Suffering of thousands of EU calves exposed on 4000km journey to Israel

A new joint investigation by Compassion in World Farming, Animal Welfare Foundation and Tierschutzbund Zürich, has found that thousands of young, un-weaned calves are being transported on journeys up to 4000km long with little or no provision for welfare. The investigation teams found calves, some just a few weeks old, being exported live from the EU to Israel for slaughter. During this investigation, it was discovered that Lithuania, Romania and Hungary all sent calves to Israel.   

A member of the investigation team said: “These incredibly young calves faced a long, stressful journey, rough and violent handling, filthy conditions and a brutal death.”

During export journeys, animals are often not rested at appropriate intervals or provided with adequate access to liquid feed. We saw transport trucks that were not suitable for such young animals and many calves were loaded for transport when sick and weak or even unable to stand. According to workers, due to the low value of the calves, regardless of how sick the calves became, they would not receive veterinary treatment.     Young calves have a poorly developed system for providing immunity, dealing with stress and controlling body temperature. As a result, there is a high mortality rate in calves during transport. Our investigation team found one Lithuanian calf dead on a livestock truck and another on the same truck had collapsed and was very sick.

The cattle were then loaded onto livestock vessels for the five day sea crossing to Israel.  Our investigators witnessed calves from Lithuania, as well as Romania and Hungary, arriving at ports in Romania and Slovenia for export. Many of the calves were roughly handled during unloading from trucks and reloading onto livestock vessels. They are forced to climb steep ramps and many of them were clearly afraid as they were whipped, hit and prodded in order to force them on to the vessels.

Once at sea the young calves are likely to suffer most - if welfare needs have not been met on the road, it’s entirely likely that they will not be provided for on the water where there is no regulatory body to enforce welfare legislation. Mortality rates are believed to be high and it is common for animals to be thrown overboard during the journey. Their bodies wash up on the beaches in Israel.

A recent landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice said that European animal transport laws must be applied even during parts of the journey that happen outside of the EU. But it is clear, that for the five days these European calves spend at sea on their way to Israel, and during the onward journey in Israel, there is no one to ensure welfare legislation is complied with and no consequences for those that break the law.  Compassion’s Director of Campaigns Dil Peeling said: “The poor welfare conditions and cruel treatment of cattle exposed in this investigation highlights the suffering inflicted on animals exported outside the EU.

“As long as Europe’s leaders continue to prioritise trade over the welfare of animals, these vulnerable calves will be the victims who pay the ultimate price for this cruel trade.”

On arrival in Israel, the investigation teams saw calves unloaded from the vessels into livestock trucks that did not appear to comply with European standards.

The calves were then taken to quarantine. Scientific research shows that calf mortalities can be high during transport and in the immediate weeks following arrival at destination. Our investigators sourced recent Israeli data that shows calf deaths in quarantine facilities were routine for eight out of ten  shipments arriving from the EU.

After quarantine, cattle are sent on to squalid, barren fattening farms. The investigation team found these can be ‘lock-up-and-leave’ facilities with minimal staff visits. This hands-off approach and lack of husbandry can put the cattle’s welfare at risk - should an animal become injured or sick, there is no knowing how long it might take for it to get noticed.

A member of the investigation team: “Barren feedlots and brutal slaughter await the calves of Hungary, Romania and Lithuania when they arrive in Israel after a long sea journey from Europe.”

Animals that survive the terrible cruelty to reach this point are then sent for slaughter. Some are inhumanly slaughtered at Israeli abattoirs without stunning. Others, as Compassion’s Investigation Unit recently documented, will be driven across the borders into West Bank and Gaza where they are killed on the streets or taken to appalling slaughterhouses to die slow, terrifying, painful deaths.

A spokesperson for Anonymous for Animal Rights and Let the Animals Live – Israeli animal protection groups – said: “It is shameful, for both Israel and the EU, to allow the continuation of cruel and pointless live transports of animals from Europe to be slaughtered in Israel. We live in a society where animal protection concerns gain strength and social fury over these cruel transports is growing. Sooner or later, governments should react and make them a thing of the past.”

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