Cruel transports by sea from the EU - 38 hours waiting time before unloading

Once again, our teams, together with our partner organisation IALS, uncovers violations of the EU animal welfare transport regulation: At the beginning of November, the livestock carrier Shorthorn Express leaves Portugal with over 3,000 young bulls on board. We track the transport using GPS data. Six days later, the ship reached the port of destination in Haifa, Israel. Our partner organisation IALS is on site to check the condition of the animals after unloading. Several hours pass. It's getting dark. The Shorthorn Express is still at anchor. It should take a total of 38 hours until the animals are finally unloaded. A clear violation of the EU animal welfare transport regulation and not an isolated case. According to our partners, almost every fifth animal transport ship had to wait more than 10 hours in the port of Haifa to be unloaded in 2021.

After the animals have been unloaded from the ship, the next cruel transport is already waiting for them. Cramped together in trucks, our partners keep documenting the same miserable condition of the animals: exhausted, scared, and suffering animals. Our investigations have proven again and again that the welfare of the animals is no longer protected as soon as they leave the EU. Therefore, it is high time for the EU to ban cruel exports by sea. Animals are not inanimate goods, but sentient beings!