when their inspectors arrived on the scene.

"Many of them were so weak from diarrhoea and dehydration that they were unable to rise from the ice-cold floor. Some already dead, others soon to follow. Salie's wife, who was at the premises when we arrived, accepted that the animals needed to be euthanised. She gave access and permission for the inspectors to carry out their duties," said Cooke.

However, according to Salie he has always been following protocol and tries his best to stick to the rules. "I will never do anything to jeopardise my business or do things inhumanely," he said.

According to Cooke the animals were confined to an enclosure with a water-saturated, damaged concrete floor, no bedding and littered with excrement.

Salie's reason for the animals being kept where they were, was that the Riversdale abattoir only told him at the last minute that they weren't able to slaughter the animals on that day, so he had to keep them there with the intension of taking them to the abattoir the following day.

A total of 56 unweaned calves were found in the derelict abattoir.

Calves were cared for

"We fed them with milk suitable for calves and they were put into the kraals where they were found. They were all fed. But the SPCA only listened to one side of the story. They were told the animals were dying, but when they came there they broke the locks and saw calves standing and others were sleeping," he said.

"The SPCA also said they were lying in the cold on concrete floors, but the rules at the abattoirs are that they have to have concrete floors in order to clean it properly every day.

"Calves are born in the field where there is no shelter. The place we kept had a roof and walls around them. The pictures the SPCA show you are what they want you to see. First they were only going to kill two, then they decided to kill all of them.

The calves were shot and their throats were slit and they were thrown on a heap. So who treated them inhumanely?"

According to Salie, all the calves were the appropriate age. "No calves will be taken from any farmer if they aren't 10 days old or older. If I take calves younger they will be rejected by the abattoir."

One of the dead calves.

Suffering calves

According to Cooke the owner was well aware of the suffering endured by the animals.

"The owner knew that they were hungry and cold, some dead and dying, but remained insistent that the animals suffer until the morning, when they could take those that survived the night, to the abattoir. We refused to allow them to suffer any longer.

Our team had to undertake the difficult task of euthanising the calves on site. All of the calves' umbilical cords were still attached - confirmation that they were all under 21 days old," said Cooke.

GRSPCA members inspecting the situation.

Incident condemned by Milk SA

In a statement released by Milk SA, they condemn the handling of these calves in the strongest terms.

"The risk of inhumane handling of animals in general and of calves specifically, is a risk that was identified by Milk SA and that has been receiving attention through the relevant projects of Milk SA," read the statement.

"According to regulations in terms of the Meat Safety Act of 2000 (Act No 40 of 2000), calves may not be held at the abattoir for more than 48 hours and in the case of unweaned calves under the age of three months, feeding has to be provided with milk or milk substitute within 12 hours. The Meat Inspection Manual prescribes that no person shall slaughter a calf unless it is at least 21 days old and is in a well-nourished condition.

"An incident such as this does untold harm to the dairy industry and clouds all the hard work that the entire dairy industry has put into promoting animal health and welfare." 

Read the full statement by Milk SA here.

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