Lesley is a personal friend and we have worked together on live export issues in the past. Here is her Christmas message about the great work she has been doing (at Eyes on Animals – Netherlands) for animal welfare in Turkey; Regards Mark (WAV)     Dear donors and friends, I am writing from the airport in Istanbul, about to fly back home. I hope you don’t mind that I will only write in English. Five years ago we started our project in Turkey to change the way animals were being treated inside slaughterhouses. Since then we have visited many slaughterhouses and witnessed unspeakable horrors. I am often asked how we do this work, facing such animal suffering. The answer is that we care too much to be able to now look away. Focusing on achieving results keeps us driven. In 2019 we achieved a major breakthrough in Turkey. Who could have thought that two cattle slaughterhouses would now be stunning animals before slaughter? Who could have thought that we could now import captive bolt stunning pistols into Turkey? Putting stunning into practice in Turkey was a major step, and the most challenging one. It took dozens of meetings with religious authorities, giving numerous talks at Turkish universities and to officials of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture, editing hours of film material, visiting and inspecting Turkish slaughterhouses and educating their employees as well as organizing conferences for Turkish veterinarians and butchers. Now that the first major step has been taken, we just have to keep the ball rolling. In 2020, this will be one of our top priorities.

 

 

When I think back to the horrors of my first visit of a cattle slaughterhouse in Turkey in 2014, where French cattle were being chained by one leg, hoisted fully off the floor and left hanging like that for up to 2 minutes before having their throats cut open, I am so relieved to now know that change is possible.

 

 

 

Looking back at 2019 This year was a busy and intense year. Aside from Turkey, we were active in many other places to improve animal welfare and decrease suffering. In Ghana, together with WACPAW, we improved conditions inside 5 slaughterhouses by teaching the butchers how to use a captive bolt pistol and giving them one. In Poland we trained over 80 Official Road Inspectors and stopped and fined dozens of animals trucks together. In the Netherlands several major pig slaughterhouses invested in new equipment (industrial fans and roofed parking areas with shade) to help tackle heat stress in the summer. Two major egg companies in The Netherlands have fully abandoned the brutal commercial way of catching “spent” laying hens and switched over to the EonA upright method and now a UK company is also interested in it (we will be meeting with them in January). Together with the French organization L214 we exposed the horrible cruelty in the trade of unweaned calves from Ireland via French control posts to veal farms in the Netherlands. One of the employees in France was prosecuted and the story got in major international press. Our inspections were reported in Le Monde, Le Parisien, Het Parool, de Volkskrant, BBC World, The Guardian, the Irish Times, NPO Radio 1 and more.

 

 

 

THANK YOU! Dear donor, your generous support have made the improvements for all these animals possible. Thank you for believing in our efforts and for being patient with us. Your support gives me and my team the opportunity to spend our time and energy into what we all hold as being so important – to make this world a gentler place for animals. We still do hope for a day when society peacefully switches over to an agricultural system not dependent on killing animals, but as long as there are animals inside barren barns, overcrowded trucks or frightening slaughterhouses, we will do our very best to make sure animal-suffering is noticed and decreased. On behalf of everyone at Eyes on Animals, I wish you a joyous and peaceful winter holiday season. On behalf of myself, I wish all of the hard-working volunteers and freelancers of Eyes on Animals a time to rest and look back on the achievements. With warm wishes from us all at the Eyes on Animals office in Amsterdam,

 

 

Thank you for your support!

Lesley Moffat director of Eyes on Animals

 

Thanks Stacey (WAV) – https://our-compass.org/2019/12/23/i-feel-so-badly-for-those-turkeys-hauled-on-freezing-nights/

 

… has so many churches and so many Christmas decorations and so many people that claim to be Christians, and yet so much unnecessary horrific animal cruelty and no complaint of it, or effort to do anything to stop it …

 

Photo – Animals Angels

 

Source United Poultry Concerns (UPC)

The Letter to the Editor that follows this Introduction was written by Shane Zoglman and published Nov. 20, 2019 by The Dubois County Herald in Indiana, a mid-Western state with a large poultry and egg industry. In granting permission to UPC to share his letter with our readers, Shane added some information about his own evolution:

Howdy, sure, post away. For some history, back when I was a teenager, and didn’t have any good examples or guidance in the form of grownups, I worked for about 4 years on a chicken farm, that is, an egg farm, gathering eggs from the mega-sized houses, taking out the dead and crippled chickens and also taking out the old ones, loading them on semis and putting the new young birds in the cages.

I also did a few part-time jobs of working for a farm where I helped load turkeys into the semis. I have to say I didn’t think about the animals’ suffering, it just didn’t enter my mind. So I am someone who has seen both sides and has changed a lot over the years. The thing I do not understand is people that never wake up. I think a big help in my waking up to animal cruelty was stumbling onto the Shark Online YouTube channel years ago. I had been to a couple rodeos as a kid, but again, never was aware of the cruelty as I see it now after seeing their videos of rodeo cruelty.

