There is no scientific justification to limit animal transportation to eight hours, the European Commission is insisting, after two animal welfare organisations urged the Maltese electorate to use their votes to impose a maximum eight-hour journey for animals sent for slaughter.
It is not correct to state that the Commission is ignoring this issue
In a letter to the editor, 8 Hours and Animals’ Angels said millions of animals are transported over long distances, sometimes for days on end, only to be killed on arrival.
It said a petition signed by more than a million EU citizens had led to the European Parliament’s approval of a written declaration calling on EU institutions to establish an eight-hour limit. But Health Commissioner Tonio Borg refused to propose a review of animal transportation regulations.
In September, animal welfare organisations organised an international conference in Malta to denounce the fact that former Commissioner John Dalli was refusing to propose changes to the European rules on live animal transport.
“Following his resignation, Dr Borg is maintaining the same position: merely a focus on enforcement. Some of those rules have been in place for over 20 years and have never been enforced.”
In the letter, the two organisations added that different journey times could be adopted for different species, but Dr Borg was “simply opposing this opportunity to shield millions of animals from easily avoidable suffering.”The organisation 8 Hours was conceived by MEP Dan Jørgensen, who is also the head of delegation for the Danish Social Democrats.
But in a reaction, a spokesman for the Commission said there was no scientific justification to limit animal transportation to eight hours.
“The Commission is not aware of any scientific basis for such a limit whether with regards to animals travelling to slaughter or otherwise and regardless of the animal species involved,” he said, adding that members of Dr Borg’s cabinet will be meeting with the 8 Hour campaigner this month. The Commissioner will also be meeting the organisation later this year.
The spokesman said the Commission’s policy when it comes to animal transportation focused on addressing enforcement deficiencies documented in member states.
“It is clear that unless effective and uniform enforcement is achieved there can be little hope of improvement and any stricter legal requirement will only make the situation on the ground worse.
“It is not correct to state that the Commission is ignoring this issue.”
The spokesman said shortly after Dr Borg took office as European Commissioner he asked for more uniform reporting by member states on their animal transportation controls. The Commission also proposed a measure to have uniform information on control measures, and this was adopted by the member states in the standing committee earlier last week.
He said this was a “concrete first step” that will enable the Commission to make a tangible difference and better target its enforcement capabilities.
These issues were also covered in a stakeholders’ debate held in Brussels in February setting the ground for an animal welfare framework law.