Our team trails a Polish transporter loaded with 232 calves from Czech Republic. The calves have not been weaned yet. This means that they are still reliant on milk. During a stop close to the German border we inspect the loading conditions of the calves. The truck is equipped with a drinking system for pigs. This not appropriate to provide liquids…

Our team is investigating several fattening farms together with our partner organisation, Animals International, and two Members of the European Parliament: Thomas Waitz, and Caroline Roose. Spain is the biggest exporter of cattle and the second biggest exporter of sheep to third countries in the EU. Spain exports most animals by sea.

We inspect…

In the beginning of June, our investigation team is travelling to Cartagena in Spain. Cartagena is one of the main EU exit ports for live animals that are sent via sea to non-European countries.  

In 2018, an audit carried out by the EU Commission discovered various animal welfare violations during the loading of animals from trucks onto vessels…

On our last investigation day, we observe further loadings of live animals in the Spanish port of Cartagena. Already in the past three days, our teams have documented several animal welfare violations when animals were loaded from trucks onto livestock carriers.

As in the previous days, the daily temperature rises above 30 degrees Celsius. Today…

Today our teams are investigating the Spanish port area of ​​Cartagena again. Together with our partner organisations Welfarm and Animals International, we want to monitor the loading of European animals onto livestock carriers and check whether the regulation on animal welfare during transport is respected.

We see that the vessels AI FAROUK and…

It is the second day of our investigation in the Spanish port of Cartagena. Together with our partner organisations Welfarm and Animals International, we want to monitor the loading process of European animals onto livestock vessels.

Today, only the vessels ETAB and SARAH M are being loaded with sheep, lambs, and bulls. The docking places of the…

Our team is on an investigation together with our partner organisations Welfarm and Animals International in the Spanish port of Cartagena. In 2018, an audit carried out by the EU Commission discovered various animal welfare violations during the loading of animals from trucks onto ships in various EU export ports. Cartagena belongs to these ports.…

Our team is investigating fattening farms in the Spanish region of Lleida. This is also where unweaned calves from Germany are transported. After six to ten months of fattening, these calves are exported to countries outside European Union by sea. 

On the first investigation day we spot a calf outside the fattening farm pen. The calf is lying in…

Our team is investigating in the Spanish export harbour Tarragona. We are accompanied by a journalist. Together we want to collect information about live export by sea from Spain. 

Currently, animals are loaded on export ships in Tarragona almost on a daily basis. The demand for live animals from the Middle East is very high at the moment because…