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EU Animals Face Abuse And Torture During Live Exports

An investigation by Animals International has found that live animal exports from the European Union are subjected to inhumane treatment and conditions

An investigation by Animals International has found that live animals exported from the European Union are being subjected to inhumane treatment and conditions that have been described as abuse and torture.

In an extensive exposรฉย The Guardian reports on the Animals International operation that collected footage from various ports and abattoirs over an eight month period:

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Dozens of undercover videos and photographs obtained by the Guardian show live cattle and sheep from EU countries being beaten, shocked with electric prods, held for days in overcrowded pens and covered head to toe in faeces as they are transported fromย Europeย to their final destinations in Turkey and the Middle East in conditions that breach European law.

At their destination, at least some of the animals are slaughtered in appalling conditions. The footage shows cattle and sheep from France, Romania and Lithuania kicking and flailing violently as their throats are crudely cut or sawed at repeatedly, often in crowded street markets and run-down abattoirs.

The export of live animals has been a contentious issue for the EU for a number of years, with campaigners saying that not only is the practice unsound from a food safety point of view, it is deeply harmful to the animals and rife with abuse.

That said the EU has strict guidelines on how animals can be exported. One rule is that, unless the authorities can guarantee that EU standards will be met in the destination countryโ€™s port then animals cannot be exported lawfully. This is supposed to guard against animals being loaded to EU standardsย in their country of origin only to face welfare abuses once they reach their destination.

The report alleges a number of horrifying abuses, some of which include:

  • Fully conscious bulls being โ€œhoisted to the ceiling by one rear legโ€ in Turkish slaughterhouses.
  • The unnecessary use of electric prods to control and in some cases directly inflict harm on animals.
  • Bulls being restrained with ropes and then having their throats hacked.
  • The improper loading of animals at EU harbors where they were forced to move on using electric prods.
  • Animals being unloaded in Turkey that were completely covered in excrement, which is a direct violation of EU standards.

In this case, the Guardian spoke to Italian legal experts who were shown the gathered footage. They confirmed to the Guardian that every instance was, in their opinion, a breach of EU standards and, what is more, meant that the transport of live animals should never have been authorized in the first place precisely because the home countries could not guarantee compliance with welfare regulations once the animals reached their destinations.

This opinion on the blatant abuse seen in this investigation is echoed byย Animals International EU Director Gabriel Paun who is quotedย as saying:

โ€œThis investigation reveals an abject failure by EU officials to monitor live animal export. Animals raised in European care are being transported in manners that are in breach of EU regulations and they are enduring horrific slaughter practices in breach of international agreements.ย EU farmers and the general community will be mortified to see how the animals raised in European care are being treated.โ€

Unfortunately, for anyone who has followed this issue closely the possibility of this abuse may not be surprising.

A European Parliament reportย that was released in late January of 2017, dubbed โ€œAnimal Welfare in the European Union,โ€ did praise the EUโ€™s standards as having improved the lives of millions of animals, whether they were used in the farming sector for food or as part of agricultural work.

Nevertheless, the report was highly critical of the EUโ€™s failure to protectย allย farmed species including, in many circumstances, cattle. Thatโ€™s because EU directives, while providing a base for welfare standards, give a lot of scope to individual countriesโ€™ own laws. This has led to gaps in the application of the EUโ€™s standards and renders them ineffective in some areas.

Another issue is that EU mandatesย give no protection for how the animals are ultimately slaughtered โ€” thoughย they do cover how the animals are loaded, transported and then unloaded at their destination. This means that inhumane methods can be used that would not be allowed under EU regulation. This is something campaigners say must change.

Animals International, TSB|AWF and Eurogroup for Animals are all calling on the European Commission and member states to immediately develop plans to phase out live transport of animals, something that could be supported by economic incentives to help countries who may depend on exports to transition.

The groups further want more stringent applications of existing law while this phase out is still underway, ensuring that animal slaughter conditions as well as transport conditions meet EU standards.

Among other crucial reforms the groups also want a unified regulatory set of standards enforcement to ensure that animal welfare is non-negotiable and easily tracked and reported. The groups also want mandatory reporting of illnesses, injuries or deaths sustained while animals are being transported so as to detect abuses and neglect.

Source: EU Animals Face Abuse And Torture During Live Exports | Care2 Causes

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