Eyes on Animals and Animal Welfare Foundation team are on the fourth day of their inspection at the Bulgarian/Turkish border. Today we checked 4 EU livestock trucks that arrived on the Turkish side. Two of the trucks were from the company Elspeda and had young bulls from Estonia on board, destined for Ankara.. This is a journey of 3400km, mostly on rough roads! According to the papers they left on Friday the 17th, 4 days ago, and still have 900km to go. The papers are not realistic either, in reality this journey took them much longer. The drivers should have regularly placed fresh bedding during the journey, but instead let it become a filthy wet mess. Some of the bulls appear so hungry and even eat their dirty bedding.
The sheep truck from last night is still here waiting. There is no water system on board. The driver claimed the axel of his trailer was damaged shortly before the border and he could not find a quick replacement with a trailer with a water system…He unloads the sheep at around noon at the little stable at the border and they receive hay with water sprinkled on top. One sheep on board is found dead.
Another sheep truck from Greece is here today. Fortunately it is also only loaded on 3 levels therefore the animals have adequate headspace. Loading density, bedding and fitness of the animals and quality of the truck were acceptable.
