Animals' Angels inspects a truck transporting lambs from Romania to an Italian slaughterhouse. The truck stops under a highway bridge near Forlì. It is the middle of the night. 550 lambs are loaded. They are stacked on top of each other on four loading levels, although Romania stipulates that lambs be transported on a maximum of three levels.
Consequently, the ceiling height is completely inadequate for most of the animals. They cannot stand upright, bump their heads against the ceiling, and some even bump their backs. Air circulation is also severely impaired due to the confinement and insufficient ceiling height. A strong stench emanates from the truck, we hear lambs coughing.
A police patrol happens to drive by, stops and asks if there is a problem. We explain the situation. The policemen get out briefly, but find a number of excuses why they can't check the truck or issue a fine. In the last few years we had already had several negative experiences with the police of Forlì.
Animals' Angels will file a complaint with the Romanian authorities about the loading on four levels and will write to the responsible police authority in Italy to inform them about their duties.
