Spain: Animal market in Santiago de Compostela

Our Animals' Angels team is once again at the animal market in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia - a place we have been visiting regularly for years with the intention of making improvements. But despite our continuous efforts, little has changed so far. Every Wednesday, spent ‘dairy’ cows, ‘fattening’ bulls and calves are offered for sale here. It is 3.00 a.m. when we watch the animals being brought onto the market site. At this early hour, there are no vets on site to check the condition of the animals; they don't arrive until 6.00 am. We are shocked by the number of animals, which are in such a miserable condition that they should never have been brought to the market, and certainly not left there for another 12 hours or more before being transported to a farm or slaughterhouse for an uncertain period of time.

One of these cows is Maribel. As soon as she arrives, she lies down on the sparsely littered floor. She is obviously sick and exhausted, her eyes are cloudy. We watch as she lowers her head to the hard ground - a sight that tears at our hearts.

We leave the market for a few hours and return in the early morning. When we check on Maribel again, we realise that she is still in a very bad condition. We immediately seek out the official vet and urge him to look after Maribel. In her condition, it would be irresponsible to continue transporting her - she would have to be euthanised immediately at the market. Transporting her would simply be agonising and inhumane.

The vet consults with a colleague and talks to the men who intend to buy the group of cows that includes Maribel. These men are not unknown to us. We saw them at the market last year, buying up the weakest and most deplorable animals. We suspect that they are selling them at a ‘good’ price to a slaughterhouse outside Galicia. The journey there takes many hours - hours that Maribel should never have to endure in her condition.

But instead of acting quickly, valuable time passes. They discuss, gesticulate and argue while Maribel continues to suffer. The option of euthanising her at the market is met with resistance, as this would mean additional costs and effort. The lifeless body would have to be transported separately - a circumstance that everyone involved wants to avoid at all costs.

One of the men, furious at our unsolicited intervention, finally comes up to us and shouts at us. Any attempts to have a calm conversation and prioritise the welfare of the animals bounce off him. Our words go unheard in the large market hall, caught up in the stubbornness and ignorance of our counterpart.

One of the greatest challenges of our work is to establish a dialogue with the people whose actions we want to change in the interests of the animals. Today we are not succeeding. We have to watch helplessly as Maribel and the other cows are driven onto a truck and taken away from the market site.

We approach the market director and urge her to arrange a meeting with those responsible. The conditions at this market are unacceptable and something must finally be done to end the suffering of the animals. Until serious changes are made, we will continue to campaign tirelessly on behalf of animals like Maribel, who deserve more than a life of pain and suffering.