EonA/AWF practical training of Hungarian highway police – Keus en Mollink and laying hens

The team together with the border police of Nagylak and the official veterinary inspector checked on livestock trucks at the Hungarian/ Romanian border. Three livestock trucks were checked. One of the livestock trucks was carrying piglets from the Netherlands for further fattening in Bulgaria. The transport company was Keus & Mollink. Fortunately the condition of the animals and the truck were in compliance with the law. A Hungarian truck with “slaughter” pigs was also stopped- it was on a short journey to a local slaughterhouse 2.5 hours away in Romania. At first things appeared alright but the police noticed the water system was dripping water and had the chauffeur repair it on the spot. A third truck was transporting laying hens. The team observed at least 5 dead birds in the outer crates. There was no access to the birds in the crates and the head space was insufficient. The hens were 40km away from their final destination (a slaughterhouse) and therefore to avoid prolonging the journey and suffering, the veterinary inspector decided to let the truck continue quickly to its final destination. The driver explained to us that two different groups of chicken-catchers had loaded the hens. One of the groups had brutally handled the hens while loading them into the crates. We are going to further investigate into this and write complaints to the competent authorities.