BREAKING: The Romanian government has called off the rescue efforts to save over 14,600 sheep trapped inside a capsized live export ship — despite claims that sounds can be heard indicating that animals are still alive.
The EU today – Shit Member States – Romania !!
Mr Could Not Give a Toss – The ‘animal welfare’ ignorant Romania Minister Petre Deae
In remembrance of the innocent who suffer under the greed of humankind.
]https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2019/11/25/syrian-crew-registered-in-the-pacific-a-rust-bucket-vessel-40-years-old-ignorant-romania-useless-eu-it-all-adds-up-to-a-cheap-and-nasty-live-export-business-as-we-have-said-for-decades/
https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2019/11/25/mass-grave-in-the-black-sea/
Dear Mark,
You may have already heard the tragic news of a live export ship capsizing off the coast of Romania, with over 14,000 sheep on board.
I wanted to get in touch to let you know that our international team are currently on the ground coordinating the media coverage that is forcing the government to ‘pull out all stops’ to rescue any surviving sheep that remain trapped in the hull.
We will do all that we can to help those who have survived over the coming days and ensure that this tragic incident fuels our efforts in Romania to bring their live trade to an end. As the biggest exporter of sheep out of the European Union, we have been working on the ground to end their trade for the last 3 years, and have achieved a number of major media exposés to date. This latest tragedy will highlight yet again, why the trade must not continue.
The ‘animal welfare’ ignorant Romania Minister Petre Deae
The risks and suffering that animals face when they’re seen as merely ‘cargo’, rather than the living, breathing individuals they are, has never been more evident than it is now. For an industry who see these animals as nothing more than ‘profit’, tragedies like this are merely business losses.
But to you and I, they are the reason that we must continue to work to end the trade globally. Because we know that no matter where animals come from, all share the same capacity to suffer — and deserve the same compassion. Whether they come from Australia, Romania, South Africa, or anywhere in-between, we will continue our work to shield all animals from live export cruelty — until the day that live export ends.
I know that your compassion for these animals makes seeing them suffer painful beyond words. But please know, when you see these tragic events unfold, that you are the reason they will become a thing of the past. It’s only because of your support that this industry will continue to be challenged and decision makers compelled to end it, for good.
Our work to protect all animal victims of the international live export trade will continue in Romania and beyond, and the day when animals are no longer subjected to the horrors of live export, will inevitably come — because of you.
Thank you as always, for helping us get there sooner.
Lyn
P.S. This urgent situation is unfolding as we speak — we’ll keep you updated.
Lyn White AM
Animals Australia
The ‘do nothing no prosecutions’ EU Commissioner Andriukaitis
In remembrance of the innocent who suffer under the greed of humankind.
The terrible, tragic situation that has happened within the last few days regarding the ‘Queen Hind’ and thousands (14,600 as far as we know) of sheep which were being exported live from Romania to the Middle East simply highlights once again the disregard that the human race has for the animal species.
Lets look at this a little more:
Out of over 14,600 animals being carried; we currently understand that only 33 animals have been rescued. The rest are feared drowned. We understand that the ship was leaving Midia port in Romania bound firstly for Libya.
The main reason for the trouble at present is that we are being told that the vessel was overloaded; which makes sense as to why it was not stable when it overturned just hundreds of meters after leaving the port.
It has also been stated that low quality crew action or inactions also contributed to the disaster. There was a crew made up entirely of 22 SYRIAN nationals; and the vessel; it was registered in Palau, a remote set of islands in the Western Pacific – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau and it was constructed way back in 1980 – making it approx. 40 years old.
