In 2016, Animals’ Angels published <link internal-link internen link im aktuellen>Myth of Enforcement, a summary of ten years of investigations into long distance animal transports, within and outside the EU, offering a deep analysis of the existing legislation concerning the protection of animals transported to slaughter. Our conclusion is that EU animals on transport do not even receive minimum protection. This is because of several contradictions in the regulation itself; its lack of enforcement and the suffering inherent in long distance transport.
Animals' Angels has been calling the EU Commission to become aware of the existing problems and to revise the regulation on animal transport. In order to achieve this, we have been meeting the chief veterinary officers of all EU Member States, asking them to support the matter through the ministries when they meet for discussing policies at the EU Agriculture and Fishery Council.
Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands already took the initiative in the past years requesting the EU Commission to revise the legislation on animal transport. Sweden has recently joined them. Thus, Animals' Angels, joined by Animal Rights Sweden (Djurensratt), had certain positive expectations during the meeting with the Swedish CVO, asking him to:
- initiate a discussion at the next meetings of the EU Agriculture Council on the need to revise the legislation. The next meeting will take place on 14 to 15 November 2016;
- convince more member states to join the initiative taken by Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden and have them directly sign it during the next meeting;
- request member states to stop dispatching animals to Turkey.
We will finish to meet the CVOs of all Member States within this year and will continue to fight against long animal transports.
