Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

March 2010 – Dover Sheep Smuggling Update

Uk (England) ‘Kent Against Live Exports’ – KALE, have been working with Netherlands based investigator colleagues at ‘Eyes on Animals’ http://eyesonanimals.com/  for several months to take further action as a result of the attempted sheep smuggling incidents from Dover during September 2009.

Past SAV posts relating to Dover sheep smuggling attempts:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/uk-england-live-animals-attempted-to-be-exported-from-the-uk-as-boxed-meat/ 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/uk-dutch-haulier-exposed-smuggling-320-live-sheep-out-of-the-uk-declared-as-boxed-meat/ 

Shipments were organised by using (and as a result, misleading) the carrier P&O ferries, but most importantly, by the haulier declaring the ‘cargo’ being carried was ‘boxed meat’ rather than the 320 live sheep which were actually in one consignment.  A deliberate attempt was made by the Dutch haulier involved to undertake deceitful actions to bluff all parties involved in carrying his vehicle to Europe that the cargo being carried was completely different to that actually on board.

‘Eyes on Animals’ and KALE have worked together to provide regular information to the Dutch authorities (Ministry) on this case.

By using further additional information obtained from DEFRA in the Uk, the Dutch Ministry has now been able to hand out both ‘Number 1’ and ‘Number 2’ warnings to this Dutch transport company who are involved.  In the Netherlands, when a company such as this receives a third and final warning, their (operators) licence is then either removed or they have to pay a fine of either 3,ooo Euro per week until solved, 5,000 or 10,000 Euro depending on the severity of the violation.

In the recent past, the Dutch authorities didn’t do anything significant against livestock transporters, simply sending them one letter of warning after another.

From information provided by Netherlands based ‘Eyes on Animals’, since Jan 1st 2009 there is a new Dutch sanctioning system which is tougher and so far appears to be regularly enforced. One company has already had their licence removed, another is about to.

The head of the second company which is in trouble has asked ‘Eyes on Animals’ to train his drivers, training which was undertaken on Saturday 20^th March. One component of this training by ‘Eyes on Animals’ concentrates on ethics and animal behaviour, as drivers are supposed to be, and claim to be, well versed on the law regarding animal transport.

Link:  Eyes on Animals gives a workshop on improving animal welfare to livestock drivers from the Dutch/German company Keus en Mollink:

http://eyesonanimals.com/index.php?id=9&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=149&tx_ttnews[backPid]=8&cHash=466d11717f 

‘Eyes on Animals’ training will make the latest EU animal transport legislation responsibilities clear to these drivers and press home the need to 1) respect EU animal transport law, and 2) very much respect the animals they are carrying.

It is hoped that by issuing these warnings and potentially large financial burdens on operators / hauliers, the Dutch authorities are now sending a clear message that causing animal suffering such as this will not be tolerated and that further actions will then be taken as necessary.

In addition to regular correspondence with (NL) ‘Eyes on Animals’, (Uk) KALE have been informing and updating the Uk authorities of these smuggling incidents.  KALE are now awaiting the results of the investigations into these incidents by Uk based authority Kent Trading Standards (KTS) to see if there are going to be any further actions taken on the Uk side of the Channel which parallel those of the Dutch authorities.  KALE are eagerly awaiting the results of the KTS investigation.

Note – Mark Johnson, founder of SAV, has also been very involved in this expose of sheep smuggling from the Uk.  In his additional role as EU Correspondent / investigator for KALE, Mark has found that close, international cooperation between live animal transport investigation groups such as Eyes on Animals and KALE is essential in ensuring that all possible information is transmitted to authorities who can have an effect on results.  The issue of both No.1 and No.2 warnings to the haulier in this case shows what effect good, regular and detailed information transfer can achieve.

KALE and Eyes on Animals are both dedicated to future cooperation to both protect animals in transport across Europe.  They are certain that further investigations and information transfer will continue to lead to future prosecutions where necessary.

Other Links:

Kent Against Live Exports (KALE) – http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~kale/news/103.htm

Eyes on Animals (Home) – http://eyesonanimals.com/

Eyes on Animals (Investigations) – http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=10058689

Note – there may be a 20 second advert prior to the start of this (investigations) programme !

 Past Times: Live Calves being exported from Dover (Uk). Photo – Mark Johnson.

Note – this photo has nothing to do with the investigation / results given above.

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