|
Category: Live Transport
Photo is from archive and is not associated with this article.
Hi Mark,
This is just a quick note as I know that over the past 48 hours your mind, like ours, will have been with the 50,000 Australian sheep who inconceivably are now scheduled to be shipped to Kuwait this week.
Like me, you may ask yourself, ‘How can this be? Surely there is something fundamentally wrong here?’ And yes, you would be right, there is.
We were not going to allow this shipment to proceed without doing everything in our power to prevent it.
Yesterday afternoon, after working day and night, our legal team filed an urgent application in the Federal Court seeking to challenge the Department of Agriculture’s decision to grant the exemption. Our case will be based on the fact that the decisionmaker was obliged to afford Animals Australia an opportunity to be heard in relation to this application. We are seeking an urgent trial on this matter as the window to overturn this decision is so limited.
There is much to play out in coming hours and days. No doubt the Department and exporter will rigorously defend this decision, but be reassured that our brilliant legal team will be in the Federal Court this morning doing all things humanly possible on behalf of these sheep, and us — the community who care so deeply about them.
Mark, know that we are only able to take this swift action to defend these animals because of you. Thank you so much for supporting these critical efforts as always.
I will keep you updated on developments.
For the animals (and especially for each one of these sheep),
Lyn White AM
Director of Strategy
To the international animal transport day…
Around 3.8 million animals are transported every day in the EU alone.
That is 1.4 billion animals a year.
As in all sectors of the economy, animal transport is about money: animals are transported to where the greatest profits are: Pigs are born in Austria, fattened in Spain, and slaughtered in Lebanon.
Animal transports take place under cruel conditions. The longer an animal is transported, the more the animals suffer.
Strict savings are made on feed, bedding, and drinking water, as additional weight means higher transport costs.
Nine million pigs, four million cattle, three million sheep, 400 million poultry, and more than 100,000 horses from Eastern Europe are on the move.
The usual journey time for international animal transports is between 50 and 90 hours.
Horses that are transported from Lithuania to Sardinia are 100 hours in the transporter, cattle that are shipped to the Middle East for a whole week.
It’s hard to believe, but transporting live animals is more economical than transporting them slaughtered in a refrigerated truck. This includes the reason why animal transporters travel long distances at home and abroad instead of slaughtering the animals in a slaughterhouse near the fattening plant.
There are applicable EU directives that stipulate the transport of animals without unloading, but these are hardly checked. Permitted would be 29 hours for cattle, 24 hours for pigs and horses, 19 hours for calves, and lambs.
If it is checked and infringement is found, the punishments are trivial and in no way act as a deterrent. Compliance with the applicable EU directives is also practically prevented because of a simple reason: along the main European traffic routes, there are hardly any suitable unloading stations for breaks.
In November 2001, the EU Parliament introduced a legislative initiative according to which duration of 8 hours and a maximum distance of 500 kilometers should not be exceeded when transporting live animals.
In July 2003, the EU Commission finally put the following completely inadequate proposal on the table: after nine hours of driving, twelve hours of rest should follow.
But not just once, but often one after the other at will!!
According to the proposal, “slightly injured” animals are also transported on. An unbearable situation for all animal rights activists!
It was also decided to end export subsidies for live animal transport to third countries. But due to countless exception rules, which are also laid down by the EU Commission, these laws are completely ineffective.
We have beautiful laws and tons of exceptions!! There are so many exceptions that export subsidies for cattle increased from 58 to 67 million euros between 2002 and 2003!
Until today, instead of reducing long-distance transport, the EU is still promoting these live animal transports!
Why they are animal transports so lucrative?
Because EU subsidies continue to flow and flow in favor of factory farming, the animal traders and the freight lobby …
This means that instead of reducing long-distance transports, the EU is promoting them until today because the commissioners in Brussels do the best lobby work for the meat industry.
And because, despite the information, despite videos from the hell of animal transports and animal farms, meat-eaters still want to eat dead animals and their products!
But we can change this murderous world order, it must be feasible to awaken conscience in this society. That must be our goal!
Our job is not to complain about, we need struggle and effectiveness.
My best regards to all, Venus
Today is “Ban Live Exports” International Awareness Day, an opportunity to speak up for the hundreds of thousands of animals who are forced to make long, harrowing journeys to their deaths.
Live animals, including babies and pregnant females, are transported hundreds or even thousands of miles from the UK to the EU and beyond in dangerous conditions and all weather extremes, causing them distress, injury, and disease. They can be in transit for days, often without sufficient food, water, or rest. Many die as a result.
Now that the UK has left the EU and its trade restrictions no longer apply, we have a realistic chance of securing a ban on live exports. Please write to environment secretary George Eustice – and ask all your friends to do the same – to urge him to prevent thousands of animals from suffering and dying on lorries and ships every year.
