Wakker Dier accuses three Farmers Wanted Wife farmers of animal cruelty

Wakker Dier wants the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) to take action against three Farmer Wants a Wife farmers. The organization claims that dairy farmers Jan, Martijn and Julius from the current season of Farmer Wants a Wife are isolating their calves and are therefore breaking the law.

It is already season fourteen of the immensely popular program . Every week, more than a million viewers watch the love affairs on the farm. The program is usually cozy at its best , but according to the Animal Welfare Organization, it is less innocent than it seems.

"These farmers are unfortunately no exception," says Leonie Vestering of Wakker Dier. "The NVWA still too often turns a blind eye to this animal suffering, even now that it is in the spotlight. And the calves are the victims. That is why we continue to insist on enforcement."

Wakker Dier states that the law prescribes that calves must be able to see and touch each other. However, the organization found that physical contact is impossible in the pens for young calves that will be in view this season. In the best case, the calves can see each other in opposite pens. "Given the seriousness and the structural nature of the violation, the farmers should be fined," Wakker Dier believes.

The animal welfare organisation explains that social contact is an essential need for young calves and that isolation has many negative consequences for their welfare. “Isolated calves are more anxious, eat less, do not play and develop less well.”

Every year, about 1.5 million calves are taken from their mothers shortly after birth and placed in individual pens. "The fact that the denial of this basic need is shown on television as a normal thing shows how common this illegal practice is," says Vestering.

She continues: "If well-known farmers isolate calves with impunity, the NVWA legitimizes animal suffering on national television. Calves should be protected, not covered up by bureaucracy."

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