Animals plucked from pens after vegan visit to Caldermeade Farm and Cafe
BABY goats and calves have been stolen from their pens days after vegan activists protested at a farm as the owner fears the animals may die if not fed properly.
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BABY goats and calves have been stolen from their pens days after vegan activists protested at a farm as the owner fears the animals may die if not fed properly.
Three goats — two of them less than 10 days old — and two jersey calves were taken during the night from Caldermeade Farm & Cafe, near Koo Wee Rup.
Two separate animal thefts came within days of a visit to the site by up to 50 vegan activists.
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Owner John Gommans said that during the Friday protest, one activist was particularly concerned about a kid the local children had named Salt.
“It was about one week old and they thought it should look different,” Mr Gommans said.
“That (next) morning at 4.30am, a car has come to the front gate and Salt was removed from the pen,” he said.
Then last night, at about 10.30pm, a staff member went to check on the cows and give another week-old goat — called Pepper — it’s bottle.
But Pepper, another young goat called Charcoal and two jersey calves — one named Popeyes for its protruding eyes and another without a name — were also gone.
Mr Gommans was concerned for the welfare of the animals, which he said were fed mother’s milk up to five times a day and cared for by two vets.
“We hate to think they’re being fed soy or almond milk because that would just be catastrophic for them,” he said.
He said if not fed properly, the young animals “can become sick quite quickly” or even die within days.
Mr Gommans said he had no problem with activists expressing their views.
“But it is certainly disappointing, it’s a pity to think these young people are being led down an extremist path this early and becoming thieves,” he said.
“Caldermeade is a very public farm, everything we do is open to public scrutiny so we’re quite disappointed to hear people think we’re not doing it properly or professionally.”
The farm has about 500 jersey cows and 150 calves along with alpacas and ducks.
The animal thefts have been lodged with Pakenham police station.