Vessel Details:
| Vessel Name | QUEEN HIND |
| Ship type | Livestock Carrier |
| Flag | Palau |
| Homeport | |
| Gross Tonnage | 3785 |
| Summer Deadweight (t) | 2154 |
| Length Overall (m) | 85 |
| Beam (m) | 14 |
| Draught (m) | |
| Year of Built | 1980 |
When the Romanians undertook the export of 70,000 live sheep recently from the very same port to the Middle East; a consignment which we tracked and reported on each day, the EU in the form of EU Commissioner (Andriukaitis) – sent a letter allegedly to the Romanian Agriculture Minister (and Minster of Rural Development of Romania) Mr Petre Daea on 10/7/19 asking him (at the time) not to allow the shipment of 70,000 live sheep to the Middle East due to the extreme temperatures – https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2019/08/02/2-8-19-copy-of-the-letter-from-the-eu-do-nothing-commissioner-to-the-animal-welfare-ignorant-romanian-minister/
Above – The ‘do nothing Commissioner Andriukaitis
Below – the ‘animal welfare’ ignorant Romania Minister Petre Deae
Basically, Romania, an EU member state; gave the EU Commission the 2 fingers and continued with the export consignment regardless of the fact that the animals were going to suffer in extreme heat and conditions way outside the limits set in Reg 1/2005; or the standard which nations of the EU are supposed to adhere to when transporting live animals !
Romania at the time ignored all the rules and regulations of the EU when it came to transporting live animals; and yet we (as EU citizens) are supposed to vote for MEP’s and expect that the EU Parliament actually carries some ‘clout’ in Brussels with the Commissions. Maybe we should take the EU for what it really is – CRAP.
The EU bleats on about ‘investigating’ things and looking at the situation, but even by October this year the EU had still not taken out any infringement proceedings against Romania for the shipment of the 70,000 animals – https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2019/10/28/eu-remember-the-romanian-sheep-to-the-middle-east-in-extreme-temperatures-the-latest-from-the-eu-but-still-no-infringement/
So what now ? – as all livestock carriers are, antiquated rust buckets converted into carriers when they have passed their ‘best by’ dates; we wait with real interest to see what the EU hierarchy will now do 1) against Romania, and 2) against the entire evil trade of live animals which goes under the banner of ‘live exports’.
This whole incident stinks of cheap and shoddy operation – from a rust bucket carrier vessel, to a cheapo and obviously inexperienced crew from Syria; to the registration of the vessel to some unknown outpost in the middle of the Pacific; to the cheapness of Romania – everything is and has been done on the cheap; and the deaths today of some 14,600 animals by drowning just goes to highlight even more the bent corruptness of this entire trade in live animals around the world.
No doubt we shall read a PR from the EU ‘Eurogroup for Animals’ promising yet more investigations and actions of an EU member state. We say, don’t hold your breath; we have been there so many times before and we all know the weasel words in reality amount to sweet FA. What happened with the ‘Queen Hind’ is an insult to intelligent, decent people; but then we are talking about the EU and the cheap, shoddy export trade which it buries its sick head into.
Shame on them all – a ‘they were going for slaughter anyway’ mentality which we experience from the industry all of the time. A gutless EU and a house full of do nothing MEP’s who ‘represent us’ but don’t have any chance of even holding the EU Commission to account. In a summary word – ‘USELESS’.
Regards Mark
In remembrance of the innocent who suffer under the greed of humankind.
The cattle truck “Queen Hind” capsized on Sunday shortly after departure from the port of Capu Midia on the Black Sea coast of Romania. The 85 meter long freighter had leaked at 12 o’clock with a load of 14,000 sheep for export to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
A large cargo ship carrying more than 14,000 sheep has overturned off the coast of Romania, with rescuers scrambling to save the animals.
The “Queen Hind” capsized on Sunday morning after leaving the port of Midia, near the south-eastern city of Constanța, on the Black Sea coastline.
All crew members – 22 Syrian nationals – were rescued.
An operation involving police, firefighters and the Romanian coast guard was launched to save the sheep.
At least 32 sheep found swimming near the Palau-flagged ship have been rescued, but many are believed to have drowned.
“We have already saved a small number. They were swimming in the sea,” Ana-Maria Stoica, spokeswoman for the emergency services in Constanța, told the BBC.
The rescue effort will resume on Monday morning after being paused overnight.
Meanwhile, one crew member was taken to hospital with hypothermia.
“He fell into the sea but was very quickly rescued,” Ms Stoica said, adding that the rest of the crew were “all safe here in the harbour”.
It is not yet known what caused the ship to capsize.
