Investigations by Topics:

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…

25. October 2022

BTSF: Training for official veterinarians in the EU on live transports

Our project manager and BTSF-tutor Maria Boada Saña knows from her experience in the field what official veterinarians need to considered during live transport inspections.

This week we were working for the animals as trainers tutors at the Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF)  a European Commission training initiative aimed to improve knowledge about animal welfare. BTSF trains official veterinarians so that they can ensure compliance with and monitor animal protection laws regarding live transports.

Our project…

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…

04. October 2022

Why is the EU working against science when it comes to live exports via sea?

EU cattle being loaded onto a livestock carrier via raceways.

The facts by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) are on the table. When transported via sea, there are more animal welfare risks for all species than when transported via truck. And yet, the EU Commission is not ready to ban these cruel transports across the Mediterranean. How can that be possible?

EFSA is responsible for providing…

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…

21. September 2022

800 young bulls stranded in the Mediterranean Sea. Is their emergency killing now imminent?

Recordings from our investigations: Animals are being loaded on the vessel NADER-A in a European export port.

Almost three weeks ago, the animals were shipped from France to Algeria. There, the unloading of the animals was refused due to a bureaucratic problem. Since then, the bulls have been wandering the Mediterranean, penned up on a 45-year-old junk ship, the Nader-A. Up until now we do not know how many animals are still alive. We suspect that the…