
14th December, Netherlands.
received anonymously via email:
[Editor’s note: Photo unrelated]
“In the early morning on the 14h of December in the Netherlands we visited a logistics hub used to transport cows. There are 55 locations in the country with a license to transport animals this way. These hubs are the small points of failure that allow all other abuse in the industry to happen.
The weather was very misty which was a great advantage to us. After getting through 40 centimeters of cow feces with shoes not made to walk through cow shit and cutting through a fence we arrived at an open area.
On our right there was a stable and on our left 3 trucks used to transport them. Today we were there for the trucks. We cut their brakes, glued the air valves of their tires and decided to leave some messages on the trucks themselves, all while trying to not upset the cows too much about their unexpected visitors.
After about half an hour of messing around we got back, smelly but safe.
Earlier this week collectief Ongehoord (collective Unheard) released footage of 5 logistics hubs. This showed beatings, electrocuting an unresponsive cow 40 times and dragging one away with a forklift that couldn’t move on their own anymore. One of these hubs was already put under supposed stricter supervision by the NVWA (Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) as response to earlier footage two years ago, which of course did not improve the situation.
To our circles these things are upsetting but not surprising, so it was so uplifting to see the public outcry when the footage entered the front pages. The farmers involved were condemned not just by us but by the general public. If we can show the people that the state can not be trusted to protect animal welfare and that the industry is based on murder and abuse at its very foundations, then the industry is doomed.”















