One hundred and seventy-nine dead, three months of hell at sea, all that to get back to where they started.
1590 surviving cattle docked Thursday at the port of Cartagena (Spain).
They could be slaughtered in the red containers still installed on the docks which had been used to finish off the 895 cattle from the boat "Karim-Allah".
“On the videos, you can see very weakened animals, some of them will die.
And the hyper-concentration in the enclosures is still mind-blowing, ”reports Adeline Colonat, Transport project manager at the NGO Welfarm.
Both the “Elbeik” and the “Karim-Allah”, cattle ships, were refused in Turkey for the same reason, a suspicion of “blue tongue”, a very contagious disease (not transmissible to humans).
From there, Egypt, Tunisia, Cyprus, Sardinia, Sicily… These freighters wandered from ports to try to resell their precious cargo.
On Sunday, the “Elbeik” was in Menorca.
According to our information, he was still trying to find a buyer there, especially in Libya.
But according to a source on board, Spain's agriculture ministry has refused their requests for new health certificates de facto banning the animals from re-exporting.
Then Madrid ended up demanding the return of the freighter.
"It is time to shorten the suffering"
This Friday, animal rights NGOs grouped within Eurogroup For Animals are calling for the killing of these cattle.
A heartbreak for these animal lovers.
“It is time to shorten the suffering, insists Adeline Colonat.
The conditions are truly inhumane.
And yet the captain says he is firmly determined to have his animals tested to prove that they are free from bluetongue, the famous disease that started this whole affair.
"
European regulations require animals to be declared "fit for travel" by a veterinarian.
However, the inspection of the "Karim-Allah" herd in Cartagena had concluded that he could not go back to sea. An email from the Turkish authorities sent on December 21 that we were able to consult shows that the Spanish authorities were aware very early on. after the departure of "Karim-Allah" that he would be refused.
Spain would have done nothing, neither to repatriate the cargo ship nor to alert the European Commission.
It was only two months later, when the freighter had dropped anchor in Cagliari, that the Commission was notified by the Italian veterinary services.
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"This crazy story proves once again that the situation is totally out of control when a livestock cargo ship leaves the EU," summarizes Adeline Colonat, transport manager at Welfarm.
In theory, animals are protected by European regulations, but in practice, this is not at all the case: the proof!
It is impossible to repatriate animals to Europe in the event of a health or administrative problem, no emergency plan is planned to manage this kind of situation ”
She regrets that the “authorities do not (do) anything unless the NGOs, the media and parliamentarians force them to do so.
For years, his association, like others, has been calling for an end to the export of live animals and to replace it with that of carcasses.
The argument, illustrated by these sad odysseys, is as follows: "The confinement on a boat for so many weeks has an impact on the well-being caused by the stressful, artificial environment of the boat, the poor hygienic conditions. and high ammonia levels, such as possible shortages of fodder and water, ”insists Iris Baumgartner of the Animal Welfare Foundation.
14,000 goats drowned in 2019 off Romania
"The European Commission must investigate the case of
Elbeik
and
Karim-Allah
to prevent such cases from happening again in the future," insists Pierre Sultana, director of the Four Paws.
“We demand that Spain suspend the export of live animals, until the investigation is finished.
The association insists on the fact that such conditions are not the exception but the norm.
Not so long ago, in 2019, the ship "Queen-Hind" capsized and 14,000 goats drowned off Romania.
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In Brussels, the president of the commission of inquiry on the protection of animals during transport (Anit), Tilly Metz, asked for explanations from the Spanish Minister of Agriculture.
She recalls this strange exception: “Maritime transport escapes the already very permissive limits of transport time, for example 29 hours with breaks for weaned cattle, because the time spent on the boat is currently considered as rest time and not as the transport time.
As if for the animals these long weeks spent at sea in terrible conditions were a cruise.