EU revealed to be world’s biggest live animal exporter

“to improve the welfare conditions of the animals transported outside the EU” – “it would “continue to monitor exports of live animals and take all the necessary measures within the remit of its competence in order to improve the implementation of the EU legislation.”

WAV Comment – what complete and utter EU bollocks as always. EU = animal abuse – full stop.

A European Commission spokesperson said in an email it was cooperating with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) “to improve the welfare conditions of the animals transported outside the EU” and that it would “continue to monitor exports of live animals and take all the necessary measures within the remit of its competence in order to improve the implementation of the EU legislation.”

EU revealed to be world’s biggest live animal exporter | Live exports | The Guardian

Bloc exported more than 1.6 billion chickens, pigs, sheep, goats and cattle in 2019, but faces criticism over welfare failings

New analysis suggests the EU could be responsible for up to 80% of the global trade in live farm animals, which continues to be linked to animal welfare failings.

Global data provided to the Guardian by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) indicates that 1.8 billion live chickens, pigs, sheep, goats and cattle were moved across a border in 2019. The EU was estimated to be responsible for more than three-quarters of that total.

“A large part of the cross-border movement of live animals takes place in the EU,” said the FAO’s livestock development officer, Anne Mottet.

The global trade in live farm animals – worth more than $20bn (£14bn) a year – was revealed by a Guardian investigation last year to have more than quadrupled in size over the past 50 years. However, inadequate regulation means that animals might be put at risk on some journeys, or exposed to cruelty when they reach their destination.

The (UK) government is proposing to ban the export of live animals from England and Wales, unless it is for breeding or longer-term use – not just for fattening and slaughter.

Concerns about animal welfare during transport led the EU to establish a committee of inquiry last year to investigate alleged failings.

Transport risks for live animals include stress during loading and unloading, injury, hunger, thirst and exhaustion, according to a report published today by animal advocacy organisation Eurogroup for Animals, which also highlighted the potential for lower slaughter standards on arrival and the higher risk of infectious disease spread during stressful transportation.

The Eurogroup for Animals is calling for regulatory reform including shorter journey times and a “shift from live transport to a trade in meat and carcasses as well as genetic material.”

The FAO argues that it does not make sense to aggregate all transported animals in the same way. “Some are very small and other large. One cannot add chicken and cows. For example, 95% of the 1.8 billion animals that crossed a boarder in 2019 are chicken, while cattle represented less than 1% of this total,” said Mottet.

One of the factors driving the EU’s live transport of animals, said Ditte Erichsen, a veterinarian with Animal Protection Denmark, is that countries tend to specialise in producing a particular food animal, often for export.

“Denmark has become the world’s largest exporter of pigs,” said Erichsen. Most of them, she said, are piglets of about three months in age and their journey times are often over eight hours. According to the Eurogroup report, which uses Eurostat data, about 15.7 million Danish pigs left the country in 2019.

“This is the result of a tendency which we have seen over the last decade, where the pig production has specialised to a degree, where the piglets are born in one country, fattened in another and maybe slaughtered in a third country,” Erichsen said.

Particular risks for pigs, she said, are heat stress because pigs cannot sweat, suffocation due to overcrowding, prolonged hunger and thirst and no space to rest.

Iris Baumgaertner, of Swiss-German NGO AWF-TSB, said in Germany the specialty is hatched chicks. The report found that the country exported 312 million head of poultry within the EU in 2019, of which almost 100 million weighed under 185 grams.

“The number of animals being transported around the EU, and the millions of chickens leaving Germany, is the insane result of globalisation and specialisation,” Baumgaertner said.

EU subsidies are another factor driving animal transport, said Gabriel Paun, a Romanian animal advocate and EU director for NGO, Animals International. “In the Middle East and north Africa, they prefer [their] local sheep meat but the Romanian meat is very cheap, partly because of the EU subsidies,” Paun said.

Paun said 2020 data is expected to show that an estimated 3 million Romanian sheep were exported to Saudi Arabia. Transport itself is cheap, with a shipment to Saudi Arabia costing about $25 (£18) per head, or less on larger ships, Paun said.

Romania has recently been accused of “complete silence” over its investigation into the sinking of the Queen Hind in November 2019, which resulted in the deaths of more than 14,000 sheep.

Although data on the live transport of fish is limited – and counts fish in weight rather numbers of animals – the Eurogroup report estimates that nearly 54,000 tons of live fish were transported around the EU in 2019. Of those, 75% are trout, carp, eel and bluefin tuna.

Live fish are equally prone to transport stress. “[Fish] are starved for at least a day prior to transport, but sometimes up to two weeks, which can cause aggression between fish as they look for food,” said Christine Xu of the Aquatic Life Institute. Other transport risks include poor water quality and overcrowding.

A European Commission spokesperson said in an email it was cooperating with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) “to improve the welfare conditions of the animals transported outside the EU” and that it would “continue to monitor exports of live animals and take all the necessary measures within the remit of its competence in order to improve the implementation of the EU legislation.”