These days I do not buy guns and ammo to kill animals with. I buy binoculars to enjoy watching them with, and instead of putting effort into killing, I put effort and money into taking in animals (who) need a home as well as trying to spread some of the message in my own way that things need to change.
– Shane Zoglman

 

The following is Shane’s letter in The Dubois County Herald, Nov. 20, 2019:

Protect turkeys in trucks from frigid temps

Dubois County Herald

November 20, 2019

To the editor:

Well, it is wintertime in Dubois County again, and once again the turkey manufacturing industry has done nothing to alleviate the suffering of turkeys being trucked down the highways at night in open cages, going 60-mph with no protection from the horrific freezing cold.

The profiteers of the turkey manufacturing industry cannot be bothered to spend a few bucks to lessen the cruelty they inflict on their product. After all, a healthy profit margin is what life is all about, right?

After their freezing cold, 18-wheeled torture trip, many of the turkeys are thrown still alive into boiling hot water. Then they are sold and shipped to China, where most turkeys “manufactured” in America end up. It’s so great that China gets the food and people in Dubois County get the pollution, the stink and the humanity-degrading, low-paying jobs of inflicting cruelty on animals while a few rich people at the top get the money.

What does it say that Dubois County has so many churches and so many Christmas decorations and so many people that claim to be Christians and yet so much unnecessary horrific animal cruelty and no complaint of it, or effort to do anything to stop it?

You cannot look at humans in middle America and convince me that monsters do not exist. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Shane Zoglman, Jasper

 

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Mark,

I wanted to get in touch with an update about the capsized live export ship disaster in Romania. Last time I emailed, I asked if you could help us call on the Romanian Government to save the survivors stranded in the upturned ship out on the ocean.

Thank you for taking that action, Mark. Your voice, alongside thousands of our other dedicated supporters, helped save 180 lives. These gentle sheep are now safe. Thank you.

Your determination — in unity with rescuers and thousands of other caring people globally — provided the beacon of hope amidst the overwhelming tragedy.

The rescued sheep are currently under the care of the Romanian veterinary authority, and the Prime Minister of Romania has given his word that he will do everything he can to ensure the sheep will soon be transferred to sanctuaries where they can live their lives in peace.

 

But your advocacy goes beyond the immediate situation to save the survivors. You’ve directly contributed to a kinder future for all sheep who face live export in Romania. Since you and others so strongly encouraged the country’s Prime Minister to take urgent action, a bill to end live export has been put forward in the Romanian Parliament.

The Prime Minister himself has acknowledged the need for this cruel trade to end. Romania is Europe’s biggest exporter of live animals — this is historic, and such progress could very well have taken years. But ending live export is now firmly on the political agenda there.

While we still have a long way to go, Mark, I can tell you with certainty that without your action on behalf of these animals, these historic steps forward simply couldn’t have been achieved.

As I know you understand, this disaster has again highlighted the needless cruelty at the heart of all live export. You helped save those who could be saved, but together we will never forget the tens of thousands onboard who perished, for nothing other than profit. I know we are now only more committed to ending live export globally, for good. Heartfelt thanks for providing such crucial support towards that goal, now and in the future.

For the animals,

Lyn

Animals Australia

 

Irish cattle being loaded on to a boat as I we type this message. Over 2000 going to Libya. The Irish government tell civilians it’s too dangerous to travel there but they keep on sending innocent animals to horrific slaughter after horrendous journeys.

 

 

 

We fully support the efforts of our Romanian campaigners who took to the streets in Bucharest to speak out for the 14,000+ sheep that lost their lives in the recent incident at Midia.

 

WHAT DO WE WANT? STOP THE DEATH SHIPS!

WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!

 

Caring Romanians have united at the country’s agriculture ministry in Bucharest on behalf of the >14,000 sheep who suffered & died when a live export ship capsized last week.

 

Thank you, Romanian friends — United in defence of innocent animals we stand with you!

 

 

 

WAV Comment – we are not going to say much about all this other than here is another example of an ‘EU Extension’. You can read the proposals for research into issues that have been obvious and evidence provided by welfare organisations in their experiences monitoring and gathering information over so many years. Delay, delay, delay without ever taking any real measures to address the situation; that is the way of the EU, and why progress in animal welfare is never made. God help when they have to look into intensive cage production systems across the EU !.  

We have made bold some of the factors now being reviewed – see ‘Red text’ below, and ask yourself; does all this now need to be further examined for xx amounts of years ?  

We only view this a further delay tactics by the EU and its Commission because they are not capable of making decisive decisions on issues such as the transport of animals.

Produced and issued by the EU on 2/12/19:

Animals

Animal Welfare: extension of the mandate of the Platform The European Commission has adopted a Decision extending the mandate of the EU Platform on Animal Welfare until 30 June 2021. This additional time will ensure the continuity of the dialogue and the activities of the members on specific animal welfare files. Launched in 2017, the Platform is now widely recognised as an important tool for exchanging of best practices and undertaking non-legislative initiatives. During the 6th meeting, on 7th October 2019, the members adopted several conclusions on animal transport, welfare of pigs and equines. The 7th meeting of the Platform is scheduled to take place in the first semester of 2020.

