We are at the border between Bulgaria and Greece. It is hot – very hot. We can hardly believe our eyes when the thermometer shows 52 °C in the sun. In such extreme heat, certainly no animal transport with sheep will cross the border – we think.
A Fata Morgana? This is how it feels when we spot an animal transport with sheep nevertheless. It is just crossing the border. Lambs are loaded on four decks. That means there's very limited ventilation above the animals. A disaster for the animals in this heat!
We can only get a glimpse of the lambs. After that the drivers won't let us near the truck. Lamb Estera and her fellow lambs breathe quickly and heavily, many lie exhausted on the ground. They are clearly suffering massively from the heat. In the crowd we see lamb Miruna: She cannot put any weight on her left hind leg. Lamb Petru is trapped with both hind legs between the loading level and the side wall. We alert the driver and he frees him. But how long did Petru have to endure in this position?
Exposing the lambs to this foreseeable suffering and driving through Greece in the greatest heat of the day is unacceptable. We are doing everything we can to ensure that the authorities finally take action and put animal welfare above commercial interests.
