Investigations by Topics:

05. June 2021

Spain | Murica | Inspection of fattening farms

A French bull in Spanish feedlot.

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…

03. June 2021

Spain | Port of Cartagena | Investigation: Live transports by sea

Vessel “FREEDOM” loading European animals destined for export to Lebanon.

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…

16. March 2021

Livestock carrier Elbeik with 1,700 calves on bord stuck at sea since three months

The odyssey of the European calves stuck on the livestock carrier Elbeik continues. After the Elbeik left the Spanish port of Cartagena in December, it is now returning back to European waters.

In January our teams discovered the animal welfare scandal and have been working non-stop to find a solution for the animals ever since. We suspect that…

13. February 2021

EU live exports by sea: Cattle with bluetongue disease held aboard for almost two months

Our teams document the loading of European animals onto the livestock vessel Elbeik. Port of Tarragona, Spain.

Yesterday evening we received the news that sick cattle from the EU have been detained aboard the livestock carrier "Elbeik" for almost two months. There is a suspicion of a bluetongue disease outbreak. For this reason, animals were not allowed to be unloaded in the destination country Libya. Since then, the ship has stopped in several countries…

15. January 2021

Livestock vessel ETAB finally refused access to Paris MoU region

Our teams have been monitoring the ETAB in several EU ports. Here in the French port of Sète in 2020.

The livestock carrier ETAB was detained three times in various EU ports due to serious deficiencies in the past 36 months. Our teams also repeatedly documented animal welfare violations during live transports carried out by ETAB. Most recently, our teams investigated the ETAB in July 2020 during the loading of animals in the Spanish port of…

30. July 2020

France | Port of Sète | Live transports by sea

Our team observes how dock workers are loading the ETAB with straw for the next journey.

Our team is in France for an investigation in the EU port of Sète. From this port, live animals from Europe are often shipped across the Mediterranean to the Maghreb states and the Middle East.

During our investigation, we document two animal transport ships in the port of Sète: ALONDRA (year of construction: 1995) and ETAB (year of construction:…

09. July 2020

Spain | Live transports by sea | Day 4: Port of Cartagena

Out teams have been investigating animal welfare violations during loading in the Spanish port of Cartagena for four days in total.

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…

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…