After our suggestion, calf slaughterhouse Vitelco (NL) has placed rubber mats in the isolation pens for fragile/suspect calves.
At Dutch slaughterhouses, the authorities (NVWA) insist that suspect animals (for example animals with an infection, wound or abscess) only be slaughtered at the end of the day under the belief that they could cause contamination of the slaughter chain. This means that these animals, often already in a compromised state, have to wait for several hours.
At Vitelco these fragile calves now at least have rubber mats to lie on instead of cold concrete floors.
Further Vitelco will reduce the noise level in their slaughterhouse by replacing their pneumatic system with hydraulic systems in order to reduce fear and stress of the calves.
Eyes on Animals will stay in contact with Vitelco about further improvements.
