10/25/08 The Painful Journey from a Farm to a Plate
Animal Friends invites everyone to a protest against live animal transport which will end by activists climbing into a truck
- Pregnant cows, who spent 70 hours in a truck and over 30 hours at the border crossing of Zupanja-Orasje, pointed out the lack of enforcement of the law and regulations and the cruel reality of animals in transport
Animal Friends wishes to turn attention to te suffering of six million animals yearly transported for over 8 hours all over Europe, and to the necessity of enforcing and passing of firmer laws and regulations about animal transport.
Trucks are regularly held for over five hours at the Croatian border, despite the maximum period of two hours allowed by the law. The agonizing journey of animals transported from the European Union often lasts for days. Animal Friends emphasizes that live animal transport is completely unnecessary, unethical and cruel, and should be completely banned. In adddition to that, Animal Friends would like to stress the connection between the contents of the people's plates and the cruelty to animals turned into commodities.
The EU and the Republic of Croatia need to immediately make firmer the existing laws, first of all by limiting the maximum period for live animal transport to no more than 8 hours. Many associations and institutions united in the international "Handle with Care" campaign, initiated by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), agree with that.
The protest march against cruelty to animals in transport will start on Saturday, October 25, from King Tomislav Square. It will pass Ban Jelacic Square, Ilica and Frankopanska ulica, and reach Marshal Tito Square, where protesters will climb into a transport truck to point out the everyday suffering of sentient beings in the roads of Croatia and Europe.
In the last few years scientists have reached a consensus on the extremely high level of mental and physical stress in animals in transport. As a consequence, many countries have introduced different degrees of regulations for conditions of live animal transport. However, practice shows a defeating truth about many undefined terms in the regulations and their inefficiency. Further legislative changes and more severe enforcement of the law are necessary. However, it is imperative to raise the public awareness that consuming meat and meat products is an order for suffering, and that every individual can refuse to take part in it.
Defeating statistics about live animal transport:
- Bone fractures, hemorrhages and hematoma are the most common injuries in birds (it is estimated that there are 95% of multiple bone fractures in broiler chickens), and they occur as the consequence of extremely rough handling and cramming animals into small crates or transport cages.
- Physical and mental stress in pigs is particularly increased due to the fact hat pigs suffer from the so-called "motion sickness" (they show a high level of sensitivity to noise, motion, changes in their surroundings, etc.), which is manifested in increased excretion of saliva, vomiting, diarrhea, increased body temperature and apathy.
- Overloading and other stress factors to which cows are exposed to during transport severely disturb their immune systems. Pneumonia caused by the bovine herpes or the pasteurelle bacteria is especially common during transport.
- Research shows that after 24 hours sheep and lambs lose up to 8 per cent of weight, which is a consequence of frequent waste passing as a reaction to extreme mental stress. Even after long periods of thirst, sheep will often not drink water from an unfamiliar source. Dehidration, suffocation and being stamped to death are common couses of death.
An educational flyer about live animal transport has been printed for the international "Handle with Care" campaign, and a documentary titled "Some Lie Dying" has been translated into Croatian.
Animal Friends invites everyone who has not yet signed up for this protest to come to the protest at 11 A.M. on Saturday at King Tomislav Square.