Like beasts in substandard ships
The report “78 EU-approved livestock carriers” written by Robin des Bois in partnership with the NGOs Animal Welfare Foundation and Tierschutzbund Zürich is more than damning. It is sharp.
Around the Med in 92 days and 12,000 km
This is the feat that a herd of calves aged between 6 and 12 months has just undergone, leaving Tarragona (Spain) on December 18, 2020 and returning to Cartagena (Spain) on March 19, 2021. They were 1,776 at the start. We do not yet know how many they are at the finish. In any case, they will not be welcomed as heroes. They will be destroyed as suspicious and expired goods. The cargo was suspected in Türkiye of carrying bluetongue disease and was refused entry on the grounds that outbreaks of the disease had been identified in the autonomous community of Aragon on the border with France. Attempts to land in Libya and Egypt failed for the same reason. The health certificates for the Charolais and Limousin calves attested to their Aragonese origin, but according to the shipowners and cargo owners, this was an administrative error and the calves, which spent 3 months at sea behind bars, came from regions unaffected by the internationally notifiable viral disease.
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.
42 sailors and 5,867 cows perish at sea
On August 14, 2020, at the end of the day, the Gulf Livestock 1 and her crew of 43 sailors left Napier on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The livestock carrier was loaded with 5,867 cows bound for China. The ship was due to reach Tangshan, in Hebei province, after a 17-day journey. On the night of September 2, she was southwest of Japan. She sent out a distress call at 1:40 a.m. local time. She was 185 km west of Amami Oshima Island.
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).
