Today the EonA/AWF team visited a livestock “shop” in Bursa, Turkey. Like many cities and villages in Turkey, there is often a shopping area where people can go to buy a couple of sheep, goats or cattle either for immediate slaughter or further production. It usually consists of a road with many stalls in a row. In the front is the owner of the animals, awaiting customers and behind him are the pens where he keeps his animals for sale. The conditions for most of the sheep were quite good – bedding, adequate space, shade, clean water and mother sheep with their new-born lambs are not for sale. But the situation for most of the cattle, including young calves, was quite grim. Chained up on short tethers, facing a cement wall and with no bedding to lie on. A truck with bovines arrived and one injured his leg badly during unloading, getting it caught on something sharp on the ramp. He was bleeding badly. The owner ran to get a cloth to bandage it up tightly. We managed to convince him to untie the injured bovine from where he was (under the direct sun) and instead put him in an indoor pen with shade, bedding and water. The owner was very grateful for our assistance and said he wanted to be good to his animals. Again, via mutual respect and education, small improvements can be achieved.
