Eurogroup for Animals: Stop The Trucks campaign
Posted on 11 April 2016.
The Donkey Sanctuary has collaborated with Eurogroup for Animals on their recently launched campaign to address shortcomings of the current live animal transportation rules, which leave many production animals, including donkeys, unprotected, sick or dead during transport. The campaign calls on decision makers to reduce and ultimately end long distance live animal transportation.
Each year over 1 billion poultry and 37 million live donkeys, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and horses are transported within the EU, and are exported from the Union.
The campaign comes on the back of a new Eurobarometer showing that 94% of European citizens believe that protecting the welfare of farm animals is important, 82% thinking that they should be better protected than they are at present, and 64% wanting more information about the treatment of farm animals.
Andrew Judge, European Operations Manager for The Donkey Sanctuary, said: ''We have been working towards improving conditions for donkeys during transportation since 1999 and although we have had some successes, it’s a very far-reaching area of concern. It’s an enormous problem to tackle alone and so working with Eurogroup has really helped us to champion issues through collaboration with other charities and sharing expertise and resources.''
David Bowles, Chair of Eurogroup for Animals’ Working Group on Live Transport, said:
The rules governing long distance live animal transportation aren’t only unfit for purpose, they are fundamentally broken. Enforcement is patchy at best, and the numbers of animals being transported have increased dramatically since the current law came into application in 2007.
''Obviously the market works for some at present, but it doesn’t work for the majority of consumers who simply want to know how their dairy and meat got from farm to fork, and it certainly doesn’t work for the animals who have to endure long, inhumane, and ultimately unnecessary journeys.
It is time for us to show that the market can work more effectively by empowering consumers to choose the locally sourced, higher-welfare meat that so many wish to see, and to demonstrate the added benefits that come for the environment, but above all for the welfare of the millions of animals involved.''
By supporting The Donkey Sanctuary, you can help us to be a voice for donkeys and champion better welfare standards for animals that are suffering.
For more information on the Stop The Trucks campaign visit http://www.stopthetrucks.eu/
Related articles:
https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/node/10249
