SHIPPED TO SPAIN TO DIE
Lying helpless in the mud near some fetid green water, an emaciated calf struggles to breath.
Aged just three or four months, the ear tag shows that the stricken creature came from the UK.
It has travelled a long way only to die on a farm in northern Spain.
No wonder that animal welfare campaigners are demanding an end to the export of live calves and sheep to the Continent.
It is a gruelling journey by road and sea, particularly for animals transported from Northern Ireland or Scotland all the way to the cross-Channel ferry terminal at Ramsgate, Kent.
The group Compassion in World Farming is fighting to ban the journeys, claiming that the animals do not get the necessary food breaks to comply with the law.
Many are taken through France to Spain to be fattened before slaughter, or on to north Africa, where there is no way of knowing what conditions they are kept in before being killed.
If farm animals are to be exported, say campaigners, they should be slaughtered here and then shipped “on the hook, not on the hoof”.
This latest footage was taken by the German campaign group Animal Welfare Foundation.
“Live exports are a recipe for animal suffering,” said spokeswoman Maria Boada.
“These are long, stressful journeys to fattening farms for the unweaned calves, sometimes aggravated by rough handling and inadequate supplies of liquid milk replacer on which they depend.
“At the fattening farm, weaker calves might not receive proper veterinary care because they are cheap and easy to replace.”
The calf pictured here was put down after Animal Welfare Foundation activists intervened to end its suffering.
“At first the owner was very angry, telling us that he never will euthanise this animal, although we offered to pay the costs,” said Maria.
“He finally rang the vet because we threatened to call the police.”
He finally rang the vet because we threatened to call the police