Today our teams were present at both sides of the Bulgarian-Turkish border. We were full of hope that there would be no transports in the blazing heat of this day, but sadly enough there were. Not only was this the hottest day, but also the busiest. On the Turkish side of the border we inspected 14 trucks carrying heifers, bulls meant to be fattened for meat and bulls meant for immediate slaughter. Some trucks passed through without stopping at the border, so there was a lot of traffic.
In general the trucks were sufficiently equipped. But the main probleem was still the heat. Cattle trucks are impossible to cool under these conditions, outside temperatures rising above 45 degrees centigrade. Inside the trucks, especially while they are parked, the temperature was absolutely over 35 degrees, the allowed limit. Ventilators are not up to such heat. Some drivers admitted it was outrageous to transport live animals under these conditions.
Again on this day we came to the conclusion that access doors are a necessity. Drivers must be able to reach the animals to hand out extra water, because the available drinking troughs, if at all present and functioning, are not sufficient to keep all animals from going thirsty. We cannot conceive what ails EU countries to allow these transports to continue and we strongly feel that they should stop. Of course we will again contact all parties cooperating in this practice and inquire why they voluntarily break transport laws.
We wish to pay compliments to most of the drivers, who try their utmost to take care of their animals and to keep them alive. Not all companies do this. We noticed a pungent odor of one or more dead animals lying about near Petlines Stables, but we weren’t allowed to go inside to have a look. Innocent victimes of cattle trading.
