E.U Cattle in deep waters
Updated March 16, 2021
After leaving Greek waters, the Elbeik sailed along the southern coast of Sicily and passed Sardinia. She was following a north-westerly course possibly back to Tarragona, her departure port on December 18. In the morning of March 14, she altered course and anchored off the south coast of Menorca island. She is still waiting for order. No new destination has been announced so far. It has been 89 days since the Elbeik, her 1776 calves and her crew have left Tarragona.
E.U Cattle in hot water
Updated March 4, 2021
Since the late afternoon of March 2, the Elbeik has been sailing back and forth off the south coast of Crete. On the morning of Thursday, March 4, the Elbeik resumed her course. The destination Cartagena is cancelled or postponed. The Elbeik is now heading for Piraeus (Greece). Arrival planned for tomorrow, March 5.
Nauseas
Trash ships
With one hand, the European Union bans them from its ports because they are dangers publics, with the other one it allows them to be in the trade over and over again in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Maghreb or faraway seas. Among the facilitators of this tragic double game for crews and damaging to the environment are 7 classification societies based in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom (1).
Trash cows
All the studies agree. Cows grazing grass, eating hay and corn silage swallow metal and plastic waste. These ingestions cause tumors, infections, fatal diseases.
In France, Interbev (Interprofessional Livestock and Meat) estimates that 60,000 large bovines suffer from tumours and infections caused by the accumulation of waste in their rumens. These 60,000 victims have been partially or totally seized from slaughterhouses and in the later case, the meat was not at all marketed. It is likely that the number of cows affected by this “waste disease” is higher than the official figure, and that deaths before arrival at the slaughterhouse are not quantified. The symptoms of “waste disease” are not specific and can be misattributed by farmers and veterinarians to other maladies.