Today we return to the estancia “Las Marquesas” of Fernando Perdigón to conduct further observations on the pastures. Our first sight are three heavily pregnant mares crossing the road. They have yellow tags around their necks. We assume that these mares are used for breeding to ensure a supply of young mares for PMSG production.

Most horses we…

Another long day on the road with Road Transport Inspection and Veterinary Inspection. The first truck is empty, so we have a look inside a very well equipped long distance swanneck trailer - a great educating opportunity. Next, a short distance transport is a consignment of pigs whose status makes us worried: they are dirty, obviously stressed, we…

Three animal transports inspected today with Road Transport Inspection. The first truck looked familiar, and indeed it was the same one that we inspected yesterday, with the same driver. We were pleased to see again proper conditions for the animals. The driver only received a warning for incomplete documentation under Art. 4 of Reg. 1/2005. The…

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…

Every day between 20-30 animal consignments are passing Bulgaria on the way to Turkey, most of the animals need a 24 hours rest in a control post according to Reg. (EC)1/2005. The Bulgarian authorities suddenly closed the Control Post of Royal Haskovo. We have no information about the reasons behind. Presently, only the newly opened control post in…

Today the atmosphere is much calmer. There are only about 70 warm-blooded horses (including ponies) and not too many interested buyers. Many trucks leave empty. We are waiting until the last horse leaves the market. We watch the loading of two small lorries. Both have improper ramps. Moreover, one is overloaded and tows a trailer. The trader loads…

There are by far fewer horses than last year, we count about 250-300. Animals are not so squeezed under the roofed area, but still there is not enough space to keep safe distance between them. Some of the horses standing next to each other try to bite and kick. Again, no one cares about feeding and watering the horses, so the basic needs of many of…

After the luxury of 1.5 hours of sleep we are back on the road with ITD (Road Transport Inspection) officers to check on transports leaving the Skaryszew horse market. We witness cases of too big animals transported in too small lorries, trailers in bad technical condition and problematic international transport that leaves the market without…

Our Eyes on Animals and TSB|AWF team is visiting the annual horse market in Skaryszew. It takes place once a year and hundreds of horses are sold for leisure, breeding, work and slaughter. We want to check if the transport conditions and facilities for the horses at the market have changed since last year, and if our suggestions were implemented.

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