Surely we all have already noticed by the media that these days again and again animal transporters are stopped by the police and depict dramatic scenes.
Image: deutsches Tierschutzbüro e.V
Last Friday, for example, the motorway police in the Nuremberg area (Germany) stopped an overheated animal transport with about 800 piglets. The officers had been alerted by a committed animal rights activist from the Nuremberg area.
He observed while driving on the A3 that many of the animals gasped and were in poor general condition.
Locally, the officials found that the temperature in the transporter was about 41 degrees Celsius. The outside temperature during the day was 38 degrees Celsius!
Image: deutsches Tierschutzbüro e.V
The stench was appalling, as the eyewitness sketched. The parking lot in an industrial area ( where the driver had parked) was flooded with excrement and dirt –
these were the legacies of a transport that was already hundreds of miles across Europe.
The networked animal rights activist observed and told us that the drinking system was only turned on, when the driver of the transporter was asked to do so. Already after a short time this was already empty. It did not really work.
“There’s a bit of criminal energy behind it” the police spokesman said. “At such temperatures, it’s like a death sentence.”
Image: deutsches Tierschutzbüro e.V
The truck was on its way from the Netherlands to Croatia – a distance of over 1000 kilometers. Only in Austria a new stop was planned.
Until at least the animals would have remained without water.
Image: deutsches Tierschutzbüro e.V
Due to the prevailing high temperature and acute water shortage many of the animals were found in a very dehydrated state, at least two piglets were already dead.
The police called then the responsible fire department and the veterinary office, which arrived a short time later and provided the animals with water first. The animals were then transported to the slaughterhouse in Erlangen (Bavaria) to be unloaded and cared for overnight.
Although in the meantime a few more animal rights activists turned on and already gave life courts places for some animals, unfortunately none of the piglets could be rescued.
Image: deutsches Tierschutzbüro e.V
After the animals were supplied with water and food in the premises of the slaughterhouse, the responsible VET doctor unfortunately released the truck and was allowed to resume its journey to Croatia.
Some of the piglets were previously found in such poor condition that they were killed on the spot.
We immediately filed a complaint against the drivers and the freight forwarding company and very much hope that it will be punished accordingly.
Safety measures in the five-digit range were imposed on the two drivers of the animal transporter.
But what happened in Nuremberg is not an isolated case.
As long as Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner (the friend-girl of the slaughterhouses) not finally and consistently intervenes international and national animal transports in the summer months, in principle, it will come to such disasters at the expense of animals.
Therefore, we ask everyone to be vigilant. If you are traveling in the next few days and weeks ( and we all have to fight again with temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius) please also be active. Watch the animal transporters exactly.
Image: deutsches Tierschutzbüro e.V
Should you notice something like very heavily panting or injured animals gasping for air, please alert the police immediately.
https://www.change.org/p/unterschreibe-jetzt-tiertransporte-endlich-abschaffen/u/24893519
My comment: (From the official information center for agriculture, Germany):
“Objective consideration of long-distance transport from Germany shows that German companies are complying with existing regulations.” (see above the case Nuremberg)
The protection of the animals is the focus of transport. After inspections in several EU Member States, the EU Commission emphasized that the additional transnational procedures for official animal welfare controls in Germany are excellent (see also above).
In this country, each long-distance transport in non-EU countries is monitored and checked by veterinary officials (as the vans waitfor days at the Bulgarian-Turkish border crossing Kapıkule , at 40 degrees Celsius heat.)
We know very well that from the European ports European law is systematically broken, from here on every possibility of control ends.
In February 2017, two years ago, the public was shocked by the fall of a ship that sailed from a Croatian port to Alexandria in Egypt for six days. Three pregnant cows died already in the first four days. In the end, the number of dead animals increased to nine.
But according to EU law it is forbidden to transport pregnant animals!
In addition, the export of live slaughter and breeding animals is booming. Germany alone exported animals worth € 1.34 billion in 2017, almost eight percent more than in the previous year.
France, the Netherlands, Hungary and Germany are high on the list of EU suppliers. According to the Statistical Office of the EU, Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt are among the major importers.
One wonders, for how stupid keeps us the EU – Kommission and its business partners, the animal transport mafia!
My best regards to all, Venus
Beyond Meat founder, Ethan Brown
