Following the theoretical training of the day before, the Eyes on Animals and TSB|AWF team with Dr Rabitsch drives to a designated place on route 2 (stretching from the eastern border of Poland to the west) for a practical part of the training. We are accompanied by 5 ITD cars with 2-person teams each. The weather is challenging: 0 degrees with snow and rain falling. The inspectors are very motivated to work and stop three poultry transports and one empty pig truck. Everyone can benefit from the inspection of the vehicle and analysis of documents. We find terrible conditions in poultry transports: the side curtains in the trucks are plastic and do not let the air in or out, so to guarantee some ventilation each curtain is folded back leaving some chickens without any protection against the bad weather. As a result, we find some chickens frozen to death. The drivers are instructed to pull the curtains down more, and reminded that this is their responsibility. Moreover, administrative procedures against the organiser of the transport will be started by WITD.
The empty pig truck with a trailer gives great opportunity to check everything in detail. The inspectors are very interested and ask a lot of questions, inspecting the vehicle thoroughly, even though it has not been cleaned after the last transport. Again, we see that the truck is approved for species that it is not prepared to transport (no drinking facilities for sheep and gaps posing a risk for injury). A letter to the official body that approved the truck will follow.
