Transport of live animals in the EU

Every year over 360 million animals are transported in the EU. The transport of livestock often takes several days and travels across Europe. Sheep from Great Britain, for instance, are brought through the Netherlands, France and Italy to Greece. A 60-hour journey is nothing unusual.

Current situation in the EU - Immense animal suffering

The intensive industrial livestock farming is so specialized, that cattle, pigs and chicken repeatedly have to be transported back and forth between different countries. Pigs that were born in Holland, for instance, are usually brought to Denmark for the fattening and from there they are transported to Italy, where the slaughtering takes place. The place of birth, the place of fattening and the slaughter-house are often thousands of kilometres away from each other.

FOUR PAWS has repeatedly pointed out that the animals suffer horribly during transport and has also shown that the animal transport law currently in force does not sufficiently protect the animals.

During the several day voyage the animals get neither water nor food. In order to be able to transport as many animals as possible at once, they are crammed into transporters that have up to three floors.

Consequently the height of the compartments is so low that the animals can't even lift their heads. They are forced to stay in this position for several days. Broken legs, ulcerated wounds and even dead animals are a tolerated part of this routine.

Epidemic divulgement

Experts found out that the outbreak of foot and mouth disease increases greatly during animal transport routes.

Some examples: A farrow is born in Belgium and fattened in Italy, Austrian cattle is transported for the fattening to Bulgaria, Dutch pigs are transported to Italy and Dutch cattle is transported to Greece for slaughter. Frequently, at the collecting points the animals are infected with foot and mouth disease, swine fever or other epidemics and then transport these diseases with them.


Animal transports are not only a health risk for animals which live near transport routes, in consequence they also mean a risk for humans.

zurück    Druckversion    top