Today Eyes on Animals was in Germany checking on Dutch and German pigs arriving by truck at Simon slaughterhouse in Wittlich. We were working with the German NGO Animal Welfare Foundation.
It was bloody hot and humid out. We wanted to see if Simon abattoir had infrastructure in place so that pig trucks arriving could immediately park in the shade and be cooled down. Sadly there was no canopy, no industrial fans at the waiting area, and no water misters. There was nothing in place so that the pigs arriving in the heat could be cooled down after such a difficult journey. We were told that the.pigs are unloaded quickly but we observed a Dutch truck from Janssen waiting for over 1 hour in the direct sun before the pigs were unloaded. Boermaars and Damen Dutch transport companies were also observed bringing pigs to Simon. It is really not acceptable to transport pigs during such hot and humid times of the day, and especially when there are also no provisions in place to cool the pigs down upon arrival at the slaughterhouse of destination. AWF and EonA are going to push for this abattoir to get a heat protocol and infrastructure in place to put an end to the horrible heat stress that these live animals experience. They were panting 162 – 184 breaths per minute. It was 36,9 degrees out in the sun and humidity was extremely high.