 

Platform conclusions

Disclaimer: the content of the documents does not necessarily represent the official position of the European Commission.

The Platform adopted the following conclusions during the 6^th meeting on 7^th October 2019 according to Article 7.6 of the Commission Decision of 24 January 2017 establishing the Platform.

Subgroup on transport

The Platform thanks and acknowledges the work of the members of the subgroup. The subgroup has produced a number of relevant documents on “exports of cattle” and on “extreme temperatures” and the Platform invites its members to disseminate the recommendations of the documents and take actions in line with the documents and proposals. These should contribute to improve the welfare of animals and to better enforce the EU legislation on animal transport. In relation to the document on “unweaned animals (calves)” produced by the subgroup, the platform acknowledges that it contributes substantially to progress on the issue, but further dialogue is necessary before recommending its dissemination and use.

Exports of cattle

• Recommendations to improve the development and exchange of coordinated actions regarding cattle exports to non-EU countries
• Organiser’s factsheet: Organizing the export of cattle via road to a non-EU country?

Extreme temperatures

• Research gaps on the topic of animal welfare during transport under extreme temperatures

 

Sub-Group ANIMAL TRANSPORT

RESEARCH GAPS ON THE TOPIC OF ANIMAL WELFARE DURING TRANSPORT UNDER EXTREME TEMPERATURES

General topics

 Biosecurity measures for animal transport under extreme temperatures Develop a set of preventive measures designed to reduce the risk of transmission of common pathogens in animal transport under extreme temperatures

 Physiology and Behavior of Thermal Stressed Animals Identify and measure physiological and behavioral responses of farm animals to thermal tress during transport

 Thermal Stress Risk Assessment Identify and analyze potential (future) risks that may negatively impact livestock welfare during transport under extreme temperatures Evaluate suitability of current travelling and resting times when animals are transported in extreme temperatures

 Nutritional needs and energy balance Identify and measure nutritional needs and energy balance of livestock during transport under extreme temperatures

 Economic, Environmental and Societal effects Develop sustainable models to monitor animal welfare during transport under extreme temperatures; Financial, environmental and societal effects of the existing network of slaughterhouses across Europe, especially in relation to rural development, and possible impact of encouraging short transports in order to limit the impact of extreme temperatures on live animals; Financial, environmental and societal impact of the establishment of a maximum 8-hour limit for the transport of animals sent for slaughter, thus limiting the adverse effects of extreme temperatures

DOC/12456/2019

[2]

 Transport facilities designs Truck design and engineer to improve animal welfare during transport under extreme temperatures

 Risk reduction Financial and welfare impact of transport of bulls’ sperm/semen instead of cattle for breeding purposes

 Scientific evaluation of the frequency of long distance transports that are on the road when it is >30 degrees

 Scientific comparison of animal transports < 8 hrs and long distance transports in terms of infringements of legal animal welfare standards related to adverse weather conditions and extreme temperatures

 Animal welfare benefits in relation to extreme temperatures when long- distance journeys are replaced by maximum 8-hour journeys

 Survey of potential rise of acceptance of agricultural practices by society about a general 8 hrs limit when linked to the issue of extreme temperatures

 Transport using livestock vessels

 Transport by air

Species specific topics

 Transportation of research animals  Prevention of dehydration of poultry  Transport of rabbits, fur animals, fish  Transport of companion animals  Transport of wild and captive animals  Transport of turkeys

DOC

• Proposals for dissemination of information
• Proposal for an application on live animal transport
• Factsheet transport extreme temperatures Cattle
• Factsheet transport extreme temperatures Horses
• Factsheet transport extreme temperatures Pigs
• Factsheet transport extreme temperatures Poultry
• Factsheet transport extreme temperatures Sheep

Subgroup on welfare of pigs

The Platform thanks and acknowledges the work of the members of the subgroup. The subgroup has provided targeted proposals for assisting in the development of indicators for tail-biting risks. The Platform invites the EU Reference Centre on animal welfare for pigs to consider the document “Indicators for tail biting risks relating to compliance criteria on health, dietary factors and space and competition” within the framework of its Work Programme for the future. The Platform invites its members to use this proposal, to develop it further in their research frameworks, and in proposals to strengthen official controls using animal welfare indicators. In relation to the document “Measuring tail damage at the slaughterhouse and setting common thresholds” produced by the subgroup, the platform acknowledges the principle but dialogue on the technical details is necessary before recommending its dissemination and use.

Voluntary initiative on responsible ownership and care of equidae

The Platform thanks and acknowledges the work of the members of the voluntary initiative. The working group concludes that the following document should be promoted in order to improve the welfare of equidae in the EU:

Guide to good animal welfare practices for the keeping, care, training and use of horses.

 

 

14,000 sheep drowned or were crushed to death on a capsized live export ship.

254 have been found alive, and we think lifelong sanctuary is the least they deserve afer all they’ve been through. Do you agree?

 

 

SIGN here: animalsaus.org/DRa #BanLiveExport

 

 

Video footage and more:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1200288902415650816