Investigations by country:

14. December 2022

Poland: Live transport inspections together with the Road Transport Police (ITD)

Our team watches the road for live transports together with the Polish road transport police (ITD).

Our team again joins the Road Transport Police (ITD) for animal welfare inspections of live transports. This time we are inspecting live transports crossing Eastern Poland. Two days of joint inspections resulted in interesting observations. Despite very cold weather we inspected national as well as and long-distance transports of live animals.

The…

30. November 2022

Poland | Swietokrzyskie | Monthly report November: Farm Animal Service

Linow: We are taking the puppies to a foster home until they find new owners.

First, our team drove to a farm in Linow to talk with the owners about the puppies which we had found in a dilapidated chicken house a week before. During the conversation, they admitted that they could not afford to keep them all. They asked us to take the puppies with us to find a new home for them, and we agreed to take care of the rehoming if…

03. November 2022

How the scandalous livestock carrier ELBEIK became a ghost ship

In March 2021, the livestock carrier ELBEIK made international headlines: with almost 1,800 young bulls on board, the vessel wandered the Mediterranean for almost three months. The animals were detained on the ELBEIK because of suspected bluetongue virus. 179 animals did not survive the cruel transport, the remaining animals were taken to the…

31. October 2022

Poland | Swietokrzyskie | Monthly report October: Farm Animal Service

Dobruchna: We are trimming the hooves of a lame mare.

This month, our FAS team starts with their work on a farm in Dobruchna. Here, we are looking after a limping mare. During trimming we find an abscess in one of her hooves. Also, on the next farm in Skorzeszyce, another mare is suffering from an abscess. We clean and disinfect the wounds.

Next, we are on our way to Sieradowice. Here, we are…

19. October 2022

Joint live transport inspections with the Polish road transport police (ITD)

Together with the Polish road transport police IDT our team is on the lookout for live transports.

Our team is driving to Gorzow in Western Poland to join the road transport police (ITD) for animal welfare inspections of live transports. During two shifts, we inspect six vehicles in total.

Among them, two trucks with German pigs being transported for slaughter, two vehicles with Danish piglets on board on journeys exceeding 8 hours for further…

13. October 2022

Seminar on live transports for police and official veterinarians in Giessen (Germany)

During a seminar for police and official veterinarians, our project manager Iris Baumgärtner gives a lecture on welfare problems during live transports. She is supported by Dr Claudia Eggert-Satzinger, an official veterinarian with many years of experience with inspections of live transports. The main topic are the requirements of the European…

30. September 2022

Poland | Swietokrzyskie | Monthly report September: Farm Animal Service

Stara Slupia: After shortening the overgrown claws of this mother cow, she can walk without pain again.

This month is very busy for our Farm Animal Service (FAS) team. We start our work on two farms in Debniak. There we trim the hooves of five horses. Afterwards, we are driving to a farm in Czastkow. We are happy to see that the owner has finished building a new stable. Currently, he is using it for storage, but soon he will build boxes so that his…

27. September 2022

Investigation in the US: Bouvry’s horse assembly centre in Shelby

Success: Bouvry's assembly centre in Shelby (USA) has ceased operations.

The Bar S Feedlot in Shelby, Montana, can hold up to 1,800 animals. It serves as a horse assembly centre for the Canadian slaughter company Bouvry. Slaughter horses from all over the United States are gathered here before being transported to Bouvry's slaughterhouse in Calgary (Canada). There, the horses destined for the EU market stay in feedlots…

26. September 2022

Nader-A: Systematic authority failure again leads to the emergency killing of several hundred bulls

Recording from a past investigation: young bulls in an overcrowded pen on the Nader-A.

Live export tragedies at sea are man-made. This is again being demonstrated by the case Nader-A. At the beginning of September, around 800 young bulls were transported from France to Algeria on the vessel called Nader-A. The unloading of the animals was refused in Algiers due to a bureaucratic problem. After three weeks of wandering around the…