Official vet reports on his experiences researching with our partner organisation AWF in a newspaper article
Unweaned animals such as calves cannot be cared for in a manner appropriate to their species during long-distance transport.
Long-distance animal transport causes immense suffering: heat, cramped conditions and long waiting times take their toll on the animals. Time and again, our investigations with our partner organisation Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) reveal that legally prescribed rest and feeding breaks are not being observed. Official Veterinarian Thomas Buckenmaier accompanied us on three trips to Spain and the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The Reutlinger General-Anzeiger reports on what he experienced during these investigations.
Together with Dr Buckenmaier, our colleagues from AWF documented long traffic jams at borders, overcrowded transporters and inadequate care at so-called supply stations. Among other things, Buckenmaier criticises the fact that veterinary offices declare the waiting time at the border as a break. ‘I consider the break calculation to be wrong. The animals cannot get out – and there is not even any wind from the vehicle when the transporters have to wait there,’ he is quoted in the article.
He also considers it problematic that calves that have not been weaned are often only fed electrolyte solution instead of milk during transport to Spain. Buckenmaier says: ‘One has to ask oneself: ‘Is it even possible to adequately care for animals that still need milk, such as calves, during such a transport?’
Inspections are not carried out across the board, and outside the EU there is a lack of important unloading and inspection points. The current EU regulation on animal transport ‘is unfortunately anything but clear in its current form. It leaves a lot of room for interpretation,’ Buckenmaier is quoted in the article.
The report in the Reutlinger General-Anzeiger on our research conducted jointly with AWF makes it clear that animal transport continues to cause systematic animal suffering and urgently needs to be subject to stricter controls. We reject the export of live animals to third countries and call for a limit on the duration of animal transports. For unweaned animals, we call for a ban on long transports (> 4 hours). These are illegal and place an unreasonable strain on young animals that are only a few weeks old.
Petition for a ban of exports of live animals from Germany to third countries
