Letters to the Editor: Root cause of calves horror needs action
And Rigorous Updating Picture: Says Needs John Animal Welfare Fitzgerald File Enforcement, Legislation
It is about 15 months since aired ‘Dairy’s Dirty Secret’ and we witnessed the brutal treatment of young calves. An investigation was launched by the Department of Agriculture at the time and is still ongoing.
The footage from the most recent dairy exposé aired this week shows us that nothing has changed since then, except that perhaps the situation has worsened.
In the dairy industry, male calves are worthless. They produce no milk and they have no value in terms of beef production. They are quite simply ‘waste’, and this is reflected in the treatment of them.
Yet these calves suffer and feel pain just like any other animal. No other mammal is taken from its mother within hours of birth, but this is the norm in the dairy industry. This week we saw unweaned calves being force-fed, beaten, and jabbed with paddles and forks. We saw footage of dead calves dumped in a rotting pile. We saw a calf just days old being given away at a mart. And this is just the beginning of their suffering.
Those of us who campaign long and loud against live exports have watched in dismay as Ireland has continued to expand to new markets yearly. No destination by road, sea, or air is too far or too extreme for these young animals. Poland, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Israel, Africa, Libya. No problem.
Extreme heat and brutal slaughter are of no concern. This week’s programme also exposed the environmental impact of the giant feedlots in Europe and we saw how Ireland’s dairy calves are contributing to massive environmental pollution across Europe.
Those living adjacent to these factory farms spoke of the unbearable “stench and the flies” and of course there are implications for human health, both immediate and long term. This is the true price of dairy and it’s too high.
As we have 1.5m dairy cows on the island of Ireland (the highest numbers being in Cork) who are impregnated annually for maximum milk production — this problem is not going to go away overnight.
We must address the root cause which is our model of dairy production. Anything else is just a sticking plaster.
The programme on treatment of bull calves destined for export will have shocked anyone with a whit of compassion for animals.
Calves being beaten, prodded with pitchforks, dragged by the ears, and carcasses left to rot, posing a disease risk. And that’s even before we consider the ethics of sending animals on excessively long sea journeys to slaughter.
I suspect that even the hardest heart would have been moved, if only for a few seconds, by the sight and sound of those calves, with their soulful, pleading eyes… animals consigned to distant shores by people seemingly oblivious to the suffering.
We have a serious animal cruelty problem in Ireland. A few weeks ago we saw horses at another secretly filmed venue being similarly mistreated. And, even as I type this letter, preparations are under underway for another spate of hare coursing fixtures at the weekend.
These latest revelations should serve as a stark reminder that our animal welfare legislation needs updating and rigorous enforcement. It should also get us thinking about how we view our fellow beings. Do we see them as sentient creatures that feel pain much as we do… or as just objects or economic commodities to be used and abused as we see fit?
Whether it’s a bull calf earmarked for export, a severely confined battery hen, a horse being prodded or whipped, or a hare in front of two hyped-up dogs, no animal deserves to have its short life turned into veritable hell on earth.
We must end the horror, for their sake, and in the name of common human decency.
Older drivers have far more experience than younger drivers, more knowledge of safety, and a far higher safety record on their licences.
As I’m on this subject, I definitely would allow over 70-year-old drivers to bring my children to school. Another thing, all heavy goods vehicle drivers should be allowed to drive buses on their truck licence — it doesn’t make sense a driver with a truck licence can’t drive a bus. It should be seriously reviewed.
The death of Dr Pat Murphy in Cork University Hospital (CUH) from a misdiagnosed aortic dissection was tragic and preventable. Our experience is that misdiagnosis of acute aortic dissection is a systemic issue in healthcare which leads to many unnecessary deaths. Dr Murphy’s case is sadly typical of what can happen when clinicians do not THINK AORTA.
Although aortic dissection is a relatively rare disease, accounting for around 1 in 10,000 visits to the emergency department, it causes more deaths in the UK each year than road traffic accidents. Global incidence data suggests that around 300 cases a year occur in Ireland. In 2022, HSE reported that 117 cases were detected. It seems highly likely that Ireland is experiencing the same issues of misdiagnosis and delay in this disease as other countries. These issues led the national patient charity to launch, in 2018, the THINK AORTA campaign — thinkaorta.net.
What we now know is that with prompt diagnosis and rapid transfer to a specialist aortic centre, modern medicine can deliver excellent outcomes for patients with acute aortic dissection. I am one of these patients myself — living proof of what getting the acute pathway right can achieve. Last week, The Mater Hospital Foundation in Dublin published the story of my successful diagnosis and intervention on their Facebook page. The national patient charity Aortic Dissection Awareness UK and Ireland has many other members in Ireland who have been diagnosed and treated successfully.
A CT scan of the whole aorta is the only definitive diagnostic test for aortic dissection. The fact that the CT scanners were not available for diagnosis of Dr Murphy’s condition is a clear indictment of the lack of diagnostic tools available to the medical staff. The long delay that Dr Murphy suffered before he was eventually scanned proved to be fatal.
Aortic Dissection Awareness UK and Ireland is of the view that every emergency department and radiology department should routinely raise awareness and conduct education about acute Aortic Dissection, covering all staff who might see a patient. Hospitals that have implemented THINK AORTA in their education and practice now avoid missing the diagnosis.
The decision of the British government not to contribute any further to the rebuilding of Casement Park makes it imperative for the GAA and the Irish Government to fill that void on a 50-50 basis.
Only an immediate formal declaration to this effect can now save that laudable project. Even if, at present, the completion of the project is found to be over-ambitious, a partial completion of the project is to be preferred to leaving Casement Park fester as an eyesore in West Belfast.
When I started my education cycle in the mid-1950s, many teachers asserted their authority by beating their pupils.
Thankfully, those days are long gone. But there appears to be a residue of a thirst for control by educators.
This nonsense of banning mobile devices in secondary schools and placing them in pouches is a perfect example.
The expense does not concern me. But the motive behind it, does. We pride ourselves as a nation of high-tech, and rightly so. Tens of thousands of jobs are provided in the sector.
Am I alone in wondering about the absurdity of this device ban? I’m 72. I’ve seen how administration worked in the pencil and paper era; and how technology has revolutionised the way that we now do business.
Are we seriously asking smart teenagers to go back to the business equivalent of the ass and cart during school hours?
I can come to no other conclusion other than that the Department of Education and the teaching profession see it as a way to assert authority for it’s own sake.
Leave our kids alone.
The pilot Dublin Bus scheme to tackle antisocial behaviour has to be welcomed by staff and customers alike. It too is tinged with sadness that this is where we are now.
Many of us remember the friendly, efficient and helpful bus conductors of times past. They were great ambassadors for public bus service and our Capital City. We are daily reminded of the speed in which in so many areas of public service people have been replaced by technology in this box-ticking age. Yes, technology has been so beneficial, and it continues to grow, yet it will never replace the helpful human being face to face with a fellow human being.
Dublin Bus might consider in due course having some staff available to check the occupancy of clearly designated seats for vulnerable passengers. A daily user of public transport, I see young children in those seats, as elderly, disabled and sometimes pregnant women cling to bus rails for dear life to get to their destination.