ANIMAL rights campaigners were back at Dover’s Eastern Docks during the Bank Holiday for a protest marking a year since the ban on exporting live veal calves was lifted.

Members of Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and Kent Against Live Exports (KALE) were joined by the local MP Gwyn Prosser in calling for a halt to live exports, particularly of young animals.

Many campaigners dressed up as cows for the protest while others waved banners and placards.

This time last year, the ban on live veal calf exports was lifted, following a decade-long ban, due to the BSE crisis.

In May 2006 a large demonstration along the seafront was attended by around 700 protestors. CIWF say that since the ban was lifted, 3,000 male dairy calves are leaving Britain’s shores and this number could double.

A recent report by CIWF revealed that 95 per cent of Britain’s live cattle exports are calves, most of which are male black and white dairy calves.

Male calves, the bi-product of milk, are seen as being not as useful to the dairy industry as females, so are exported, primarily to the Netherlands.

There, CIWF say, they are reared for veal in conditions that would be outlawed in the UK.

CIWF’s head of campaigns, Gill Sanders, said: "These calves are just two weeks old and susceptible to stress and suffering during their journey.

"A solution needs to be found for the dairy calves that are shot at birth or exported at two weeks old, just because they had the misfortune to be born male."

Mr Prosser said: "We have always known how cruel the trade could be, but this latest report shows the awful suffering long journeys cause to calves in the second week of their young lives."