An investigation will be carried out when the operation to rescue the sheep and salvage the vessel is finished, authorities said.
The ship, which left Midia at about 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT), was heading to the port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia with its cargo.
Built in 1980, the vessel measures 85m (278ft) and has a gross tonnage of 3,785, according to the Marine Traffic website.
It had arrived at the port of Midia on 23 November from the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Romanian media reported.
Pictures show the upended vessel on its side a few hundred metres (yards) from the port, about 20km (12 miles) north of Constanța.
The port is primarily used for the supply of crude oil for nearby industrial and petrochemical facilities. But it is also used by cargo ships carrying live animals from Romania, one of the European Union’s biggest exporters of livestock.
Animal rights campaigners and Romania’s main livestock breeder and exporter association, Acebop, called for an urgent investigation into the overturning of “Queen Hind”.
“Our association is shocked by the disaster,” Acebop president Mary Pana told AFP news agency. “If we cannot protect livestock during long-distance transports, we should outright ban them.”
Another shipping incident involving a large cargo ship loaded with livestock happened in the Black Sea off Turkey’s coast in 2017.
In that case, the Togo-flagged vessel collided with a Russian naval spy ship, which sank as a result.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50538592
My comment: Christian Romania shakes sheep under the Palau flag to slaughter kosher to Saudi Arabia. This is how the Cargo Mafia works. Never should a crime come from one source. Scatter risk, they say.
Still legal under EU law.
Usually cargo ships are scrapped at 35 years or sold cheaper.
This floating casket was almost 40 years old. Actually, such a ship had to be scrapped or sold slowly at the age of 30 years.
Scrapping costs money.
And not only.
Why scrap, if the cargo is “just animals” and in such “accidents” the insurance intervenes?
Accident? Perpetrators?
This dirty business is about millions of dollars and has his lackeys everywhere.
So it’s not just the cargo mafia’s fault, it’s the criminal politics of those countries that dictate EU transport law.
And last but not least, the fanatical Carnivore consumer is also to blame who reads such news in the media and breathes with relief that fortunately there have been no human sacrifices.
It was just animals, it can happen!
My best regards to all, Venus
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50538592
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/world/europe/romanian-sheep-cargo-ship.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/14000-sheep-drown-ship-capsizes-romania-191125091853992.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/world/europe/romanian-sheep-cargo-ship.html
https://www.romania-insider.com/ship-sheep-overturned-romania
In remembrance of the innocent who suffer under the greed of humankind.
For me personally; doing nothing is NOT an option !
I think Monica took this photo of ‘my back’ when we were touring the EU back in 2005.
There were both Summer and Winter tours – I was involved with both, and the Summer one at least allowed you to wear just a T shirt rather than wrapping up in thermals for the Winter. It was cold, real cold; unlike the mild winters we seem to always get now.
Above – the thorn between 2 Roses – me with Monica (right) and Nanda (left).
Working on behalf of CIWF https://www.ciwf.org.uk/ we took the tour truck all over the EU – the truck was fitted out as a special walk through display where you entered at the back, met the veal calves in transport; then progressed on to a complete mock up of a battery cage system as used in the EU. Also shown were pig farming methods complete with fake pigs and farrowing crates and stalls.
‘Welcom’ to our road tour – the greeting for Dutch visitors.
Finally you moved on into the front section where you were shown ‘good and bad’ foods to purchase at the supermarket; outlining their impact (good or bad) for animal welfare. Outside the truck we had video screens continually showing footage of the systems; and the truck was kitted out externally to look like an animal transporter at the read; moving forward to systems which were better and did not involve intensive farming, A 2 view truck, bad at the rear, good at the front.
It was a good, productive tour, spreading the ‘intensive’ system word to many tens of thousands of people. In the Netherlands we even had personal permission from Her Majesty the Queen to park the tour truck in front of the Royal Palace for a few days to get the maximum attention; which we did, with thousands of people passing through to learn more about intensive systems and animal factory farming. The Dutch police were very supportive and helped us a lot.
