Haaretz
Elul 15, 5765
Animal rights groups notched up
another success recently when the Agriculture Ministry banned farmers from
denying water to veal calves as part of the method by which they are
raised for slaughter. Some two years ago, the animal rights groups won a
High Court of Justice ruling that bans the force-feeding of
geese.
Withholding water from veal calves constitutes a central
part of the manner in which the animals are raised for slaughter, with the
objective being to keep their meat tender and "white." Aside from
withholding water, raising veal calves also involves imprisoning them in a
veal crate and feeding them a milk substitute intentionally lacking in
iron and other essential nutrients.
The animals suffer terribly
because they are unable to move freely in the wooden restraining device
and cannot turn around or even lie down and stretch. Designed to prevent
movement, the crate does its job of atrophying the calves' muscles, thus
producing tender veal.
The iron-deficient diet keeps the animals
anemic and creates the pale pink or white color desired in the finished
product. And because they are denied water, the calves are always thirsty,
and are driven to drink a large quantity of the high-fat liquid
feed.
Due to the harsh physical conditions and constant thirst, the
calves are susceptible to a long list of diseases, including chronic
pneumonia or constant diarrhea. Consequently, they must be given massive
doses of antibiotics and other drugs just to keep them alive. The calves
often suffer also from wounds caused by the constant rubbing against the
crates.
Anonymous for Animal Rights initiated the fight against
this method of raising veal calves - banned already among EU states - some
four years ago. Since then, the Agriculture Ministry has tried to
formulate new regulations for the feeding and raising of veal calves, but
the regulations have been rejected time and again by the Knesset Education
Committee, which has deemed them insufficient to prevent the animals from
suffering.
Recently, however, the Agriculture Ministry, the
Education Committee and Anonymous consented to the temporary publication
of two regulations that all the parties agree to and that do not require
financial investment on the part of the farmers. The first regulation
imposes a sweeping ban on withholding water from the calves. The second
regulation requires farmers to provide calves that are at least four weeks
old with solid food.