Together with the Italian organisation Essere Animali, we inspect animal transports with lambs on the highways in Italy before Easter. In the middle of the night we come across a lamb transport from Hungary. Johanna, Gregor, Anouk and the other lambs on board have too little space. They were standing and lying close together. On one floor of the truck, they are bent over, their heads touching the ceiling. One lamb, Gregor, has a wound on his backside, probably caused by his position. But according to the law, this does not prevent him from being transported. At least the litter is clean and there is plenty of it. Only the upper part of the vehicle is very dirty and smells of ammonia. The animals up here must have waited a long time to be loaded.
Three days later we meet the same transporter with the same driver. Due to the high demand for lamb meat, he drives back and forth between Romania, Hungary and the slaughterhouses in Italy almost non-stop. This time the lambs on board are even younger. Through the bars, the little baby animals look at us insistently, probably not yet weaned from their mother's milk - as the driver suspects. They lie curled up next to each other, their calls ringing in our ears. They should be with their mothers, not here. At least they have more space and clean bedding throughout. But that is little consolation.
The little lambs should still be getting milk, but that is not possible on these transports. This should be a case for the police. However, as the accompanying documents do not indicate that the lambs have not yet been weaned, the officers cannot even impose a penalty. With a heavy heart, we let this transport go, gather our thoughts and start looking for the next one.