Above – Eco Centre; beautiful de Kleine Aaarde in Boxtel
In the Netherlands we also visited de Kleine Aaarde in Boxtel https://www.bd.nl/boxtel/stap-voor-stap-vordert-natuurpark-de-kleine-aarde-in-boxtel~a82b4b10/?referrer=https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=2ahUKEwiXiO_jm4DmAhXIVsAKHVNLB-AQFjAEegQIBhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bd.nl%2Fboxtel%2Fstap-voor-stap-vordert-natuurpark-de-kleine-aarde-in-boxtel~a82b4b10%2F&usg=AOvVaw1ImRbWD3IG9zDAfP_fSZKg which is a massive and beautiful ‘Eco Centre’ which deals correctly with all aspects of food, the environment and animal welfare / farming issues.
We had a great time on the tour, spreading the word (with examples) of the real bad things relating to animal intensive farming. I can remember sitting down by the canals having a pizza with Monica, Nanda, Geert, John and Wayne after a busy days campaigning on the road. Memories which will always stick with me.
Wonderful John https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2019/04/25/england-another-terrible-loss-john-callaghan/ from CIWF came out for a while to visit us; and it was here that he and I spent many good hours in my car checking out the veal institutions of the NL; as well as a bit on live horse transport. John; taken way too early like all good people; he more than did his bit.
I was then and am still an angry young Turk when it comes to animal suffering; I hope this inspires you to get out and campaign !
Super memories; fantastic people; all dedicated to stopping suffering.
Regards Mark.
Above – waiting near a school for all the children to come and visit – and learn about it all.
Above – when we got back to England, we used the calves to stick the them Prime Minister, John Major, into a veal crate to give him a feel for what he was sending British calves to Europe for.
Like this below – a British calf is restrained in a European veal crate.
Above – ‘Scania Rules ok !’ – me taking time out with the tour truck at a free range chicken facility.
Friends and fellow campaigners;
As many of you know, we have had a lot in common with the recent movements of the ‘Al Shuwaikh’ for some months now – from the days earlier in the year when thousands (70,000 to be precise) of live sheep were exported in this rust heap out to the Middle East for ritual slaughter:
We tracked it each day by satellite and gave regular updates of its position(s).
You can find a lot more on our work with this and a lot more of other live transport work by visiting:
https://worldanimalsvoice.com/category/live-transport/
Now it has mover to South Africa to try and get involved in live sheep exports from there.
But as with Australia, the EU, and now SA; the rust heap is getting trouble and actions against it wherever it attempts to take its disgusting trade.
Here is the latest from the Exec Director at the National Council of SPCAs who have now taken up the fight that this hip belongs in one place only – the scrapyard and history books !
Best regards – Mark.
Dear Animal Warrior,
Thank you for signing our petition – for taking action to stop the torture that is live export.
Following the harrowing days spent at the East London harbour by our Inspectors at the NSPCA when some 60 000 sheep were loaded for shipment to the Middle East, we are finally in a position to confirm that criminal charges in terms of the Animals Protection Act No 71 of 1962 have been laid.
The charges were laid against the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) as well as Eastern Cape Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Al Mawashi – the owners of the Al Shuwaikh vessel, who have a company in South Africa, the captain of the Al Shuwaikh, the Page Farming Trust, and individuals from the Page Farming Trust.
Conditions on board the Al Shuwaikh included dangerously high ammonia levels on some of the enclosed decks, dirty conditions including faeces in the food and water troughs, together with other serious welfare concerns. On the dock and feedlot animals were treated in an inhumane manner, and attempts were made to load sick, injured and lame animals onto the vessel. These sentient beings meant nothing to the officials and exporters. Our pleas to treat the animals humanely fell on deaf ears. Seeing the suffering of these sheep even before their departure, and watching the Al-Shuwaikh depart was heartbreaking, but it has also affirmed our determination to advocate for justice on their behalf.
We have received criticism that it has taken too long to lay the charges for animal cruelty. Preparing separate dockets for the feedlot, the harbour and the vessel carrying the sheep has involved the collation of valuable evidence from 15 staff members. Carefully completed dockets with the relevant evidence have been handed over to the South African Police Services who will now only be required to obtain statements from the accused.
