Our team is trailing two trucks with cattle over 1.500 km, from the Smolensk area via Moscow to Samara, in the Southeast of Russia. The goal is to observe the compliance with EU Regulation No. 1/2005 concerning the required resting and feeding intervalls.

The traffic along the route is insane and so are the drivers of the trucks we are following.…

Only one truck with animals crosses the Turkish border today. It is loaded with young bulls from Romania. They are unloaded at a nearby stable to be watered and fed for a few hours. The animals are very thirsty and immediately start fighting for access to the water trough.

In the late afternoon, our team crosses the border in order to check if…

The weather forecast predicts temperatures of 39°C at the Turkish border for today. This is the first day since we started observing this border in 2010 that we do not see any animal trucks crossing the border. We are satisfied that finally our minimum demand that no animals are transported in hot weather is fulfilled, at least for today.

Our team starts to inspect animal trucks from the EU entering Turkey at the border of Kapikule. Close to the border crossing, we see young bulls with Austrian ear tags in a private stable. For one day, they have been stuck inside the border and for another one at this stable due to problems with their documents. Six other trucks with Austrian…

Whilst inspecting the market in Bodzentyn we notice two cows with overgrown hooves. Many animals are not sold and are going back to the farms because of the low price for bovines. The market gets empty before 8 AM. The situation is similar in Lagow. Here as well, the trade ends very early. It looks like animal markets in Poland might be about to…

Whilst inspecting the cattle market in Lagow, our team notices a cow with overgrown hooves. We are taking photos and writing down the ear tag number. In the meantime, the trader who bought the animal to the markets starts yelling at us. The Veterinary Inspector sees the whole situation and decides to thoroughly inspect the trader`s documents and…

Every year before Easter, Italy imports tens of thousands of lambs for slaughter, mainly from Romania and Hungary. AWF|TSB teams check on the transport conditions, supported by the Italian animal welfare organisation ENPA. We inspect a total of eleven trucks, three of them together with the Italian police. All three are in breach of the EU animal…

Our team is invited as an expert to the first four-day edition course on animal welfare during transport (advanced level) under the initiative "Better Training for Safer Food" by the European Commission. Attendants of the event include veterinarian competent authorities from different EU member states involved in official control activities on…

The TSB|AWF and Eyes on Animals (EonA) team returns for the 4^th time to Skaryszew to evaluate whether anything has changed at the annual horse market. Chances for a lasting change are higher with a new Mayor elected last autumn. In February, we were invited to give a training on legal requirements related to the market operation. The participants…

Our FAS team still treats the canker in one of the hooves of a mare in Brody. This is one of the most difficult and demanding cases in our work. We change the treatment method yet again, and additionally draw the hoof profile to prepare special horse shoes with a plate to hold the dressing. This will improve the protection of the fragile and…

After a big scandal in Poland related to selling meat of downer cattle (revealed at the end of January), there is much less animals at the Bodzentyn animal market. Sometimes we see only around 80 animals, some days there are more. We are told that the price of bovines is very low. Many animals are not sold and go back to the farms. Even Veterinary…

At the beginning of February, our team travels to Croatia. The team spends almost one week close to Pula city, where Raša port, one of the main exit ports of live animals to non-European countries, is located.

Our team observes the arrival of three empty livestock vessels: Phoenix I, Phoenix III and Dragon, while at the same time dozens of trucks…