The following is an old article, but interesting as it still reflects the situation.

 

EU’s live export trade puts welfare of millions of animals at risk – report

EU’s live export trade puts welfare of millions of animals at risk – report | Animal welfare | The Guardian

This article is more than 9 months old

European commission finds welfare gaps, non-compliance and poor planning in trade of animals to North Africa and the Middle-East

The welfare of millions of cattle, sheep and goats exported from the EU is being put at risk by failings including heat stress, bad planning and a lack of information from the destination country, a new European commission report has found.

Among the systemic problems identified were poor planning for high temperatures, an issue that has been raised repeatedly by campaigners. In summer, the report said, animals “in many vehicles arriving to ports” must sometimes “endure temperatures of over 35C”.

The report criticised the way that, as one campaigner put it, animals “disappear’” at their destination. It noted that most EU countries “do not receive any feedback” from the country of destination about the condition of the animals on arrival. Nor do they get any information, “from the transporter, ship’s Master or vessel operator”.

Also singled out were poor contingency planning, incomplete or incorrect departure documentation, and an inability to prevent recurring compliance problems.

One of the welfare organisations that worked with the commission to produce the report gave it a cautious welcome. “We find it strong even if it pardons Ireland and Portugal where we also found lots of problems,” said Animals International’s EU director, Gabriel Paun.

But others pointed out that the report also raised many issues. Peter Stevenson, policy adviser for Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) , said: “The new report reveals a disturbing picture of non-compliance by member state authorities and exporters.”

Romania, a major breeder and exporter of sheep, comes in for particular criticism following the drowning of more than 14,000 sheep last November. The sheep were on board Romanian-approved livestock ship, the Queen Hind, which keeled over shortly after leaving the Romanian port of Midia. Only 180 sheep survived.

The report identified gaps in animal welfare regulations, which, it said, “are not geared to detect issues that could cause vessels to tilt and overturn”.

Ireland and Portugal are praised for having comparatively better systems in place for livestock approval and health inspection prior to loading, helping to minimise welfare risks.

Uncertainty as to who is legally responsible for the proper care of livestock at different points on their journey – particularly in ports or during sea journeys – is another weakness, the report said.
Delays at ports are another problem, as many thousands of animals arrive for the same shipment. Of Europe’s 13 exit ports, only six, the report said, “have facilities in the port or arrangements nearby where, in case of need, the transporters can unload, rest, water and feed the animals”.

The report found that ships are also rife with problems, with only 24% of livestock vessels licensed by “white list” countries. Ships that fly the flag of a white list countries are recognised as having a consistently low rate of port detentions for regulatory failings.

Asked what action the commission would be taking following the report, a spokesperson said it would “explore the feasibility of harmonising and strengthening, through a legal act, the inspections of livestock vessels into an EU database in cooperation with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)”.

The spokesperson added that the commission was “cooperating with the OIE [World Organisation for Animal Health] to develop a network of contact points dedicated to animal transport in third countries. The objective is to reinforce our collaboration with these countries on this issue”.

More than 30 EU welfare organisations wrote to the European commission last week arguing that cattle exports to Libya by Ireland, Spain and Romania were in breach of EU regulations. The letter said that under EU Article 13 the commission and member states are obliged “to take animal welfare into account in a thorough and serious manner in formulating and implementing policies in specified fields”.

The EU’s live animal export welfare failings are laid out in the Welfare of Animals Transported by Sea report, circulated this week and based on information gathered by thecommission from EU countries including Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Portugal and Ireland in 2017 and 2018.

The European Union exports around 1 million cattle and 2 million sheep each year to non-EU countries, mainly in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2019, the value of the EU’s live animal export trade was more than €12bn (£10.6bn).

 Below – Romanian Live Export Protesters

From our campaigner friends at Animals Australia.

People power stops new live export business in its tracks

A plan to begin exporting live animals from Namibia to Kuwait has been quashed thanks to a united, global effort drawing attention to the suffering caused by the trade.

The idea that when one door closes another opens, is mostly reassuring. But when it comes to the global live export trade, this universal truth is the reason we need to remain ever vigilant. You see, as countries have become clued-up to the cruelty inherent to live export — and widespread opposition to it — live exporters have found it harder to shore up business.

When Australia restricted sheep exports during the dangerous northern summer months, exporters knocked on Romania’s door. And Animals Australia was there. When Romania began questioning the trade, they went to South Africa. Again, we were already there. When South Africa’s NSPCA took the battle to stop the trade all the way to the High Court, it was abundantly clear: this global trade in animal cruelty is well and truly matched by a global effort to stop it.

From Australia to New Zealand to Brazil to South Africa and to dozens of countries throughout Europe — there is a powerful, international collaboration of groups and individuals working together to save animals from this ruthless industry.

And it’s a compassionate effort that has just paid off in Namibia, with new plans to begin live export from the Southern African nation put on hold indefinitely.

