Investigations by country:

08. July 2020

Spain | Live transports by sea | Day 3: Port of Cartagena

The vessels AL FAROUK (on the left) and NABOLSI I (on the right) are docking in the port of Cartagena.

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…

07. July 2020

Spain | Live transport by sea | Day 2: Port of Cartagena

A dock worker with an orange west tries to capture a run-away sheep.

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…

06. July 2020

Spain | Live transports by sea | Day 1: Port of Cartagena

Our teams observe how the livestock vessel ETAB docks at the port of Cartagena.

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.…

22. June 2020

Spain | Catalonia | Export of calves: Dying calf on fattening farm

We detect a dying calf that is left without medical assistance on the fattening farm.

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…

21. June 2020

Spain | Tarragona | Live exports by sea

A journalist is accompanying our investigators in Spain.

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…

18. October 2018

Germany | Bad Waldsee | Transport of unweaned calves from Germany to Spain

In the beginning of October, AWF|TSB team drives 1160 km for more than 22 hours, trailing a truck which is transporting young German calves from Bad Waldsee (south of Germany) to a calf assembly centre in Vic (northern Spain). The youngest calf is just 15 days old.As victims of the German dairy industry (the main European milk producer), thousands…

12. July 2018

Spain | Tarragona | Shiptransport - ongoing investigations

[Translate to English:] “Britta K” steht bereit zum Laden von EU-Tieren für Libyen.

Thanks to our undercover team, we observe the loading of the animals on the “Britta K” vessel. This time, the loading is done in a professional way. However, most of the animals will suffer as a consequence of the long journey by the sea in bad conditions. For this reason, AWF|TSB will continue observing and denouncing these horrible export…

12. July 2018

Spain | Tarragona | Ship transport - observations in the harbour

[Translate to English:] Das Tiertransportschiff "Britta K" erreicht den Hafen von Taragona.

Today is time to inspect the situation in Tarragona. Our team waits the whole day for the arrival of the vessel “Britta K”, which is coming to load cattle from different countries from Europe. We know this Lebanese vessel quite well from previous investigations, and we know its reputation of not being really “friendly” in respect to animal welfare.

12. July 2018

Spain | Cartagena | Ship transport - loading day 4

[Translate to English:] Wir beobachten im Hafen das Tiertransportschiff "Fidelity".

Today “Fidelity”, a huge vessel loaded with thousands of animals, is departing from Cartagena. After a miserable life on the farms, these animals have been transported to Spain by road (a journey lasting days) from all over Europe in horrible conditions. But their journey is not over yet, they still have very long trip ahead, lasting days or even…