Animals’ Angels is trailing a transport of Hungarian heifers to Turkey when we receive the information that a group of bulls from the Czech Republic is about to be dispatched to Iraq. Initially destined to Turkey, these bulls were already transported to the Bulgarian-Turkish border some weeks ago, but were held back there, because some Turkish import requirements were not met.
Animals’ Angels accompanies the 284 bulls on the first part of their journey, from Kapikule to Kirsehir, east of Turkey. Still exhausted from the primary journey from their place of origin, they now face another detrimental journey of several days, whit temperatures rising up to 41 °C.
The European Court of Justice has ruled that animals have to be transported in compliance with legislation EC 1/2005 until they arrive at the final destination, also outside EU borders. Nevertheless, this rule is mostly not applied or commonly evaded.
The bulls are transported in trucks not designed for transporting live animals. There is no roof protecting them from the burning sun and no water system is installed to minimize their starve for water. Furthermore, there is no bedding material to protect their sensitive joints by damping the vehicles’ movements.
After more than 20 hours on board, they are unloaded for a 24-hour rest. More than 20 bulls are severely lame and can hardly manage to walk off the truck and immediately lie down in the stable. They are even too exhausted to reach the feed. Their hurting extremities are not carrying them anymore.
The next day, the animals are again loaded into the same trucks and are transported to Iraq. Even the animals suffering from pneumonia and the injured ones are loaded, weakly limping. Animals’ Angels arranges for these animals to be at least provided with a thick layer of straw and hay for the journey.
Animals’ Angels will file a complaint to the responsible parties visualizing the suffering these animals endured.
