27. July 2020

Poland | Bodzentyn, Lagow | Monthly Report July: Cattle and Horse Markets

There are no animals at the Lagow cattle market.

Information for chicken sellers stating the rules of transporting birds. This sign has recently been installed at the Bodzentyn animal market thanks to our complaints.

Still, some people ignore the rules and transport chickens in the plastic nets. This causes unnecessary suffering to the animals and is now a forbidden practice.

This month our team starts their work with inspecting the horse market in Bodzentyn. Lately, the market became a place where farm equipment can be bought instead of horses. We have visited this market several times in the past months, however, we did not see a single horse being sold at this market for a long time. The situation at the Lagow cattle market is very similar. Rarely any animals are being sold there.  It seems that both animal markets may stop their operations in the very near future.

Also, the number of cattle that is being sold at the market in the Polish town of Bodzentyn is very low. Our teams document about 100-150 animals. During our inspection in July, we are positively surprised to see a notification at the market stating the rules of how birds should be transported. In the past our teams complained that the animals were transported in plastic bags. This is cruel and causes a lot of unnecessary stress and pain to the birds. They can break their legs and wings and even suffocate in the plastic bags. Now, the market rules finally state clearly that it is forbidden to transport birds in plastic bags or nets. This is a big success of our consistent work and presence at the animal markets.

Unfortunately, we still document some people using plastic bags. This is unacceptable. We will keep monitoring the situation and report all animal welfare violations to competent authorities.