Latest live animal transport investigation reveals suffering of two-week-old calves

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FarmAnimals

Latest live animal transport investigation reveals suffering of two-week-old calves

2 April 2020
Investigation
Today an investigation by NGOs L214 and Eyes on Animals reveals the treatment of young Irish calves – 2 or 3 weeks of age – upon their arrival in France.

The animals arrived exhausted, thirsty and hungry, and the investigators witnessed the euthanasia of one of them on the spot because his health was compromised by the journey. The investigation was carried out at the beginning of March this year after the trucks, transporting around 300 calves, left Ireland for a journey of more than 12 hours to Cherbourg in France. 

France was not the final destination, so the animals were loaded into trucks again to be transported on to the Netherlands. After 2000km and 50 hours of travel, they arrived on farms to be further fattened and then slaughtered. 

L214 urges the end of  long distance transport of live animals, and for unnecessary animal consignments to stop under this COVID-19 emergency. Due to the current outbreak there are fewer operators performing controls in the Member States and the EU’s borders, which results in very long waiting time for animals crammed into trucks and, potentially, in less stringent checks. In Croatia, Poland, the Netherlands and at the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, there is evidence of animals waiting in trucks for up to 18 hours.