The container ship "Ever Given", which blocked the Suez Canal until Monday, disrupted the passage of nearly 400 boats in both directions via this commercial axis.
Among these, eleven cargo ships from Romania which transported live animals, including 130,000 sheep.
Taking over from the NGOs on Tuesday, twenty-four LREM parliamentarians wrote an open letter addressed to the Minister of Agriculture to denounce the fate of these calves, cows and sheep: “A known problem on which the European Union must evolve: the regulation of the maritime transport of live animals ”.
The animal rights NGO Animals International warned: "The situation is critical and risks becoming an unprecedented maritime tragedy".
"If the animals lack water and food, they will start pushing each other and will all perish," added Gabriel Paun, Europe manager.
Travel in total opacity
“We are talking about unworthy conditions, animals that are treated less well than objects in cargo ships intended for cars!
”Is carried away Loïc Dombreval, deputy (LREM) of the Alpes-Maritimes and former veterinarian, signatory of the letter addressed to Julien Denormandie.
This elected official and his twenty-four colleagues denounce the aberrations of the transport of live animals by boat.
“There is a real weariness in repeating the same points of tension.
The events are always more grotesque and cruel ”, indicates Typhanie Degois, the deputy (LREM) of Savoy who had in particular piloted a report on the subject in 2018. First, the travel time at sea is not counted as time transport, the animals thus remain for days without being unloaded when European regulations provide for a maximum of 29 hours of transport.
“In addition, most carriers do not provide rest areas for animals in the event that the sea voyage is postponed.
Only 6 of the 13 European ports welcoming animals for maritime transport have spaces where animals can rest, drink and feed themselves when needed ”insists this open letter.
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In the hell of the cattle wagons with calves
Another point that revolts these elected officials, these trips are often made in the most total opacity.
“
Currently, carriers are only required to enter their trips into this tracking system if the port of departure is in another Member State.
In 2018, only 31.6% of cattle and 3.5% of sheep leaving the European Union by sea entered the system ”we read.
The regulations, to say the least incomplete, are not respected because customs officials are "not able to carry out checks, sighs Typhanie Degois, who led the parliamentary inquiry in 2018. Beyond the sordid conditions, there is a real ignorance of the regulations ”.
Barely a few weeks ago, the wanderings of nearly 3,000 cattle in the Mediterranean aboard the Karim Allah and the Elbeick for more than two months had shone the spotlight on these issues.
NGOs like Welfarm are calling for an end to the transport of live animals and replace it with the transport of carcasses in refrigerated trucks or livestock boats.
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“Not to mention, adds Typhanie Degois, that certain small French slaughterhouses which work very well are closing down.
We could relocate most of the chain in France: breeding, transport of live animals over short distances and slaughter in good conditions ”.