Take Action:
CIWF
‘Live animals are the largest source of infection’: dangers of the export trade
Transporting more livestock will increase transmission of diseases, including some that could also threaten humans
The growth of the live animal export trade will make the spread of diseases more likely, experts have warned.
Almost 30% more pigs, goats, cows and sheep were shipped, flown and driven across the world in 2017 than a decade earlier, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
The figure is set to rise further, partly because it is still often cheaper to move live animals than use refrigerated transport, despite advances in technology.
Consumer demand for fresh meat is also rising as the global population approaches 8 billion, including many who are increasingly adopting diets rich in meat.
But transporting live animals around the world increases the risk of disease transmission, according to veterinarians and epidemiologists who fear the growing industry may have already caused viruses to spread.
Jeroen Dewulf, a veterinarian at Ghent University in Belgium, said the introduction of the African swine fever virus (ASF) into Belgium had almost certainly been caused by human interference: either through imported contaminated animal products or by illegal movements of wild boar.
“There are several drivers of spreading diseases, but live animals are the largest source of infection,” Dewulf said. “The more you are going to move animals, the more you run the risk that diseases will be spread through these animals. There are other routes, the virus can be transmitted in meat products for example, but it’s much more efficient to transmit via live animals.”
David McIver, a senior scientist and epidemiologist at biotech company Metabiota, said the rise in live animal exports was a growing issue for many other diseases, such as avian influenza virus, mad cow disease and Nipah virus, while he warned that ASF could one day feasibly threaten humans in some form.
“The first case of Nipah virus in 1998 came after an outbreak in Malaysia following the expansion of pig farming in pristine rainforest areas,” he said.
“Bats were eating fruit, they dropped it with their saliva on it, it was eaten by pigs, then it gets into humans and there were 105 deaths. Tons of swine had to be culled to get the outbreak under control. If we’re exporting those animals around the world we’re potentially moving unknown pathogens to new places.”
In another well-known case, British live cattle exports, as well as those of beef products, were banned in the 1990s due to the fear of spreading bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.
It is believed that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare, fatal brain disorder, is likely to be caused by people ingesting meat contaminated with mad cow disease.
The authors of a study in journal BioMed warned in 2015: “Animal trade is an effective way of introducing, maintaining and spreading animal diseases, as observed with the spread of different strains of foot and mouth disease in Africa, the Middle East and Asia and the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), for example, into Oman and Canada through the importation of infected cattle.”
McIver added: “Even though ASF doesn’t affect humans now, pigs and people are not so different biologically and immunologically, so it is conceivable that a few small changes in the genetics of the virus can allow that to hop into people and then we’ve got ourselves a serious problem.”
Prof Dirk Pfeiffer, from City University in Hong Kong and the Royal Veterinary College in London, said the risk depends on where you are in the world. “It’s very regulated in high-income countries with fairly effective measures in place protecting their livestock populations from spread of infectious diseases,” he said.
“The real issue is in many of the low- to medium-income countries where there are new opportunities for money to be made, and that includes increased meat demand. Movements of live animals in these parts of the world play a role in spreading animal disease.” In China, for example, live animals are regularly moved around the country in order to supply the ‘wet markets’ where butchers serve up freshly slaughtered meat. These places have long been connected with disease risk – and, indeed, the recent outbreak of coronavirus has been traced back to a wet market in Wuhan.
A system managed by the World Organisation for Animal Health monitors disease outbreaks and provides information based on the reporting of affected countries. While it is praised for its role, it has to rely on prompt and honest reporting from states to be fully effective.
“One of the perverse incentives about the surveillance system is that the harder you research the more likely you’ll find something, and then the country will be a victim of finding something,” Dewulf said.
“In Belgium, for example, with the recent ASF outbreak, we were carefully monitoring, we notified all the responsible agencies, and then we faced all the consequences, such as trade restrictions, etc. In consequence, our animal industry has been hit very hard.”
But despite the growing realisation of the need to control exports more robustly, experts warn that it would be impossible to screen all animals.
“In most cases where we look at the transmission of disease, whether in humans or livestock, we tend to see them move quicker and in more diverse ways than our surveillance systems are able to keep up with,” McIver said.
Nor are these systems designed to screen live animals or meat products entering or leaving countries, he said, before warning of diseases which have not yet been identified.
“Due to the sheer volume of animals that move around, the budgets that are allocated towards it are not always sufficient and in many cases we’re only able to look for things we know about. Animals may be coming or going with pathogens that are potentially really dangerous but we just haven’t dealt with them yet.”
Dear Mark,
I’m sorry to have to bring you this news on a Saturday. Just hours ago, we learned that the live export ship at the centre of a COVID-19 outbreak has been granted an exemption to export 50,000 sheep to Kuwait, despite the summer shipment ban in place.
