Poland | Podhale | Transport of lambs from Poland to Italy

We inspect a sale market of lambs in southern Poland and follow a long-distance transport from this sale to a slaughterhouse in Italy. The truck carries 800 lambs, loaded on four decks in crowded conditions and with insufficient headspace. The lambs differ in sizes and ages and most of them are still on a milk diet. The driver makes several breaks during the transport but he turns on the water system for only one hour. Throughout the transport, we see thirsty animals licking the trailer walls and bars and bleating loudly without stopping. They are clueless about how to use the unsuitable metal drinking nipples. Moreover, the animals on the highest deck have impossible access to the drinking devices. In addition, we detect two lambs whose legs are stuck between the floor and the sidewall; one lamb whose head is totally stuck between the divider and the sidewall and three more with the whole body trapped between compartments. The transport vehicle is obviously inappropriate for unweaned lambs. Upon arrival at the slaughterhouse near Perugia the next day, the animals have been on board for almost 29h without drinking. They have been transported over 1.500 km. The maximum permitted transport time for unweaned lambs is 19h according to the EU regulation. Additionally, the driver has been driving during the first 14h alone, a flagrant breach of the EU driving law. During all the journey the driver seems exhausted and after 19h an ambulance comes to take him to the hospital.

We inspect two more long-distance transports of lambs from the same company that are travelling together. We observe the same problems and we detect more animals with stuck legs and heads. During the unloading, we observe one animal with an important leg injury that is unable to stand and is dragged out of the truck. We are going to send complaints to the competent authorities that approved these transports.