On the 24th and 25th of May Eyes on Animals was in Brussels to participate in the Focus Group meeting on the transportation of cattle, poultry and pigs. Our colleague organization TSB|AWF was present at the meeting on the transport of horses. The meetings are an initiative of the European Commission with the aim to develop a "Guide to good practice in animal transport”. As … [Read more...] about Participation in the Focus Group Meeting on Animal Transport in Brussels
transport
Inspection of chicken-catching at a farm in the Netherlands
EonA team was invited by an egg farmer to his laying-hen farm tonight in Drenthe to check how his 9000 spent-hens will be caught and loaded for transport to slaughter. He was open to our opinion and to exchange ideas on how to improve welfare and to test out the "EonA Dutch method" of catching the birds together with the catching crew. Normally all spent laying-hens are … [Read more...] about Inspection of chicken-catching at a farm in the Netherlands
Eyes on Animals part of EU project on guidelines for better animal-welfare during transport, Brussels
In 2015 Eyes on Animals was asked to be a stakeholder in a 3-year EU-project to identify best practices on how to better protect animals from suffering during transport. Today was the second meeting to work on these guidelines. Our knowledge and evidence from the field was important to show what really goes on in practice, both the bad practices and the improvements some … [Read more...] about Eyes on Animals part of EU project on guidelines for better animal-welfare during transport, Brussels
Checking pig trucks in line at VION slaughterhouse, Boxtel (NL)
Today we made an unannounced visit to the pig slaughterhouse VION in Boxtel. The purpose of this visit was to check the pig trucks and to discuss with the drivers possible improvements to the trucks to improve animal -welfare. The loading density of the pigs on the trucks we checked on was in accordance with the EU legislation, nevertheless we thought that the pigs in some … [Read more...] about Checking pig trucks in line at VION slaughterhouse, Boxtel (NL)
Meeting with the Dutch authorities (nVWA)
Today Eyes on Animals met with government officials and inspectors from the nVWA at their headquarters in Utrecht. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the complaints we sent in about livestock transport violations and poor conditions on several farms and to catch up on other on-going issues such as best-practices, chicken-catching, livestock truck design and on-farm … [Read more...] about Meeting with the Dutch authorities (nVWA)
Eyes on Animals and TSB/AWF give a talk to Dutch authorities about livestock truck design and animal-welfare
Roughly 40 officials from the Dutch government, responsible for checking on livestock trucks on the road and handing out the approval certificate of the livestock vehicle, attended our 2-hour presentation on "truck-design". We showed photos and videos showing how the design of the truck and its water systems, dividers, fans, floor space etc... can have a huge impact on the … [Read more...] about Eyes on Animals and TSB/AWF give a talk to Dutch authorities about livestock truck design and animal-welfare
Transport company Blom en Zonen expose poultry to freezing cold winds
On the 14th of January, a concerned-person driving along the A2 highway in the Netherlands filmed a poultry truck from the company Blom en Zonen on its way to a slaughterhouse. Click HERE to watch the footage. It was 3 degrees Celcius out and with the vehicle moving, conditions were made even colder for the poultry on board, being exposed to freezing winds. According to … [Read more...] about Transport company Blom en Zonen expose poultry to freezing cold winds
Trailing Drost truck with German cattle via Holland to UK
An inspection team from Eyes on Animals and AWF|TSB was out on the road in the night of December 10th to conduct random inspections of animal transport trucks. We trailed a truck belonging to the Dutch transport company Drost that left a station in the Netherlands where cows can get milked and headed to the UK. The truck took the long boat crossing from Hoek van Holland to … [Read more...] about Trailing Drost truck with German cattle via Holland to UK
Practicing catching and loading hens in a gentle and upright manner
Spent laying hens are often caught and loaded in a brutal manner. This is not necessarily because chicken-catchers are mean people, but rather because the birds are worth very little at the end of their "productive life" and thus the slaughter industry and supermarkets put enormous pressure to keep costs low. Chicken-catchers are forced to catch and load birds at extreme … [Read more...] about Practicing catching and loading hens in a gentle and upright manner
Eyes on Animals meets with livestock trailer manufactuer “Pezzaioli”
Today Eyes on Animals met with a representative from Pezzaioli, a famous Italian company that manufactures livestock vehicles, used throughout Europe and now also in Turkey and Canada. The purpose of the meeting was to show how the design of some of their trailers were causing animal-welfare problems in practice. We noticed that adult cattle have difficulty using some of … [Read more...] about Eyes on Animals meets with livestock trailer manufactuer “Pezzaioli”