As recently as last week, the application by the exporter to ship these animals was denied, on the basis that doing so could be catastrophic for the animals on board. But today, we have learnt that a second application by the exporter RETWA has been approved, and the Al Kuwait ship will be loaded to leave within days.
In reading the details of the decision made by the industry regulator, it is very clear that the commercial interests of the exporter has been prioritised over animal welfare. Inconceivably, the Regulator sought to justify this in stating:
“I found that the Australian public would expect that in deciding whether or not to grant the exemption, the Secretary (or his delegate) would have due regard to the rationale underlying the prohibition and balance the impact on the exporter and industry against the risk to the health and welfare of livestock.”
As you know, the majority of the Australian public are appalled that live animal export even exists, and have no sympathy for an industry that has built its enormous profits on mass animal suffering. To suggest otherwise, and use the Australian public as one of the justifications to grant an exemption, is outrageous, and exactly why your MP needs to hear from you today.
Please spare a moment to take action now »
We have urgently gathered our legal team together this morning to examine whether any avenues exist to appeal this decision. I don’t want to get your hopes up, because when this legislation was written, limiting any ability to appeal decisions would have been front of mind. But, be assured that if an avenue does exist — we will do all things possible to explore it and protect these animals.
Thank you as always for your kind heart, and for providing these animals awaiting export with a voice today.
I will be in touch soon with more.
For the animals,
Lyn
WAV Comment:
“A meeting – people who individually can do nothing; and together, decide that nothing can be done” !! – Mark (WAV).
Good to see at least that Andrea (Gavinelli); one head of unit at DG SANTE is going to be speaking at this event. I used to send Andrea a lot of letters and info when I was EU correspondent for a English live export campaign group in the more recent past.
Andrea is a good man and I always found him to be supportive of our work to stop live animal transport. Although he is now a head of unit; he sadly still comes under the control of Bernard (I can do nothing) Van Goethem. We hope that in the 15 minutes allocated to Mr Gavinelli to speak; regarding Animal welfare within the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, he will push for a reduction / ban on the transport on live animals within the EU
As we have shown in very recent posts; if South Africa and Australia can take action on the issue of live animal transport; then the EU can do the same. As with most EU issues, there is a mafia type control (the meat mafia) which prevents the wishes of EU citizens coming into force.
It is sad when an organisation such as the EU, which claims to ‘represent the people’; does exactly the opposite and in reality, represents only the mafia style operators who wish to see live animal transport continue. There has been a ‘crisis’ in live animal transport within the EU for years – and its head (Van Goethem) does nothing about the crisis; he simply holds his hands up and says ‘I can do nothing’.
https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2016/06/29/mr-van-goethem-resign-now/
Regards Mark.
1115 – 1130 am – morning session – Animal welfare within the Farm to Fork strategy.
Andrea Gavinelli, Head of Unit, Directorate Crisis Management in Food, Animals and Plants, DG SANTE
| Animals | ||
|
Portugal, 17.03.2020
This Tuesday morning, on the N17-1 road, near the exit to the Industrial Area of Alto do Padrão (between Miranda do Corvo and Lousã), a truck carrying pigs to the slaughterhouse collapsed, having been in the situation that you can see in the video. The driver of the vehicle, we found, was not injured.
But the animals it carried, yes.
We were unable to provide support as the road was closed.
But we managed to register some images so that everyone can see and hear the suffering of these animals.
According to the information that arrived at the site, about 100 animals died.
But that was not all we found: the scene was of many dead pigs, but even more pigs in agony. Bleeding, with broken legs, with a broken spine, dying … an authentic Dante scene.
We also caught the moment when a guy repeatedly kicks a pig, so that it does not move away from the place where his brothers perished.
Probably for the first time in his short life, two surviving pigs could feel the fresh grass. They were able to taste it. They had a few minutes of freedom. But that freedom will be robbed of them again because even the survivors will not escape the destiny that already awaited them: death.
At the site, passersby talked about “wasting food”, “still serving for food”, but only one person showed compassion for the suffering he was witnessing.
And we wonder … where is our empathy? How can we ignore the suffering of those who suffer and cry in front of us?
At the end of the day, more than 9 hours later, we returned to the place. Some animals had already been taken, but many pigs were still there, clearly very injured.
A pig, probably with a broken spine, just fiddled with its nose in the dirt. Another, with his hind legs broken, tried to get up and walk, succumbing and lying down again.
None of these animals were rescued to end their suffering. These animals were more than 9 hours to be removed from the site.
And make no mistake: they were not rescued, as they will still be killed. The injured animals were taken to the trucks pulled by the ears, pushed, pulled by the paws (probably broken). One guy twisted a pig’s tail in such a way that his screams will never be forgotten.
It should also be noted that, when they realized that we were filming this violence, they turned off the truck lights and tried to get the GNR to expel us from the place.
