Banning the transport of live animals during heatwaves
15.7.2022
Question for written answer E-002611/2022
to the Commission
Rule 138
Aurélia Beigneux (ID)
Temperatures over 30°C, no air conditioning, journeys lasting several days, hunger, thirst, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions – that’s what animals transported during summer face. The season sees millions suffer silently on Europe’s roads, en route to the slaughterhouse. And the ordeal doesn’t end when the engine stops as, in many countries, the animals are then brutally unloaded with electric prods and sticks.
It should also be noted that transporting livestock over long distances also facilitates the transmission of infectious diseases between animals. The global spread of bluetongue, foot-and-mouth disease, bird flu and swine fever can all be directly attributed to the transport of live animals; that is why, for example, the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic spread so quickly in 2001.
My question is thus twofold:
- 1.Will the Commission ban the transport of animals during periods when temperatures are above 30 °C, as requested by the association Animals’ Angels?
- 2.How will it strengthen EU rules to ensure there is more control over the conditions in which live animals are transported in the EU?