transport

Last night, an Eyes on Animals team inspected the loading of poultry intransport crates. This event usually occurs at night as the animals are easier to tackle in the dark. We followed two empty transport trucks which finally stopped at a large chicken barn in the south of the country. The owner was kind enough to allow us to observe the catching of chickens. No … [Read more...] about An Inspection of Poultry Loading

  This morning we held a meeting with the Head of Customs and Head Veterinarian at the border. They both agreed that it was in the interest of the animals and of them that the animal trucks get processed as quickly as possible. The Turkish veterinarians now work longer hours and can be called at night if necessary. They also hope that within 10 months there will be a … [Read more...] about Day 7 Inspections of EU animal trucks at the Turkish border

Today, the Eyes on Animals and Animal Welfare Foundation team arrived back in Kapikule to continue inspecting EU livestock trucks heading across the border into Turkey. The Bulgarian sheep we checked on, being transported by 4 different Bulgarian and Hungarian transport companies, had acceptable loading densities. The sheep were able to lie down and move about inside the … [Read more...] about Day 6 Inspection of EU livestock trucks at Turkish border

Today, the Eyes on Animals and Animal Welfare Foundation team held a meeting with Dr. Bayram Sertkaya, Head of Animal and Animal Products Border Inspection Department and Dr. Cüneyt Cem Gürkan, veterinarian in charge of animal-import at the border, to discuss the current situation at the border. They admit to us that Turkey started importing EU animals by land too early, … [Read more...] about Day 5 Meeting with Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock

This morning, before driving to Ankara for our meeting with the Ministry, we checked on the cattle from last night. Those that had been unloaded (from Greek company Tragokis) into the stable and outdoor paddocks, given plenty of fresh and clean water in large troughs, new bedding, and feed and space were in good shape. Most were lying down and ruminating, showing that they … [Read more...] about Day 4 Inspections of EU livestock trucks at Turkish border

Today our team went inside the border to check on animal trucks there. Ten trucks transporting calves and cattle were parked in the sun, waiting. There is no shade available for livestock trucks here. Most had already arrived yesterday evening.   The temperature was approximately 35 degrees. Despite drawing the attention of the authorities about this problem last year … [Read more...] about Day 3 Inspections of EU livestock trucks at Turkish border

Today the team from Eyes on Animals and Animal Welfare Foundation checked on 8 trucks bringing live animals from Europe into Turkey for slaughter and further fattening. A Croatian truck, from the company Sazov, had Austrian calves on board. The organizer was Viehandel Kara from Bad Voslau, Austria. The drivers did not unload the young calves (approximately 4 months … [Read more...] about Day 2 Inspections of EU animal trucks at the Turkish border

This evening a 3-person team (Canadian, Swiss and Turkish inspector) from Eyes on Animals and the Animal Welfare Foundation arrived on the Turkish side of the Bulgarian/Turkish border. Since late 2010 the NGO’s have been alerting EU and Turkish authorities of the serious animal-welfare problems occuring at this border – many livestock trucks in violation of the EU … [Read more...] about Day 1 Inspections of EU animal trucks at the Turkish border

Today Eyes on Animals met with an official from the EU DG Sanco to present our concerns regarding the welfare of chickens during transport. Over more than 1 year now Eyes on Animals inspectors, and recently also our apprentice, have been checking on livestock trucks transporting spent hens and broilers to slaughter. In many cases we were shocked by our … [Read more...] about Presentation to EU DG Sanco of chicken-welfare problems during transport

Today Eyes on Animals and the Animal Welfare Foundation met with EU Sanco and FVO to share our latest observations and concerns at the Bulgarian/Turkey border. There are still long waiting times, inadequate facilities to unload the large numbers of animals passing through in need of rest, water and feed, companies faking their real travel times and no shade for the … [Read more...] about Meeting with FVO and EU Sanco about on-going animal transport problems at EU/TK border