There are not enough words to describe the horror that happened today. So we let the screams of these animals speak for us. Where’s our empathy ?! How is it possible that these situations continue to happen?
If you still eat meat from animals, this accident happened because you continue to give reasons for this industry to exist. Hear the screams of your “meal in Video”.
No animal has to die for you to survive.
Coimbra Animal Save
And I mean…The next day, a pig that survived the accident was still at the scene.
More than 24 hours later.
Would an injured person ever be forgotten at an accident site?
No, never!
Because the law protects human animals.
There is no law to protect non-human animals.
Therefore, according to the law, these pigs are viewed as objects that have no right to life.
Their life belongs to someone, their body belongs to someone, there is no RIGHT to protect these animals.
Many wondered how the accident happened, what was the reason.
The correct question is: Am I one of the REASONS for this accident? I, the meat consumer? Am I the one responsible for their hell life, their agonizing transports, their brutal death in the slaughterhouse?
If there is demand, there will be an offer. And as long as there is demand, these “accidents” will continue to happen because of thousands of trucks like these transport millions of sentient beings to an inhuman death every day.
We want this industry to be smashed in the next 10 years.
There is no point in fighting for “organic” farming, shorter transports, and larger cages.
You can only get out and use your personal behavior, your personal diet, to inflict the death blow on this death industry.
Stop eating animals and their products.
Stop cooperating with this fascist system of exploitation.
Ma best regards to all, Venus
Our past posts:
Mark, this time last week we were building a case to stop 56,000 Australian sheep being shipped into the furnace of the Northern summer. Within 24 hours we would receive the news that the exporter’s bid to be exempted from new laws prohibiting these dangerous summer shipments had failed… and that not one of those animals would be stepping foot on board a live export ship.
The relief was palpable. But it would be short-lived. You see, the moment this company was turned away from Australia, it headed for South Africa — their sights set on 70,000 sheep they had been blocked from exporting just weeks earlier. And such was their confidence that they could simply sail in and take the animals, they even started loading them onto trucks.
But that’s where their journey would end… because our friends at the NSPCA were waiting. They had sought an urgent injunction from the High Court to stop the animals being loaded onto the vessel, and I’m glad to share the news with you that
THEY WON!
Thanks to your support of our work for animals with the NSPCA, 70,000 sheep are safe from ‘cooking alive’ on a live export ship, for now.
This is a landmark moment for animals, but the reprieve may be temporary because the full case will be heard in mid-July. But we know the team at the NSPCA (South Africa’s peak animal protection body) will give it their all. For now, these animals are safe from live export at the most dangerous time of year — when the risk of ‘cooking alive’ from heat stroke is very real.
As you would know, one of the live export industry’s key PR lines is that if they can’t get animals from Australia, they’ll just go elsewhere. In itself, this shows how little regard for animals they have. Australian authorities have determined that shipping sheep into the Northern summer is cruel and should no longer occur. So what does the live export industry do? What it has done for decades — ignore the science, ignore the evidence, disregard the risks to animals and attempt to carry on live exporting anyway.
What they didn’t count on is that our reach extends far beyond Australia. With your support, we are collaborating with advocates all around the world who, like you and me, are determined to protect animals from this global trade in animal suffering. If they show up in Romania, we are there. If they show up in South Africa, we are there. Wherever live export exists, animals will suffer — wherever live exporters go, we will too.
We are proud to work with and support the legal efforts of our colleagues at NSPCA and are enormously grateful to you for making this powerful collaboration on behalf of the victims of live export possible.
For the animals,
Lisa Chalk
Campaign Director
Animals Australia
Agony journey of a hundred thousand lambs sent from Spain to Saudi Arabia
100,000 Spanish lambs are being shipped by boat to Saudi Arabia without guarantees of animal welfare and to be slaughtered without stunning.
The animals that are being loaded in the ports of Cartagena and Tarragona have to endure 10 days onboard until arriving in Saudi Arabia. In the Arab country they will be slaughtered following the halal rite; Beheaded and bled to death being fully conscious.
The report carried out by Animal Equality shows the entire transport process from the feedlots until they get on the ships in the port of Cartagena.
The animal-based NGO launches a campaign directed at the European Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food demanding the end of long-distance transport to countries that do not guarantee basic animal welfare standards in the EU.
And I mean…In order to understand that we are dealing here with system-inherent criminals and that the NOT documented suffering is much, much worse, one would only have to add up one and one.
Thousands of such videos can still appear, the lackeys and EU officials rationalize this further as a “blatant exception” and “individual misconduct of a transport company”.
The main thing is that the animal transports must continue to run, continue to sell meat, no matter how … slaughter … slaughter … slaughter …
Therefore, the EU Commission has no right to exist.
My best regards to all, Venus
World Animals Voice 