Hungary | Tatabanya | Practical training of Hungarian police

Our Team (Eyes on Animals/Animal Welfare Foundation) assisted the Hungarian police near Tatabanya with inspecting livestock trucks. A Dutch truck from the company Keus en Mollink transporting pigs on a 14-hr journey from the Czech Republic to Romania was stopped and checked. On board were 170 pigs destined for slaughter. Fortunately the weather was moderate and not causing stress to the animals, it was 14 degrees. The pigs were lying down and were calm. There was enough headspace and the loading density was acceptable. Unfortunately during the inspection we could not check if the water tank was full and working. If the journey is longer than 8 hrs the pigs must have access to water. We will remind the police to pay extra attention to this for the next time, particularly in the summer now that the weather is getting hotter.

After checking on the Keus en Mollink pig truck, another livestock truck passed by our inspection post where EonA/AWF were working with the Hungarian police (part of a practical training). This time it was a truck from the Polish company Amsyl, loaded with 29 pregnant German heifers. The pregnant cattle had been loaded at 10:00 on 29.06.2015 in northern Germany and were destined for a farm in Kutahya, Turkey (south of Bursa and west of Ankara), a journey of 3000km and including an important international border crossing where waiting times are known to be very long. According to the EC 1/2005 legislation (on animal protection during transport) adult cattle must be unloaded for a 24-hr rest after each phase of 29 hours of transport regardless if the journey is in the EU or outside. In the case of this transport, two resting stops should have been planned but according to the transport papers only one was scheduled. Our colleagues at AWF are currently drafting up a complaint to the German authorities that approved this export, and Eyes on Animals will sign it before mailing it off.