Our team counts the EU livestock trucks leaving No Man’s Land an entering Turkey. Sometimes we cannot check the animals on board as they do not stop to do their import-customs in Kapikule but continue driving past. They will do their customs import taxes somewhere else in Turkey, at custom offices in Istanbul or Ankara, meaning again long waits for the animals.
We are able to check on 5 trucks in the morning. The livestock companies are Polish and Bulgarian and have German pregnant heifers on board. It’s very hot and we ask the drivers to turn on the ventilation systems after showing them the temperature measurements inside their trailers where the animals are (34 degrees). The animals are very thirsty and desperately looking for water. Some manage to drink from buckets drivers give them, other use the nipples, although these small metal nipples are designed for pigs and not suitable for cattle. The animals in the small outdoor pens have no shade and are suffering from heat stress. We can see animals panting and salivating.
Around 16.00 more livestock trucks stop in Kapikule, we count at least 8 with pregnant heifers and fattening calves on board. We observe a very weak fattening calf lying on the floor in one of the trucks from a large Hungarian transport company. He is dehydrated and exhausted. We offer to call a veterinarian or help the calf ourselves, because we have two veterinarians in our team and have electrolytes with us. The drivers refuse any help and say they are going to unload the animals. And sadly, when they finally did, the calf died because it was unable to stand up and other calves trampled him on their way out. It could not handle the stress any longer and did not get help on time.
In the mean time, more livestock trucks were coming in. Some animals are unloaded in the pens. There is not enough space to unload more than 3 truck loads at a time.
Before leaving Petline two trucks arrive with slaughterbulls from Austria and Hungary, in disgraceful conditions. Almost no bedding. All wet and dirty. The animals are covered in filth and appear completely exhausted, some off them are eating the dirty bedding. They are so crowded that some bulls cannot lie down.
