VGT on the European Commission's proposal for stricter regulations for animal transport.
It is truly shameful that the European Commission continues to delay real improvements in animal welfare through false measures. This is despite the fact that we know that animal protection is an important concern for more than 80 percent of EU citizens, as both Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides stated in a statement when presenting the proposals.
Isabell Eckl
Vienna (OTS) – For years, a large majority of the EU population has been calling for improvements in the intolerable conditions under which 1.6 billion animals have to suffer every year in transport within Europe and from Europe to countries the 3rd.
Now, the EU Commission has finally come forward with a long-awaited proposal to tighten the 20-year-old EU Transport of Animals Regulation (EU-TTVO). What should be positively highlighted is that maximum transport times will be reduced and the minimum age of calves and other unweaned animals for transport will be increased from two to five weeks. However, the fact that exports of live animals to third countries should continue to be permitted is incomprehensible and constitutes a mockery of the legitimate animal protection interests of European citizens.
The Commission's proposal envisages strengthening rules for the export of live animals from the Union, “including better controls in third countries so that they comply with the standards applicable in the EU”. However, this only applies to transport there. The painful fate that awaits many animals after being transported there continues. Numerous revelations from European animal protection organizations, including the ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES, have demonstrated for years the cruel torture these individuals are subjected to when there are no animal protection laws that can protect them. Photos from Animals International show how young, conscious cattle have their eyes gouged out or their leg tendons cut to immobilize them. Furthermore, hemorrhage without anesthesia is a common method in many non-European countries.
With regard to the transport of calves, it should be noted that the Commission's proposal to increase the minimum age for the transport of calves to five weeks is only a legal provision of the law currently in force. If the currently valid version of the EU TTVO were interpreted correctly, the transport of calves under five weeks of age would have been banned long ago. Between three and five weeks they are in an immunological gap that makes them unsuitable for transport and, therefore, prohibits their transport. However, countless transporters with younger calves travel the roads of Europe every day. Furthermore, animals that have not been weaned should not be transported for more than eight hours in the future. However, they can be transported for longer periods if there is a suitable feeding system for milk or milk replacer on board. However, since this is not technically feasible and it cannot be guaranteed that each young animal will actually consume enough food while traveling in the truck, this innovation is ineffective. Even eight hours of transport is still a long time for puppies just a few weeks old. It is good that switching between collection points is avoided through a new shipping and destination setting. Therefore, the animals must have remained in a specific location for at least one week before or after transport for this to be considered a place of dispatch or destination.
The maximum transport time for adult animals for slaughter should be reduced from 29 hours to 21 hours. They must then be given a 24-hour rest period, after which they can be transported for a further 21 hours. Although this regulation is an improvement, it is only a minor improvement, which still causes immense and avoidable suffering to animals. THE ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES requires a maximum of eight hours of transport for adult animals.
It is also disappointing that the transport of animals by ship continues to be permitted without time limits. The specious argument that animals suffer less stress on ships than on the road does not justify continuing to subject them indefinitely to the difficulties associated with maritime transport. Just last summer, the ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES discovered in the port of Cartagena, Spain, how cattle from all over Europe were brutally treated when they were loaded onto ships. And the conditions for the animals on board are often more than questionable. The extent of animal suffering usually only becomes apparent when something happens, as was the case with the two ships Karim Allah and ElBeik, which sailed the Mediterranean for around three months loaded with thousands of cattle when they reached their destinations in Turkey and Libya. . was not allowed to dock due to bluetongue disease.
Isabell Eckl, animal transport activist at VGT: “It is truly shameful that the EU Commission continues to delay real improvements in animal protection through false measures. “This is despite the knowledge that animal welfare is an important concern for more than 80 percent of EU citizens, as Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides stated in a statement when presenting the proposals.”
THE ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES continues to call for a ban on exports to third countries, as well as the transport of unweaned animals, and calls on the responsible ministers, Rauch and Totschnig, to press at EU level for effective improvements in the protection of animals, rather than being satisfied with pseudomeasures.
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Questions and contact:
VGT – ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES
Isabell Eckl
0677 637 244 50
[email protected]
https://vgt.at