We also met with our legal counsel who have confirmed that we have a case for the High Court. The intention is not only to ensure that the Al-Shuwaikh does not return to our shores, but also to challenge the issue of exporting live animals by sea.
We would like to sincerely thank you for your support in our campaign to stop this heinous trade and know that you will continue to stand with us as we face this giant. We may have lost this battle – but we have not lost the war, and we will continue to do what it takes to make sure that this never happens again in South Africa.
Kind regards
Marcelle Meredith
National Council of SPCAs
Executive Director
P.S. The costs incurred thus far have been exorbitant and we have a long road ahead. With donations from caring South Africans and international supporters, we are hopeful that we will be in a financial position to proceed with this landmark case. We stand together against this animal cruelty. With donations from caring South Africans and international supporters, we are hopeful that we will be in a financial position to proceed with this landmark case. We stand together against this animal cruelty.
————————————————-
Suspended by their legs while still conscious, tied up and with their necks cut halfway through: a new investigation by Animals International reveals the fate of French animals exported alive to Morocco and Lebanon.
Today in France, Welfarm, Fondation Brigitte Bardot, L214, CIWF France and La Fondation Droit Animal, Ethique et Sciences are releasing footage filmed by Animals International’s investigators in slaughterhouses in these countries.
Every year, France exports live animals to other EU and non-EU countries. When it comes to animals transported outside the EU territories, the majority of animals are destined for countries in which the slaughterhouses do not have the infrastructure and equipment required to comply with the standards established by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in regards to slaughter.
In 2018 alone France exported 83,914 sheep and cows, mainly to Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon and Israel. Hanging the animals by their paws, pushing fingers into their eyes, slashing their throats, binding them, slicing their tendons, and letting to struggle with their heads half cut off are common practices in slaughterhouses in North Africa and the Middle East, where Animals International has been investigating for 10 years.
Confronted with this evidence, Welfarm, Fondation Brigitte Bardot, L214, CIWF France, La Fondation Droit Animal, Ethique et Sciences and Animals International, together with Eurogroup for Animals, have sent a letter to the French Minister urging him to stop the export of live animals and to shift to a meat and carcasses trade.
Sign the Welfarm petition to stop live exports
Read the article by Le Monde
The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) has laid a criminal complaint against stakeholders involved in the controversial export of 60,000 live sheep from East London to Kuwait last month.
The complaint, announced by the NSPCA in a statement on Thursday afternoon, is made against the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development, the Eastern Cape department of rural development and agrarian reform, Al Mawashi, the owners of the Al Shuwaikh vessel, the captain of the Al Shuwaikh, the Page Farming Trust and individuals from the Page Farming Trust.
The NSPCA believes these stakeholders contravened the Animal Protection Act.
“Our pleas to treat the animals humanely fell on deaf ears,” said Grace de Lange, manager of the NSPCA’s farm animal protection unit.
“Seeing the suffering of these sheep even before their departure, and watching the Al-Shuwaikh depart was heartbreaking, but it has also affirmed the NSPCA’s determination to advocate for justice on their behalf.”
De Lange said the NSPCA had received criticism that it had taken too long to lay the complaint.
“Preparing separate dockets for the feedlot, the harbour and the vessel carrying the sheep has involved the collation of valuable evidence from 15 staff members. Carefully completed dockets with the relevant evidence have been handed over to the South African Police Services who will now only be required to obtain statements from the accused”.
The intention was not only to ensure that the Al-Shuwaikh did not return to South African shores, but also to challenge the issue of exporting live animals by sea.
Within the past few days, Kuwait’s Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) has taken a decision to ban the slaughter of female animals under a certain age, including sheep.
The information, learnt by DispatchLIVE on Wednesday, has raised questions about the implications for the 60,000 sheep currently being loaded onto the the Kuwait-flagged “sheep ship” Al Shuwaikh in East London.
That process began late on Tuesday afternoon.
NSPCA inspectors monitoring the loading process in the harbour say they have already seen several violations of the Animal Protection Act, including high ammonia levels and sheep panting in the heat on board the vessel.
