CRUELTY TO BOBBY CALVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22517, 7 September 1936, Page 12

CRUELTY TO BOBBY CALVES

Sir, —May I add my testimony to the cruelties involved in the bobby calf trade as at present carried on. In the Tuakau district the unfortunate animals are tied up by the farmer at his gate somewhere about mid-day, or earlier, and there they stay until collected during the afternoon. _ The lorrv-driver takes them to the railway station and puts or throws them into a truck, usually an open truck, where they remain until a late goods train picks them up. 1 have timed this train several times lately, and it leaves the station at anything between 11.15 p.m and midnight. On several occasions it has been after midnight. It does not seem to matter to anyone whether it be fine, raining, warm, or freezing, and at this season of the year it is generally either wet or frosty at nights. There the wretched creatures are left bleating in their trucks, starving and cold, and possibly l wondering what crimes they have committed to deserve such a fate. When the train does eventually take them awav, they still have a long and slow railway journey to Westfield, and it may still be hours before they are finally and mercifully despatched. This business goes on for several nights each week during the spring, and the miserable calves are only a few days old when this cruelty is inflicted upon them. I may add that steps are about to be taken'to publish the whole truth about this sordid trade in England, so that English people may know what they are eating when they purchase New Zealand prime veal. Humaxktas.