Farm animal bans for three men who abused calves

Three calf dealers have been banned from working with farm animals after their abuse was captured on camera.

Animal welfare group, Animal Justice Project, produced secretly-recorded footage which it said showed the "horrific mistreatment" of unwanted male dairy calves.

Joshua Whittall, 50, John Challinor, 57, and Kevin Arden, who all worked at Oaklands Livestock Centre in Shropshire, all pleaded guilty to offences under Section Four of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

They were sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday and each was disqualified from keeping or working with farmed animals for life and ordered to pay costs of £500, plus a £95 victim surcharge.

Whittall, of Oaklands Farm, Weston-Under-Redcastle, Challinor, of Offa Street, Wrexham and Arden, of Chester Road, Nomans Health, were also ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months.

They were told they would have to wait five years before they could apply to have their bans amended.

The campaign group said the case had been a "groundbreaking legal victory".

It said the footage showed calves being thrown down trailer and truck ramps, lifted by their tails, kicked in the head, thrown across pens, punched, slapped, dragged by their ears, and hit with sticks.

It said the recordings were gathered over a five-month period from November 2020 to March 2021 at Oaklands Livestock Centre, in Weston-under-Redcastle.

The animals were all male calves which it said the dairy industry viewed as being surplus to requirements.

Claire Palmer, director of Animal Justice Project, said: "The cruelty we exposed is not an isolated incident but part of a broken system that treats animals as disposable commodities."

The group has said it is committed to exposing and dismantling the dairy industry and advocating for veganism.

In 2023, 59-year-old livestock dealer Derek Whittle from Oaklands Livestock Centre, was banned from keeping cattle for five years after he admitted offences including causing calves unnecessary suffering.

Whittle, of Oaklands, Prees, Shropshire, had pleaded guilty to seven charges at Telford Magistrates' Court as a result of the same Animal Justice Project investigation.

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