According to reports on Arab Times Online and Al-Rai daily, PAAAFR stated: “Until further notice the slaughter of red-meat producing female animals, including sheep, cows and camels, is forbidden in order to increase the production of red meat.”
The measure applies to all female animals from one year to four years old, “unless it is proved these animals are unfit for breeding for any reason or are diseased or are suffering from fractures”.
PAAAFR officials warned of penalties if these instructions were ignored and said all slaughterhouses in Kuwait had been informed of the decision.
The Dispatch approached the department of rural development & agrarian reform to ask whether it was aware of the reported decision taken by PAAAFR.
Department spokesperson Ayongezwa Lungisa said the department had done “everything above board” and had worked within the requirements provided by Kuwait.
“We have issued the export permit on the basis of the requirements provided and on the basis of the information provided to us, ” Lungisa said.
The Kuwaiti government would have told SA that it would not allow certain animals, but the department acted on the information provided, he reiterated.
He said the farmers in the province should now be celebrating because of the economic benefits the deal would bring.
But according to NSPCA spokesperson Meg Wilson, part of the organisation’s team monitoring the loading in the harbour, there is already grave cause for concern about the sheep.
Confirming that there were “many” ewes on board under the age of four that would be protected under the ban, she said the Al Shuwaikh had not even left port before the sheep began suffering.
“There are exceptionally high ammonia levels for one. We have equipment that measures these levels and the reading is at 37. To give you an idea, the level where it is safe for humans is 25,” she said.
“The sheep are also very hot, and are panting.
“In the middle of their pens there is a ventilator, and all the sheep are huddling around the ventilator to try to get cool.”
She said it was only when they pointed this out that the “fans were turned on higher”.
The department announced on Monday that the Al Shuwaik was given a clean bill of health, and on Tuesday sheep were transported by the truckload from the Berlin feedlot to East London harbour.
Smaragda Louw, of animal rights group Ban Animal Trading, said the reported ban on slaughter of younger ewes, among other animals, emphasised the uncertainty of what would happen to the sheep when they reached the Middle East.
“Are some sheep now not going to be slaughtered under this ban? Or are they going to be re-exported from Kuwait,” she said.
According to a statement from the ship’s owners, Al Mawashi, although the vessel has capacity for 80,000 sheep “as per international stocking density standards”, the company would only load 60,000 sheep during the voyage to the Middle East.
Al Mawashi has opened a new slaughterhouse in Kuwait City which is able to slaughter 900 sheep an hour, or 18,000 a day.
Animals’ Angels controls an animal transport with horses on the route from Spain via France to Italy. It is raining heavily. When stopping at a French toll station we look in tired children’s faces: 31 foals are on the truck and two adult horses. The animals are crowded, many with drenched, matted fur.
The transport violates the regulations for animal transport on several occasions: Among other things, the vehicle is completely overloaded, the animals are not housed as prescribed in individual stands and there is no automatic drinking system. That’s why we call the police in Italy. Unfortunately, neither the police officers nor the official veterinarian consulted are trained in the inspection of animal transports, so that the control lasts several hours.
In the meantime the horses are completely exhausted. Despite noise, people, cars, flashlights and photo flashes, some are sleeping. Many seem apathetic with drooping heads, they barely react to what is happening around them. We hope that none of the animals lie down, because in the tightness it would be almost impossible for them to get up again.
The police finally imposed a fine of EUR 2,000 on the carrier and he was allowed to continue to the destination near Venice. Esteban and the 32 other horses have about six hours to go before they can finally rest.
This case again shows the incompetence or indifference of many Spanish veterinarians. The transport in Spain should never have been approved in this way.
We are angry and disappointed.
Together with the Spanish organization Anda, we continue to work to ensure that the veterinary offices no longer handle illegal transports.
My comment: Horsemeat is cheap and is considered particularly lean and digestible– that’s why unscrupulous traders spend it as more expensive beef.
Over 214,000 horses are killed every year in Europe, according to official Eurostat data. 100,000 of them were transported across the continent for many hours or even days under the worst possible conditions – only to be unloaded and killed in a slaughterhouse.
The front runners are the countries of Poland and Romania. There are killed around 20,000 animals a year for nutritional purposes and around 10,000 are spent abroad for slaughter.
