Together with the French organization PMAF and the Spanish organization ANDA, Animals’ Angels inspects a transporter with pigs en route from Spain to southern Italy. Despite the fact that high temperatures are to be expected along the way, the pigs on the second and third levels do not have access to the truck’s water system and thus cannot drink. This is due to a problem with the truck. It is alarming that Animals’ Angels observed the same transport with the same problem twice already in the summer of 2010 and filed complaints with the competent veterinary authority at that time. Apparently neither the veterinary office at the loading location in Spain nor the Italian veterinarians have the requisite interest in ensuring that the pigs can drink while traveling. This time the animal welfare organizations call the French police. The gendarmes issue a fine that the drivers pay immediately. The pigs, however, have to continue on without access to water because there is no site where the pigs can be unloaded. In response to the question whether the drivers would drink water on their drive to southern Italy, they answer with surprise and without hesitation, “Of course!” It is time for the politicians to understand that long-distance transports of livestock do not work and that the transport duration is reduced to a maximum of eight hours.
