Suffering on the last journey: EU Parliament takes on animal transport

Created: 2022-01-20 16:53

Animals often go through a lot of suffering on the way to the slaughterhouse.

The EU Parliament now wants to change that © JS Peifer/Imago Images

Roaring calves, injured chickens: What happens to animals on transport through the EU is often anything but compliant.

Now the EU Parliament is making a new attempt for more animal welfare.

Munich - A pig has been fattened and is to be slaughtered.

A calf is not needed on the dairy farm and is to be fattened in Holland.

A pregnant cow is supposed to calve in North Africa and continue to give milk there - all these are reasons why millions of live animals are transported through Europe and beyond its borders every day.

What they experience on this journey is often painful: there is hunger, heat, constriction and injuries.

Deficiencies have been known for many years.

However, the controls of the existing rules are difficult and scandals repeatedly startle the public.

Now the EU Parliament is making a new attempt to improve the transport conditions for animals.

Animal protection: Pressure on the EU Commission should be increased - rules must be improved

MEPs will vote on Thursday on a report by a committee of inquiry that found serious shortcomings in the implementation of the rules. The aim is to put pressure on the EU Commission to improve the rules and ensure better controls. However, changes to the text are still possible. The final version will only be voted on in the afternoon.

One who has high hopes for the paper is Iris Baumgärtner, Vice President of the Animal Welfare Foundation.

She regularly follows animal transporters.

Different species of animals suffer differently when traveling, says Baumgärtner.

"Chickens or turkeys sit in the trucks for hours in small containers or cages that they can't even stand up in." Many got their feet or wings trapped.

"You keep seeing dead or injured animals in between, but you can't help them because you can't get to them."

Terrible condition of animal transport: "The animals are standing in their excrement"

In the case of cattle transport, the sometimes agonizingly long stops at the EU's external borders are particularly problematic, often in scorching heat. "The animals are standing in their excrement," says Baumgärtner. "Even if you only film through the open ventilation flaps, the pungency of the ammonia makes your eyes water." Calves that are still dependent on milk starved on longer journeys. When she drives behind a calf truck, she often hears the roar of the animals that have not had any food for hours. Basically, Baumgärtner complains that animals can be transported quite legally over unlimited distances - if they are unloaded at special stations for prescribed breaks in between.

The problems potentially affect a vast number of animals.

According to the EU Parliament, more than 1.6 billion live animals were transported within and out of the EU in 2019.

According to the European Parliament, the value of trade in live animals within the EU was 8.6 billion euros in 2018.

The trade in live animals with third countries brought in almost three billion euros.

Demands: Maximum transport times and transport bans at extreme temperatures

The report, which has not yet been finally confirmed, now calls for infringement procedures against member states that do not remedy the problems, as well as specified maximum transport times for each animal species and transport bans in extreme temperatures.

It also proposes surveillance cameras for trucks and a ban on transporting very young animals under five weeks old.

A lack of coordination between the EU countries is one of the main problems from the point of view of the Green MEP Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg.

She describes a typical case: "A vehicle registered in Poland drives to Germany, but sometimes does not comply with the rules in Germany." It is difficult for the local authorities to check the vehicle again.

If the animal transport continues, for example to France, it is not possible to check whether the maximum travel times are being observed.

The CSU MP Marlene Mortler, who sat on the U-Committee, puts it this way: "The EU doesn't have that many hands and eyes to monitor violations completely.

That is why the responsibility of the individual member states is and will remain so important.” However, the EU must take care of implementation.

Animal protection: Federal government wants more consistent implementation of the regulations

The federal government is also aware of the issue.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture announced that there would be even more commitment at EU level than before to solve the existing problems with transport to third countries and to promote the consistent implementation of the regulations.

In addition, efforts are being made to redirect the transport of meat and genetic material, such as animal sperm.

The European Union of the Livestock and Meat Trade (UECBV) reports that the report is largely welcomed.

However, a reduction in the permitted transport times - as demanded by the Greens, for example - is not expedient, since "the most critical factor for the welfare of the animals during transport is not the transport time, but the loading and unloading processes," explained Secretary General Karsten Maier.

Animal rights activist Baumgärtner considers the report to be too soft in some places.

However, it contains many important requirements.

"The report of the EU Parliament can be a historic milestone for better animal protection," says Baumgärtner.

"I hope this opportunity will not be wasted."