SLAUGHTER OF NEWLY BORN CALVES

That this House is opposed to the Calf Processing Aid Scheme, under which over ??100 is paid for each male dairy calf which is slaughtered when it is less than 10 days old; notes that this scheme has nothing to do with eradicating BSE; believes it is ethically unacceptable for newly-born calves to be slaughtered en masse when they have known almost no life at all; is concerned about reports in the farming press that some calves aged less than seven days are being taken to market in breach of the law; believes that dairy bull calves should neither be slaughtered under this scheme nor exported for rearing in continental veal crates but should instead be reared in the United Kingdom to supply the lower end of the beef market hitherto filled by the older cull cows whose meat is now excluded from the food chain; and urges Her Majesty's Government to abandon the calf slaughter scheme as it involves treating calves as the unwanted waste products of the dairy industry, rather than as sentient beings capable of feeling pain and fear.