The business plan put forward by Tradeport Namibia proposed to import 70,000 live sheep, 50,000 goats and 5,000 cattle from South Africa and Botswana for live export from Namibia to Kuwait.

As exposé after exposé has revealed — it’s a sea journey fraught with risk for the animals who would be confined in cramped and stressful conditions for weeks before facing terrifying fully conscious slaughter upon arrival.

A rapid-fire public and media education campaign was launched in Namibia to highlight the reality of live export for the animals. In its submission objecting to the business plan, Namibia’s SPCA noted that the trade undermines Namibian laws and standards and that allowing live export would:

And the warnings have been heeded. In announcing that plans to export live animals would be ‘put on ice’, Tradeport Namibia noted the strong opposition, locally and internationally, to the export of live animals and that the company did not want to be involved in a business that will attract widespread outrage.

A united global front is turning the tide on live export. We don’t always win, but we are always there. And every action you take to support these efforts takes us another step towards shutting the door on this industry, for good.

Check it out in full via:

People power stops new live export business in its tracks | Animals Australia

Power to the people !

Regards Mark

From ‘The Guardian’, London – brilliant as always.

Our (WAV) recent posts on this:

EU sends sick cattle to Libya – World Animals Voice

Togo: ‘Elbeik’ Livestock Carrier – 2 Months at Sea. Currently Moored Off Cyprus – Why ? – World Animals Voice

Thanks to Jane for the latest.

Regards Mark

Calls for vets to be sent to cattle ships stranded at sea since December

Concern mounts for welfare of more than 2,500 livestock on two vessels off Italy and Cyprus after bluetongue outbreak

Calls for vets to be sent to cattle ships stranded at sea since December | Animal welfare | The Guardian

Thousands of cattle remain stranded at sea on two livestock ships that left Spain in mid-December, as campaigners desperately seek veterinary support for the animals.

The two vessels were bound for Libya but owing to an onboard outbreak of the bovine disease bluetongue were refused entry at multiple ports, said Maria Boada Saña, a vet with Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), which has been tracking the ships via maritime websites.

On 19 February the website myshiptracking.com showed one of the ships, the Elbeik, anchored off the coast of Cyprus, and the other, Karim Allah, off the coast of Sardinia. The vessels left the Spanish ports of Tarragona and Cartagena on 18 December respectively.

A spokesperson for Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said the ships’ situation had “nothing to do with the actions of the Spanish administration” and had left the country with health certificates and had come from areas free of bluetongue.

They added that officials were monitoring the vessels’ movements and were in contact with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the European commission “to find a solution to the situation”. A spokesperson for the commission said the Spanish authorities were willing to receive both ships back.

Boada Saña said marine traffic websites indicated that the Elbeik had about 1,700 cattle on board and the Karim Allah almost 900. The Spanish authorities did not respond to questions about animal numbers.

Given the Karim Allah’s proximity to Italy, Manuela Giacomini, a Genoa-based lawyer who works with AWF, said she filed a request with the Italian health ministry asking it to perform an urgent veterinary inspection of the ship in collaboration with Sardinia’s port state authority in Cagliari.

Olga Kikou, the head of Compassion in World Farming EU, lodged a similar request that asked the Cypriot authorities to arrange an urgent inspection of the Elbeik.

Cyprus’s chief veterinary officer said the Elbeik was being monitored, adding that when the vessel approached Cypriot waters, the country’s authorities would “proceed accordingly with checking this case”.

Kikou, who is in Greece, said the most immediate priority was that veterinary services boarded the ships to “check the animals and euthanatise any that are suffering. The conditions inside the ship cannot be good after two months. And then a solution needs to be found between the different authorities to determine next steps for any animals that can be saved.”

An email from the the International Maritime Organization said its seafarer crisis action team was aware of the situation and that it was concerned for the “wellbeing of seafarers and the safety of navigation [and] in this case also the livestock”.

Asked for comment on the two ships, the OIE said in an email that it was “in contact with the concerned member countries and also with our regional offices” to “minimise negative impact on animal welfare during transport operations and emphasise the joint responsibility of all people involved in the different stages of the transport”.

Tilly Metz, the Luxembourg MEP who chairs the European parliament’s animal transport inquiry committee, said this was “yet another live animal transport scandal involving ships. After the 2019 tragedy of the [Queen Hind] ship, which capsized with 14,000 sheep on board, now allegedly over 2,600 bovines [are] stuck on two vessels wandering from port to port in search of help. How can it be that there is no contingency plan in case of diseases or other unforeseen events?”

Metz said a key animal transport problem was that time spent on the ship was considered “resting time” and not “transport time”.

“This means there is no limit as to how many hours animals can be on these ships: days, weeks, even months. Many consider this to be a legal anomaly and a loophole in the rules on the protection of animals during transport,” she added.

This case, she said, “proves again a ship is not a floating stable. It is an unnatural, often stressful, overloaded and understaffed environment, with inherent risks such as disease outbreaks, feed shortages and refusals to unload”.

Attempts to contact the ships owners and operators by phone were unsuccessful.