According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) more than 50 billion animals were slaughtered for consumption in 2003. Aquatic animals and animals from countries that did not report their slaughter figures are not included in these statistics. This figure is incredible and represents the sum of many individual animal tragedies.
What is the situation?
In Germany alone, every year around 450 million animals are slaughtered. Every “slaughter” animal is subjected to the stress of transportation at least once in its life, when transported to the slaughterhouse. But very often, in addition to the transport to slaughter, the animals have already had to endure one or more transports in their young lives. The animals are transported within Europe, from Europe to third countries (e.g. to the Near East) and from third countries (e.g. Belarus) to Europe. Around 100,000 horses arrive from Eastern Europe, ending up in Italian, French or Belgian slaughterhouses.
Moreover, Germany is an export country for animals. Around five million animals are “despatched” annually. A distinction is made between “breeding”, “further fattening” and “slaughter” animals. As a rule, the more “valuable” “breeding” animals are transported more carefully. The animals involved in this live export trade include cattle and calves, horses, donkeys, sheep and lambs, pigs and piglets, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, fish (among them aquarium fish), marine animals, laboratory animals, zoo and circus animals, dogs, ostriches and exotic animals. Various means of transportation are used in this trade: trucks, trains, ships and planes, and in some countries even cars and bicycles.
Why are live animals transported and not refrigerated meat?
If you wish to obtain statistical figures about the transport of animals from the Federal Statistical Office, it becomes clear that animals are regarded as goods. First, you must indicate the appropriate commodity code, and then you receive the requested information in pieces or tons. The live animal market functions according to the same pattern as the market for inanimate objects: supply and demand, purchasing price and profit margin.
The following are the reasons for live animal transports:
- Agricultural subsidies of the European Union
In many EU countries, agricultural subsidies have led to the construction of large-scale animal production facilities and to overproduction. The “excess” animals are transported to countries where there is a demand. In order to “relieve” the beef market in the EU, the export to third countries is subsidised by export refunds. Approximately 200 euros are paid from taxpayers’ money for every live animal that is exported. Another example is the waiving of import duties: by not imposing any import duties, the import of calves into the EU is financially supported. The consequence is that calves are imported into the EU over vast distances. - Specialisation of the industrial agriculture
Industrial agriculture works according to the same principles as normal businesses. The individual work steps are separated from each other and shifted to where the production conditions allow the highest profit margin. Industrial animal breeding and animal husbandry, for example, are concentrated in those European regions where feed and wages are cheap or animal protection standards are low. - Centralisation of slaughtering facilities
Large-scale slaughterhouses were constructed with EU money. In order to fully use their capacity, they try to attract customers by offering cheap prices. Smaller, regional slaughterhouses cannot compete and shut down, which results in longer animal journey times. - Ritual slaughtering and meat preferences
For religious and traditional reasons some countries prefer live animals so that they can slaughter them to their own rites. In 2003, 96,722 bulls were shipped from Germany to the Middle East. Calves are transported from Germany to Spain for further fattening to obtain the highly sought-after white meat. The reason for this is that in Spain animals can be kept in conditions that are not allowed in Germany. Horses are mainly transported live, because in import countries such as France and Italy the consumers are said not to accept any refrigerated meat.
Within the EU, a directive on the protection of animals during transport is in force, stipulating a maximum journey time of 8 hours. Under certain circumstances, journey times can be extended endlessly, e.g. if the transport is effected in ‘higher standard’ vehicles or if resting periods and feeding intervals are met. Journeys of up to 8 hours can be carried out in ‘basic’ vehicles. For transports exceeding 8 hours, special ‘higher standard’ vehicles with water supply systems and ventilation, for example, must be used.
In Germany, the EU directive was implemented as national law in 1997, called the “Tierschutztransport-Verordnung” (a national German regulation on the protection of animals during transport).
From 2007, the new EU Regulation on the protection of animals during transport will come into force. This regulation will bring some improvements, but not the urgently required maximum overall journey limit.
How many animals are loaded on one transport truck?
Depending on the species, animals may be transported in trucks with one to four decks. Horses are allowed to travel in single-deck trucks only, cattle in double-decker trucks, pigs, sheep and calves in triple-decker trucks and young animals, such as lambs and piglets, even in quadruple-decker trucks. Also the number of animals per compartment or per square meter is stipulated by the law.
Large animal transport trucks, used for example for the transport of horses, have a loading area of 33 to 38 m², i.e. between 18 and 22 adult horses can be loaded onto one truck (1.75 m² according to the German Regulation on the protection of animals during transport ‘TierSchTrVO’). However, we have already seen trucks with 35 horses on board. The maximum number of animals per transport truck is 30 – 35 for adult cattle, approx. 150 for pigs, approx. 700 for lambs and approx. 350 for sheep. Overloading and crammed conditions are the most serious problems of animal transportation.
How long do the journeys take?
The shortest transport is the one to the nearest slaughterhouse. In the best case, the farmer himself transports the animal to the slaughterhouse within one or two hours. However, in most cases, the animals are bought by dealers at livestock markets or trading centers and transported to distant slaughterhouses. The Animals’ Angels teams have documented some examples of long-distance animal transports and journey times involved. The rest periods at the EU staging posts (stables) are included in these journey times. But even during these rest breaks the animals will not find rest and are exposed to further stress.
Horses from Belarus to Sardinia. Duration: 5 days. Sheep from Spain to Greece. Duration: 4 days. Calves from Germany to Spain. Duration: 25 hours. Bulls from Germany to the Lebanon. Duration: 6 – 8 days. For animals transported by ship from Australia to Egypt, for example, the total journey takes approx. 3 weeks. These are average travel times. Unforeseen delays, caused by accidents, traffic jams on motorways or at the borders are not included.
Are the animals cared for during these journeys?
Only few controls are carried out by the state authorities. For this reason, only very conscientious forwarders actually unload, feed and water the animals. For long-distance transports the vehicles must have sufficient supplies of feed and be equipped with a water supply system. Again and again, we have witnessed that the animals could not operate and use the drinking facilities, because these facilities were, e.g., unsuitable for the animal species, located in the wrong place and/or far too few for the number of animals.
