Brussels, 16 March 2022 - Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and Animals International (AI) have witnessed how an old, former cargo ship with nearly 8,000 animals on board needed to be replaced while at sea. Inadequate European legislation and its poor implementation regularly lead to prolonged suffering of animals exported outside the EU.

The steps of the lengthy journey

On February 23^rd, the livestock carrier Spiridon II left Tarragona in Spain. The country is one of the main exporters of live animals in Europe. Around 300 young bulls from France and Spain as well as 7,600 Spanish sheep were on board. Their destination was the Port of Aqaba in Jordan.

On February 27^th, engine problems occurred. The journey was interrupted, and the ship spent three days near Greek ports. Unloading the animals onto European grounds was not an option. Once on the water, they are declared as so-called “export” animals and cannot re-enter the EU. This often leads to tragic consequences, such as the odysseys of Karim Allah and Elbeik in early 2021, where 2,600 calves and cattle were subjected to emergency slaughter.

Spiridon II was finally brought to Eleusis, near Athens, Greece on March 4. There the 8,000 animals were loaded directly from one vessel to another, namely, the livestock carrier Adel I, via a ramp, on the water. The reason for this manoeuvre at sea was that the port of Eleusis is not authorised to transport animals to third countries. On long journeys like this, there is no veterinarian on board, regardless of the number of animals. This was also the case on Spiridon II. It remains unclear whether the animals were fit to continue the journey to Jordan after 10 days onboard the vessel. It also remains unclear whether unfit animals were emergency euthanised on site.

Maria Boada-Saña, veterinarian and project manager at AWF, criticises live exports by sea: “The livestock vessels currently operating in the EU were converted from car ferries or cargo ships to livestock carriers at the moment when they should have been scrapped because they were too obsolete to continue. They are ancient vessels, operating under suspicious flags, and are poorly designed and maintained. These vessels pose many risks for the safety of the animals, the crew, and the environment.”