Exhaustion, curiosity, hope. We look into the eyes of Mila, Hanna, Lea and the other pigs. All of them are on one of a total of seven livestock trucks scheduled to be transported from mainland Spain to the Canary Islands. Due to strong winds, a technical defect of the transport vessel and a lack of communication, they were held at the port of Cádiz in southern Spain for a total of three days — confined inside the trucks. Only after that did the long and exhausting sea journey to the Canary Islands begin.
Already at the port of Cádiz, we hear them vocalizing continuously — the shrill sounds so typical for pigs in situations of conflict and stress.
Mila, Hanna and Lea arrive at the port of Tenerife, where they are awaited by one of our teams. They are female pigs intended to be used for “breeding” on the Canary Islands. The pungent smell of ammonia inevitably accompanies us as we follow the truck to its final destination. We are shocked when we come face to face with the animals. Many of them are visibly exhausted, their flanks sunken in. It remains unclear whether bedding was ever provided, or whether it was washed away by urine and water during the sea crossing. What is certain: upon arrival at their destination, the animals are standing on bare metal flooring. The thought that, in the eyes of some, they do not even deserve this minimum level of comfort — and imagining what they must have endured with the sea wind during the crossing — strikes us deeply.
We are horrified to see that some animals are standing on top of others who are no longer able to resist and no longer make a sound. Unfortunately, our team is denied access to the facility. We are therefore unable to observe the unloading or determine whether the animals are even capable of standing up. What we can see, however, is that the pigs are kept in cramped conditions and are dirty all over their bodies. To prevent injuries under the man-made housing conditions on the farm, their tails have been docked.
In our thoughts, we apologize to the animals for what has been done to them by humans and are deeply moved by the fighting spirit that some of them still display. With curiosity, they show interest in their surroundings and do not seem ready to surrender to their fate.
This suffering must not be ignored. We will file a complaint with the responsible authorities and continue working toward a world in which animals are finally treated with the respect they deserve. Encounters like this with Mila, Hanna, Lea and their fellow pigs give us the strength to carry on.
