10/16/07 Farm Animals at the Veterinary Station Varazdin
On October 16, 2007, an activist of Animal Friends went to the veterinary station to check on the animals.
According to the official at the veterinary station, farm animals are classified into two categories: those that are bred to be slaughtered and those that are used for further breeding, but there are also stables with animals that come from various farms because of the bad state of their health (or, to quote the official, "in order to recover").
The conditions in which the animals are kept in the stables opposite the veterinary station are terrible. The stables are dark, their walls and floors dirty, and the air inside is unbelievably stuffy. The animals are filthy with excrements all over their bodies and they are standing on a concrete floor covered with dung. According to one of the officials, the stables are rinsed with water once a day (in the morning) and the living conditions of these poor animals are considered to meet the "standard, since you must calculate what you invest and what you get out of it." The neighbors complain of a terrible stench, which comes from these dirty stables which have no bedding whatsoever. According to the same official, the stifling stench in the stables is also compliant with the standards, while the conditions should be acceptable for the animals, since their respiratory system suffers no damage.
The officials at the veterinary station confirmed that there was a special place for depositing dead bodies, which were then taken to the knackery. They claimed that the place satisfied all regulations and that it was controlled regularly. They did not comment on the allegations that animals often die at the stables.
Animal Friends is an organization fighting for the rights of all animals – their right to live and be free (which makes life worth living after all). We do not tolerate or endorse captivity of animals, except when it is in their own interest (e.g. for purposes of healing), but in that case they should be kept in a way that satisfies their needs instead of merely increasing their suffering.
With regard to that, the very idea of breeding animals on farms is unacceptable, terribly cruel, and humiliating for the animals, since they have done nothing to deserve that sort of treatment. It is also reckless and devastating with respect to our planet, which we should all share on a fair basis.
Any time when we should estimate whether some mistreatment of animals is in accordance with the law, we are actually in a situation that is described best by using an analogy: it is as if we were asked to estimate whether an act of rape was done in an acceptable way, i.e. according to the law...
The only and definite solution for farm animals, most of which spend their lives in the same way and in very similar circumstances as those just described, would be if the reason for their exploitation ceased to exist. It means that, as long as humans continue consuming animal meat, there will also be producers to provide for that meat. The inhabitants of Biskupec have found themselves forced to live nearby a smaller farm of that sort and their lives have become unbearable because of the impact that such farms have on the environment (without even mentioning the animals, which are forced to spend all their miserable lives on such farms). One day, the farm will be moved elsewhere, far from the public eye, with a tall fence around it, and the hell will go on where nobody can complain.
We intend to inform the inspections in charge about the conditions at the veterinary station of Biskupec in order to compel the officials at such stations to stop hiding behind the very flexibly interpreted "standards" and to maintain humane living conditions for farm animals. However, the only thing that can really help these poor animals is a change in people's mentality, accompanied by a change in their habits, because they should become aware that they are reduced to mere consumers, slaves of their vanity and their stomachs, void of all empathy.
Those who live on selling other creatures' corpses will always fight with all their might to conceal the truth from their customers. Negative publicity harms them because it tears down their mask of business people and respectable citizens. They will sometimes agree to superficial compromises, because such compromises improve their reputation.
We shall end this report with a description of a procedure that is usual in handling the so-called breeding animals.
In order to be able to control big and powerful bulls in everyday manipulation, farm workers pierce the calves' nose bones with a metal ring when they are six months old. The procedure is very painful and the pain lasts as long as the ring is there, i.e. until the moment when they become too old for the role of privileged breeding animals and end in the slaughterhouse. Sometimes, an accident or rough treatment may tear the bull’s nose bone and make the ring fall out.
All that falls within the "standard procedure" and it will stay that way until the consumers decide to condemn such behavior and to protest, refusing to pay for such murders any longer.
