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…

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.…

05. July 2020

Live transports by sea | Monitoring of a sea journey from Romania to Israel

Due to extreme summer heat, Romania and Hungary have banned animal transport by truck to Turkey for a couple of weeks. Now the exporters are changing their strategy and switching to ships and are still transporting the animals by sea to Turkey, and even further to the Middle East in unspeakable heat.

Together with our partner organization Israel…

01. July 2020

New Romanian law legalises heat suffering

Source: Eurogroup for Animals

"Yesterday the Romanian Parliament voted on a bill aimed at ensuring better animal welfare during transport. In reality, the law will legitimize a practice in Romania that is illegal under Council Regulation no. 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport (Transport Regulation).

This is why Eurogroup for Animals joined Animals…

27. June 2020

Poland | Bodzentyn, Lagow | Monthly Report June: Cattle and Horse Markets

Lagow cattle market: Due to a lack buyers, the animals are not even unloaded from the lorries.

This month our team returns to the cattle market in Lago to ensure that the welfare of the animals being sold at the market is respected. Both animal markets in Lagow and Bodzentyn re-opened recently after the imposed restrictions related to COVID-19 were released.

The number of cattle present at the markets is very low. During our inspection…

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…