We are in Slovenia just before Easter. A transport of lambs stops at a service station. When we look inside, we are struck by how small they are. We think they are very young and still depend on milk. They all bleat loudly, as they do as soon as they are separated from their mothers.
We immediately notice a little lamb with its head stuck in a divider and we struggle to free it. A little further on, we see another one, we try to free him but fail. We call him Abel. His belly contracts in quick, agitated breaths, we realise that he is under stress. Below him is another lamb, Bea, she also seems to have her head stuck in the partition but he does not move. We think she´s suffocated under Abel. We immediately alert the drivers, but they are in a hurry to continue on to Italy. We insist and finally the driver puts on his overalls, crawls his way through the multitude of lambs and frees both of them. Bea is unfortunately dead, instead Abel lies exhausted and looks at us with terrified eyes. Who knows how long they had been like this. Unfortunately, there are others stuck with their heads, but the drivers tell us that they must proceed and that they will all be slaughtered within a few hours anyway.
We followed this transport of lambs all the way to central Italy, alerting all the relevant police stations for eight hours without anyone coming for a control. Only at the destination, after endless further calls, another five hours of waiting in the rain and with the incessant bleating of the lambs, a vet finally arrived who, after our insistence, ordered all the lambs to be unloaded in the stable. According to the feedback received, the vet did not recognise any violation of the existing regulation. Therefore, once again, we denounce the lack of controls and advocate the revision of the laws to adopt a stronger regulation.
