Surprisingly, the EU is the world's largest exporter of live animals

    The EU exported 2019 billion live animals in 1,8. However, the current regulation is inadequate and greater animal welfare is called for

    If we think about the export of live animals to the world, we could expect that countries like China or the United States will lead the way. In reality, the EU is the largest exporter in the world.





    The EU exported over 1,8 billion chickens, pigs, sheep, goats and cattle in 2019, and a new analysis suggests that the very continent we live in could be responsible for 80% of the world's trade in live farm animals. A sector notorious for being still very far from guaranteeing animal welfare (as long as it is ever possible in industrial farms).

    This data was provided to The Guardian newspaper by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

    In this case, the conditions of animals during transport are worrying, concerns that led the EU to set up a commission of inquiry last year to investigate the problems of the sector and which concern animal welfare.

    The current regulation is inadequate and in fact allows (as demonstrated by several investigations) that while traveling or once they have reached their destination, animals are exposed to absolutely unacceptable cruelty.

    Let's think, for example, of the situation of pigs in Denmark (the largest exporter of pigs in the world) which, according to Ditte Erichsen veterinary of Animal Protection Denmark, are for the most part piglets of about three months forced to a journey that often exceeds eight hours. According to Eurostat data, around 15,7 million Danish pigs left the country in 2019.

    Particular risks for pigs, said the Danish veterinarian, are heat stress because pigs cannot sweat, suffocation due to overcrowding, prolonged hunger and thirst, and insufficient space to rest.

    We are talking about situations of great stress during loading and unloading, injuries, hunger, thirst and exhaustion that affect not only pigs but all other transported species. Terrible cruelties that also emerge from a very recent report published by the animal defense organization Eurogroup for Animals calling for a regulatory reform that includes, among other things, shorter travel times.



    Surprisingly, the EU is the world's largest exporter of live animals

    @eurogroupforanimals.org

    Surprisingly, the EU is the world's largest exporter of live animals@eurogroupforanimals.org

    The Eurogroup itself, among other things, has asked the European Commission to modify the bill and to clarify that the production of industrial livestock cannot be considered sustainable.

    Instead, the UK government proposes to ban the export of live animals from England and Wales, unless it is for breeding or long-term use, not for fattening and slaughtering.

    Much more can and should be done for the billions of animals that are being marketed all over the world, most of the time without a minimum of mercy and respect.


    Fonte: The Guardian / Eurogroup for Animals

    Read also:


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    • Live animal transport: thousands of tortured specimens, in the silence of the European Union (PETITION and VIDEO)
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