Dear friends and donors,
Animal
transport - it is something that we
are all concerned about. You could be a concerned free-range farmer,
that does his best to take care of his animals on the farm and feels
uncomfortable knowing that once they leave your premise, you don´t
really know what their welfare will be like. You could be an
animal-rights person, who refrains from eating meat and dairy and is
totally against animal transport. Or you could be a transporter
yourself,
who is tired of seeing the bad guys profit from transporting animals in
poor conditions, with the laws not being harmoniously or adequately
enforced. That is why we think you will all be interested in
knowing that Eyes on Animals is doing what it can, to at least improve
the welfare of animals being transported today. Eyes on Animals gives
theoretical and practical training courses to livestock drivers
across Europe. Sometimes it is the transport company that comes to Eyes
on Animals to request it, and sometimes it is us that approach the
companies that we think need it.
We
don´t just cover the legal requirements, but more importantly, we cover
such issues as animal sentience, why drivers
should care and practical tips such as how to reach a veterinarian in a
foreign country, how to get out of a traffic jam, how to stop the
fighting of bulls and how to effectively check that all animals
have received enough water. The design of the truck is also discussed,
so that manufacturers of livestock vehicles will receive feedback from
drivers as to which designs are bad, so they can be improved
on. Water systems are being built where the specie on board cannot
figure out at all how to use it, or floors and partitions of the truck
have gaps where animals get stuck. We insist that transport companies
only buy the better models of trucks. With the help of a kind and
knowledgeable livestock-truck driver, we then give a practical training
where the drivers have to prepare a truck properly (enough bedding,
all systems checked to be in working condition) and load gently and
correctly without exceeding loading densities or minimum headspace. On
January 5th, one of the largest animal-transport companies in
Europe, Hunland, requested a training course for 20 of their livestock
drivers near Budapest. This time we were joined by the Dutch
agricultural magazine ‘Boerderij’ that made a short video
clip of the training. Please, take a look!