What will happen to Spain because the veterinarians of an EU country have deliberately violated animal welfare standards?
Nothing!
With 2000 Euro every criminal gets away.
What use are the EU laws when corrupt officials decide on the fate of the animals in this continent because they know that they have nothing to fear?
On July 2019 it was the ILLEGAL transport of the ship Al Shuwaikh from Romania (Midia) with 70,000 sheep to Kuwait. At this case, a cheeky ministry of agriculture even disregarded the personal mail of Commissioner Andriukaitis; The animals have been shipped there for three weeks, Romania has not received any sanctions to this day!
We always come across this fact: the EU either has no power or no interest in getting the animal transport under control.
Both are a very good reason to abolish the EU.
My best regards to all, Venus
One of our past posts associated with this:
WAV Comment – As we have always thought and predicted, the EU have not taken out any infringement procedures yet. They tell us their team is currently in Romania – see link given below. It will be interesting to see if the EU does actually take any action over the sheep exported to the Middle East in temperatures far exceeding the maximum allowed for live animal transports under EU Regulation 1/2005. We await further news and action (?).
Dear Sir,
Thank you for contacting the Europe Direct Contact Centre.
The Commission is very committed to ensure animal welfare, and Commissioner Andriukaitis has made animal welfare one of his priorities. There are several millions of animals exported every year from the EU. Most of those exports happen in good conditions and in line with EU rules.
The Commission is aware that there are recurrent problems with the welfare of animals that are exported and it is working with Member States, NGOs and transporters to solve the main recurrent issues that happen during transport to third countries. EU legislation on the transport of animals includes specific requirements for transport by sea. However, these requirements cannot be checked outside EU territorial seas.
In the case of the export of sheep to the Middle East from Romania this summer, the Commission in its usual role as guardian of the treaties is monitoring the implementation of EU law on animal transport in Romania. The Commission is in contact with the Romanian authorities investigating the case. The Romanian authorities believe that the ship was authorised and the captain was aware of the applicable animal welfare legislation.
If an EU Member State fails to comply with EU law, in accordance with the Treaty the Commission may ultimately launch infringement proceedings against that Member State. At this stage, an EU audit team has been dispatched to Romania and its report is due shortly; please have a look at our webpages for follow-up to the audit: http://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/country_profiles/details.cfm?co_id=RO.
No infringement procedure has been launched, but the Commission continues to monitor the situation in Romania.
We hope you find this information useful. Please contact us again if you have other questions about the European Union, its activities or institutions.
————————————————————————————————–
From Venus: Mark sent me the reply from Europe Direct – 101000527663 and I was very angry.
I wrote some thoughts then:
To this sentence:” However, these requirements can not be checked outside EU territorial seas”.
Maybe the EU does not know how to control it, but it knows what the animals are transported under unlawful circumstances.
Therefore, the EU should ban animal transport to third countries.
In the spring 2019, some veterinarians in Germany have refused to allow transports of sheep in the Middle East, 1) because of the temperatures and 2) because of the well-known brutal slaughter methods practiced there with animals because there is no animal welfare right there, and if at all, far removed from the current EU animal welfare order.
These veterinarians were again forced to give their permits, and that in GERMANY!
To this sentence: “No infringement procedure has been launched, but the Commission continues to monitor the situation in Romania”.
This is not about whether Romania is under supervision.
The point is that the Ministry of Agriculture of Romania has ignored the mail from a Commissioner who has prohibited the trip.
Disregard and disempowerment of the hierarchies in the EU, that’s what it’s all about here. And if a country does such a thing with such ease, it gives us the appalling certainty that the EU has no power and no authority, and thus it is superfluous.
And there is another, third sentence that sounds very humorous by now, if we do not take that as a permanent insult: “We hope you find this information useful. Please contact us again if you have any questions about the European Union, its activities or institutions”.
Please learn to do something for the animals, this is your job, for that pay you the EU citizens.
We don`t have any questionsmore, because we know what your activities are.
The misery of the animals is not deleted with questions, but with deeds.
What you are demonstrably unable to do.
