Photos from Animal Equality
International animal protection organization Animal Equality today released shocking scenes filmed last winter by an undercover investigator, revealing a pattern of neglect at Summit Calf Ranch in Nebraska; a facility housing 11,000 calves and owned by Tuls Dairy, a supplier of Bel Brands, producer of Babybel.
The undercover footage reveals the prolonged agony of dozens of calves, whose ages range from one up to one hundred and fifty days old, freezing to death in temperatures that dropped to -12 F overnight. Repeated exposure to extreme temperatures resulted in frozen limbs, and the separation of the hoof from the leg on several calves.
“My supervisor told me to feed the calf with the frozen feet. The hooves are now almost completely severed and you can see the bone,” Animal Equality’s anonymous undercover investigator said in a statement. “He mostly stays on the ground, but once or twice, he tries to stand which causes the wounds to bleed.”
Additional animal cruelty captured by Animal Equality includes:
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Workers shoving, jabbing and hitting calves with sorting sticks and hut rods as the manager’s dog lunged and bit the backs of their legs
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Painful disbudding of calves using hot irons
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Calves dying of scours and pneumonia after being left outdoors in freezing temperatures
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Sick cows, left with dead cows, receiving no veterinary care
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Hernia repair, castration and other painful procedures without pain medication
