As you can read in the ‘About Us’ section; we have worked with Lesley and her great team at ‘Eyes on Animals’ http://www.eyesonanimals.com/ (based in the Netherlands) many times in the past regarding live animal transport issues.
Access to animals in transport has been a massive concern of ours also and we have worked together regarding this issue for quite some time. A couple of our past posts which deal with this issue can be seen at:
https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2013/05/19/world-food-farming-live-export-news-shorts/
If you go to ‘About Us’, you can scroll down until you see pictures taken at Dover (UK) of ‘sealed trailers’ which are being used by Dutch hauliers / exporters to transport live sheep from the UK to mainland EU. As you can see from the above link photos; also those below; and from the report produced by Lesley – ‘The Importance of Access During Transport’; ensuring access to animals during transport is vital. The sealed box trailers operated by Dutch hauliers (and as seen in the following photo) in the UK do NOT provide this access.
Above picture – A ‘sealed box’ trailer filled with live sheep arrives at Dover, UK
Below – loaded onto the ‘Joline’ for export to Calais (photos – V. Cameron)
Below – the importance of good access to animals during transport.
To check condition, injury; provide access for food and water to be provided.
(Photos – EoA NL)
The following is a recent report by Lesley of an incident at the Turkish border. As you can read and see from the video, it was only because the trailer involved was fitted with access doors that the animals were able to be provided with food and water. If ‘sealed box’ type trailers had been used instead, what would this post now be saying ? – probably that all animals had died at their delay at the border crossing due to lack of access and the inability to provide them with water and food !
Please read Lesley’s report on how important / vital good access to ALL animals being carried is vital during transport. Here is the link to the report:
Downloads_Eyes_on_Animals_report_Importance_of_Access
The following below is the report of the incident at the Turkish border as provided by Lesley.
As just one part of all our campaign work for bettering animal welfare during road transport; we will continue to work with our friends to make the EU aware of the current situations and to try and ensure that for the future; legislation is updated to make access to all animals during transport much easier and part of EU regulations. We do not want animals in sealed box trailers; where drivers cannot see or gain access to sick and injured beings. Time for change !!
Continually fighting to improve live animal transport conditions
and the animals welfare !
Mark – Founder SAV.
——-
Dear livestock-truck body shops, EU/DG Sanco and Member State officials, FVO, UECBV, OIE and exporters and transporters of live animals,
(voor het Nederlands, zie hieronder)
On October 8th a truck with 28 pregnant buffalos from Piemonte, Italy arrived at the Bulgarian/Turkish border, after a journey of almost 2000km.
The Bulgarian authorities at the BIP let the truck through but it got stopped inside the border by the Turkish authorities because it did not have the correct papers. I will not go into the details of what was missing in the paper work, it is irrelevant for the purpose of this email.
The chauffeur was fortunately a competent and motivated one. He did his utmost best to get feed brought into the border, and he regularly fed and watered and checked-on each animal on board. As well, the Turkish veterinarian at the border was able to regularly check on the pregnant animals blocked inside. This was all possible because of the fact that the Pezzaioli vehicle used had many access doors on the side of the vehicle.
Please watch a short video of the buffalo’s on the truck that our Turkish inspector made while at the border :
http://youtu.be/CmY8pVB_Xek?list=UUhBcB2ogxBjSx3sWJ8jg4rA
Should the truck not have had access doors, the driver would not have been able to easily place large troughs to manually water the animals inside, and make sure that each animal was getting enough liquid and feed. Additionally, should the truck have been a closed one, the veterinarian also would not have been able to monitor the health condition of the pregnant animals and step in should one have needed an injection or treatment.
Yesterday afternoon, October 13th, after 6 days of being blocked at the border and EonA/AWF making dozens of phone calls to EU and TR authorities, he finally got permission to continue his journey to a farm in Bursa, Turkey.
I hope this incident, which occurs more regularly than one would like to believe at important border crossings, helps you understand why easy access to the animals on board is so vital to assure the welfare of the animals during all unforeseen circumstances. We ask you please to make sure all the trucks you build, approve or use have good access opportunities to the animals. It is the law but also it is useful in practice! We are pleased to hear that certain companies have installed access doors in their airco and forced ventilation trucks. We want to also insist that not only closed trucks have these doors, but also normal livestock trucks. Some are built now without side access doors and this is not smart or in compliance with the EC 1/2005.
best wishes,
Lesley Moffat – Director Iris Baumgaertner
Margreet Steendijk – Senior inspector Head of Inspections
DUTCH VERSION BELOW – Beste mensen, (for English please see above)
Graag willen wij het volgende onder uw aandacht brengen: Op 8 oktober kwam er een transport met 28 zwangere buffels uit Piemonte Italië aan bij de Bulgaars/Turkse grens, na een reis van ongeveer 2000 km.
De truck kreeg geen toestemming om Turkije binnen te gaan. Als reden voor het oponthoud meldt Turkije dat het veetransport niet over de juiste papieren beschikte. Op de verdere details zullen wij in deze email niet ingaan en zijn niet relevant. De chauffeur heeft zijn uiterste best gedaan om zijn dieren elke dag van eten en hooi te voorzien. Ook kon de dierenarts de dieren controleren. Dit was mogelijk, doordat de truck van Pezzaiola beschikte over veel toegangsdeuren aan de zijkant. Aub kijk naar de korte film van de buffalos op de veeauto:
http://youtu.be/CmY8pVB_Xek?list=UUhBcB2ogxBjSx3sWJ8jg4rA
Was dit niet het geval geweest, zou de chauffeur de dieren naar alle waarschijnlijkheid niet hebben kunnen voeren en met de hand een voor een water gegeven, en had de dierenarts geen mogelijkheid gehad om de buffels (visueel) te controleren. Gisteren middag, 13 oktober, kreeg de chauffeur na 6 dagen, toestemming zijn reis met als eindbestemming Bursa te vervolgen. De buffels hadden toen 6 dagen aan de grens in de veewagen doorgebracht.
U begrijpt dat wij door dit dramatische incident eens temeer overtuigd zijn van het nut en noodzaak van toegangsdeuren. Wij vragen u dan ook om deze standaard aan te brengen in alle veewagens die uw bedrijf bouwt. Alleen op die manier is het mogelijk om in dit soort situaties adequaat op te treden en de dieren de zorg te geven waar zij wettelijk recht op hebben.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Lesley Moffat – Director Iris Baumgaertner
Margreet Steendijk- Senior Inspector Head of Inspections
Above – Good trailer access – note plenty of access doors.
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Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 