Every year, millions of animals are transported across Europe and other continents; this is due to an absurd subsidy system that creates incentives for live transport. Nowadays, individual production steps in the livestock industry are largely separated, which means that breeding, husbandry, fattening and slaughtering each take place at different, sometimes distant, locations.

In European countries, there are certain regulations for the protection of animals meant for fattening or slaughter during transport. For example, it is required that animals be regularly given water and feed and be given opportunities to rest. However, research by animal welfare organizations such as Animals’ Angels regularly show that in many cases these regulations are systematically violated: during long-distance transports, animals suffer from injuries, exhaustion, thirst as well as heat and cold stress due to temperature fluctuations. In the EU alone, 3.8 million animals are transported for longer than eight hours every day. Moreover, millions of animals are transported between continents, which means that they are loaded onto ships and are for example sent from the European border to North Africa or the Middle East after having already been transported on land for many days.

Often, the animals do not survive these long journeys due to the intense stress they subjected to. Apart from traffic accidents and capsized ships, travel delays with disastrous consequences are not uncommon: two ships with 800 calves and 1800 cattle on board that had departed from Spain in 2021 were turned away by their countries of destination, Turkey and Lebanon, as they suspected that the animals would import the bluetongue disease. After enduring three months on the ships without any medical care, the surviving animals were eventually emergency slaughtered in Spain. Countless cows had already died on board the ships. In another case, live animals had to endure on ships for days because of the blockage of the Suez Canal caused by a stranded container ship in March 2021 (see report by the Guardian from March 26, 2021).

In theory, the animal welfare provisions in force in the EU must also be observed on their further transport outside of the EU. However, even if there were serious inspections in place, it would be impossible to enforce these regulations, meaning they become a dead letter the moment the animals leave EU territory. Furthermore, the slaughter methods in many countries of destination are highly questionable from an ethical point of view.

Even though there is a lack of official information on the existence, quality, and capacity of inspection bodies in importing countries, the competent authorities of the European countries of origin issue export permits on a regular basis. In its latest survey regarding the export of live animals to non-EU countries – both by sea or land – the EU Commission reported on the widespread violation of the EU Transport Regulation.

In Germany, some federal states have repeatedly forbidden individual animal exports to certain non-EU countries due to long distances. Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture of Lower Saxony issued export stops for two transports with 270 cattle and 528 breeding cattle to Morocco. However, such export stops are regularly overturned by the courts, as was the case in the latest decision by the High Administrative Court of Lower Saxony in May 2021. The Netherlands, on the other hand, issued a far-reaching export stop in spring 2020 for animals that would need to be granted a 24-hour break in a non-EU country due to the long transport time according to the EU Transport Regulation. This is in view of the fact that the necessary infrastructures for these kinds of transport breaks are not available in many places and that violations of this requirement are therefore inevitable (see report by the organization Eyes on Animals).

TIR urges consumers to make informed decisions, take responsibility and keep the facts in mind when shopping. The demand for such products is one of the main reasons why this ruthless animal transport system is still in place despite the years of criticism brought against it.